And here we have the slightly more interesting second roll of Rollei 640 used this spring. It came out cleaner (for some reason I don’t know) from the tank, so less water staining on the scans. The subjects are not so different from the usual ones but we have new stunning locations in Tuscany – the small monastery is on the mount Cetona – and Rome – Palazzo Barberini. Oh, and WE HAVE A DOG!
Finally a new film on my blog! I bought a couple of Rollei some months ago and I thought I had to use them before summer, trying to fully benefit from that good 640 ASA sensitivity, shooting at sunset or indoors. I have to say it’s a very interesting new film, it’s not expensive, not too grainy, and with an impressive versatility. As an added bonus it’s super-flat after development, so no troubles when scanning! Regarding the pictures, well, these are my friends, my children, my guitars, my cat in various locations around Rome. There’s even a picture of me […]
Another batch of scans sitting on my hard drive since one year ago, maybe it’s a good time to let them go. Looking at these pictures it seems nothing changed much during this year, we are still planning picnics during the weekends, with mostly the same friends, doing the same things, just hanging out in different green areas of Rome. There’s something different as well, actually: most of these pictures are in decent focus while in more recent times it’s quite the opposite, they’re mostly out of focus. This park is called La Cervelletta, by the way.
My “Rome” rolls are almost quite predictable regarding subjects and locations. But for this beautiful Rollei Retro 400 S I did my best trying to be not-too-much predictable. And not everything has been shot in Rome, to be honest. So, what we have here: a moody and almost unintelligible picture of my daughters on a ice-skating rink; people playing traditional afro or south-american music (I don’t remember well) and dancing inside Forte Prenestino (google it, it’s a beautiful place); my daughter Daria with a unicorn hairband; a brilliant painting on a Potenza city wall. On a technical side-note: this film […]
Ok, it seems I still have unpublished scans from an expired Fujifilm Neopan 400 I shot in June 2019 for a wedding and… as it always happens with films, there’s some unrelated picture because the roll was already in the camera when I did the shooting. I love when I find a random/family picture I forgot to have because it was at the beginning (or at the end) of a “serious” roll. First picture above and below is my lovely friend Francesco in his best shadowy pose, in my kitchen in Rome, and with a guitar.
Pictures from Siracusa, last spring, nothing special except a couple of shots I’m really in love with. And other pictures from Rome, but in this case I’m in love with the subjects (my daughters). Technically speaking, there’s a problem with the scanner, a sort of vertical striping that occurs with blue even surfaces (like the sky and/or the sea). And I hate this mostly because it happened with the only picture I really like, that’s arguably the one I chose as the highlight of this set. But I have to add that I don’t really care about the scans, they […]
This is one of those rolls that begins in a place and ends in a totally different place, with another place in between the two. It’s a tripping roll! Well, you can read the dates if you want to know but they’re printed the English way – because the poorly placed button on the back of my camera keeps pressing itself accidentally switching between options. This film roll begins at home in Rome, goes through a working week in Sicily and ends with a groom at the barber on his wedding day (I was one of the two photographers for […]
This could be my last Neopan 400, unless Fuji is planning an unlikely comeback in the future. Maybe I shot it with a bit of melancholy, I don’t know, but it seems like these pictures are more sad than usual for some reason. Half roll was used during a wedding in June and the other half is here, split (in half again) between the bicycle lane and the marina in Siracusa city. There’s even some picture I really appreciate, like the nun in white hiding her face with a big hat, or “fuck the police” written on the bicycle lane […]
A day at the zoo with my glorious grandpa’s autofocus Olympus and a Perutz 200 inside. Not much to write home about but ok. The white tiger is cool. The shot with the penguin is my favourite. Zoos are kinda sad, anyway.
Neopan 400 will be missed (and it’s already missing) a lot but I will eventually find a way to replace it in my heart. This roll that you see here has been developed in Rodinal “stand” (the lowest concentration of just 1ml every 99ml of water) for 1 hour to compensate for the (in)famous Rodinal super-grainy special effect and it’s in fact not that grainy. Shot in Rome (Aniene, Villa Ada, CSA La Torre and Villa Leopardi) with a Canon one-button 35mm fixed-lens compact.
Surprise! I had another two rolls of Plus-X in the bag and (double surprise) they were in a lovely state of preservation, without the dark spots of the previous roll. Now I can really say my story with the Plus-X ends here, with these scans you see below. They also look very different from the other scans, and for an obvious reason: I developed them in a punchy Rodinal 1+25 bath, and even over-deloped a bit (like one minute and half more) so, yes, contrast and grain are quite evident. I would not say I “ruined” this classic emulsion in […]
Hello again Perutz Primera! Here we have selected results from probably 5 or 6 different rolls, all shot during Summer 2018 mostly in Siracusa. There’s something from Francesco and Chiara’s family trip (the handsome guy is Francesco) and during the grape harvest at Pupillo’s vineyards. Something also shot at night with a terrible (but very vintage) “flash and grain and totally wrong tones” effect and also something from a “cheap plastic swimming pool birthday party” at Andrea’s place. The roman age things they are from another trip in late spring with Francesco and Chiara at the Ostia Antica archaeological park, […]
