Trying Out Some New Film Stonks

Hasn't even been that long since my last insane post, of which, admittedly, a good portion was written while somewhat intoxicated, but I am pleased to report that my first online development order has just arrived, and cannot overstate the anticipation I felt over the almost two weeks which it took for this set of images to reach me. I did mention to some people that I would probably not be posting the whole roll. Not all of the images are any good, as I have allowed myself to be less careful this time around, so I will be showing you some selected works here, and writing a bit more for each of them. Enjoy!

Dubble Daily 400

We shall see that even the less popular film stocks are entirely usable. I cracked open this roll just before getting the second batch developed. The rush of motivation I felt after seeing the first couple of results was unlike anything I can remember from art at school.

#2

This was taken during an impromptu grill session. I am especially impressed at how even the spread of bright and dark points in the image is. In still pictures of fire you can invariably pick out human shapes, not unlike dancers I suppose.

#3

From the same night. Love the dynamic range of this film.

#4

I had woken up quite early the morning after. In tiredness I couldn't really motivate myself to do something, until I saw this sunrise from my kitchen and decided to go grab my camera. The building pictured is the Cambridge university press and assessment office.

#18

A portrait of one of Homerton's most well known inhabitants. I wonder if that tree has a name.

#20

This is where I tend to buy strings. Staff is very nice. What I particularly like about this photo is the way the interior becomes more greenish with depth into the shop, like looking down a pond.

#22

I hope nobody here minds me taking their photo; the framing was just too good to pass up. It's honestly funny what you can get away with if you look vaguely like some kind of journalist, in terms of circumventing certain social rites.

#24

The middle of Cambridge. I can't remember what all the gentlemen on the right are crowding around to see. Perhaps making a laborious decision about what ice cream to get.

#26

The last shreds of sunlight visible after a photo walk with a good friend. Pictured is one of the cornerstones of life in Cambridge.

All in all this is one of the film stonks on the market... Not much to say about dubble, it just works really.

Kodak Portra 800

This is the roll I saved for after exams. Someone on reddit once mentioned how they believe that film stocks should be seen in a similar light to a good wine: spend extra on a really good brand every once in a while as a reward for something, or as a rare indulgence. I am certainly no wine connoisseur, but this logic made sense to me, especially with the increasing prices that I had really unfortunate timing with.

#0

The lab was kind enough to include the first exposure, which ended up coincidentally being one of my favourite photos. I just pointed out at my window to see if the shutter was actuating properly, but ended up capturing a sincere moment between two people, seemingly walking into the fiery surface of the sun.

#1

I like this image. Not much else to say.

#4

Bridge St.. A fan favourite. Captured here with some nice tangent light.

#5

Especially love the flare in this one. More diffuse light sources to be seen later, but I think this image is the moment in which I actually learned how to do exposure compensation.

#6

Good mango ice cream was had. The green tinge is real. I can't think of a reason as to why it is in the image, but I like it.

#10

I really like how this film responds to blue frequencies as well. As colour film seems to run into mismatching phenomena reasonably often, it was nice to see this shorter band represented accurately. Pictured is Wren at Gardies, which is another important institution in Cambridge.

#11

Heheh. Shoegaze

#12

This was the first photo I took at f/1.4. The DOF is approximately a centimetre north and south of the focal plane.. I was so damn close to having the bumblebee in focus. I wish I could re-do this one.

#13

Near the SU building. I tried capturing those red curtains. The frustrating thing was not having a wide enough field to obtain some visual perspective cues, and so any reasonably large crop of this image just looks crooked.

#14

And here we see the struggles that film has with fluorescence. Still looks good, just isn't what it looked like in person. Bene'ts is a good café.

#15

Not actually a double exposure, just a window.

#16

The film renders black light as a high-intensity blue, which I suppose it sort of is, but also not really. I think human eyes struggle just as much with this frequency as cameras do, so there sort of isn't a correct colour assignment here.

#19

More flaring and bright smudges. A perfect sunset with good friends.

#20

Taken seconds after #19. I am extremely pleased with this image. The f/1.4 is paying dividends here.

#22

Taken on Great Yarmouth beach. Two gulls and three friends pictured, as well as a set piece for Tenet.

#24

The last couple minutes of this summer's Homerton may ball. I don't think the sky was wasted on this one, but if I were to take this photo again, I would probably attempt some double exposure trickery with the statue close up. Moon visible.

#25

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#26

Trinity may ball fireworks. I like these too.

#27

A view of John's only accessible by water (or by being a John's student...). A brief punting trip with my Mum yielded this photo.

#31

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#32

The most popular beverage in the world. This sight became very familiar throughout term. I like how this shows the irreversible processes of diffusion, as the tea leaves which started in the arrangement captured in the first image will never be able to return to that configuration again.

#34

I saw him briefly at the train station yesterday. I wanted to tell him about this photo, but was close to missing my train.

#35

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#36

Two exposures, each around 5 minutes long, using a pinhole aperture. I should have opted for weaker film for this kind of experimentation.

Stonk review: 9.5/10. I do still prefer more subtle grain in photos, so I am dying to get my hands on the Portra 800's slower sibling.

That is everything for now. I am so glad at having discovered this technique of photography for myself, it has been such an immense help during exam term, just to foster techniques with which one can maintain self control, composure and mindfulness. I have also made some new friends as a result of this, and couldn't be more grateful that this old art is still practiced, and that the relevant infrastructure is being maintained.