Ian's 52 for 2021

The egg shot is terrific. I like the composition and lighting and it’s good to see the work you’ve gone through to achieve it.
 
Week 7: Shallow Grave

I didn't like this theme at all. Far too much choice which left me permanently filled with indecision. On the one roll of film, I managed "The Birds" which I decided on after the event. Basically it was an image that had birds in it which was a bit of a lazy entry. I also did "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" which was a bit obscure and only really worked in my head. I think most people would have pulled a WTF face and given up with it - even though I may print it 'cos it makes me smile.


Week 7: Shallow Grave
by Ian, on Flickr

This was taken with the film title in mind. Saw the hole, and thought it would make a very shallow grave in an out of the way place on my weekly constitutional. The downside to this was that it was taken on Washi-F which is an X-Ray film respooled by a slightly crazy French guy who has set up his own company making film (rather than just rebadging other people's film). Washi-F has no anti-halation layer which means the light travels through the film and reflects of the back of the camera back onto the film causing a "glow". Add to the unpredictability of that the fact that I wanted to try the film in Diafine because I'm tinkering with the exposure. More here.

Getting really fed up with grey days and lockdown at the moment. My boss is off next week and I'm covering both out jobs which won't help matters too. Let's hope some daffs get out to cheer me up.
 
Having just looked up "Tucker and Dale vs. evil" I'm intrigued as to what you came up with.
As for this one didn't get it until I read the title and then its blindingly obvious.
 
Nice but slightly unnerving shot! (y)
 
Having just looked up "Tucker and Dale vs. evil" I'm intrigued as to what you came up with.
As for this one didn't get it until I read the title and then its blindingly obvious.


It's in the film... Spoilered in case anyone wants to watch it. I think Alan Tudyk is great.
There's a scene with someone running blindly through the woods and they run straight into a stuck out branch. More horizontal than the one I did, but when I saw this jagged stump sticking out of the ground I immediately though how dangerous it looked which triggered the memory.
 
Good work Ian, I know the film just needed a little nudge towards getting it from your image. Subtle works..
It's quite a stark scene you've captured here but then that helps with the film connection. I'm not sure if I'd like to see a little more contrast in the image, is it possible to bring some in or not if using film?
 
Good work Ian, I know the film just needed a little nudge towards getting it from your image. Subtle works..
It's quite a stark scene you've captured here but then that helps with the film connection. I'm not sure if I'd like to see a little more contrast in the image, is it possible to bring some in or not if using film?

This isn't a good film for contrasty work sadly. If I'd shot it on Tri-X or Double-X I think that would have worked better. In fact, Double-X is repurposed cinematic film which would have been perfect - both thematically as well as practically... It actually ended up better than expected because the dynamic range was very high and I thought the sky would just have gone. I do agree it's not great tonally though. I find these challenges to be really... challenging for me because I'm rarely satisfied and every week feels like "half-a-job-Bob". It seems so simple "just one photo a week" - how hard can that be? But if you're taking the time to come up with something, and shoot it, as well as doing all the other "real life" stuff we do, it can be a real challenge - that eventually borders on being a chore. I think that's why I have yet to finish a 52. Some people here do some really creative stuff and it's almost like the 52 is the briar patch to their Br'er Rabbit.

I'll keep plodding on. 16 weeks is my record....

Edit - God I sound grumpy... I'm not; just disappointed in myself.
 
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A photo a week on film I can imagine is challenging in itself Ian.
I take you must finish whatever roll you have in camera and then get it developed, printed, scanned and then PP'd?
That also must 'force' you to, pardon the pun, shoot through a roll just so as you have it in on time?
Is it your aim to shoot the 52 entirely on film, or could you cut yourself some slack and go for the digital option?
 
Interesting info about the film. It sounds so much more interesting than just downloading onto a computer. However, still not convinced I'd want to go back to it.
Well spotted for the theme.
 
A photo a week on film I can imagine is challenging in itself Ian.
I take you must finish whatever roll you have in camera and then get it developed, printed, scanned and then PP'd?
That also must 'force' you to, pardon the pun, shoot through a roll just so as you have it in on time?
Is it your aim to shoot the 52 entirely on film, or could you cut yourself some slack and go for the digital option?

It's not that challenging. I shot about a hundred rolls last year, which is 2 a week. It's all been black & white as I wouldn't be able to get colour done in time as I don't develop my own colour. I also don't wet print because I have no space for a darkroom and there's no way I'd go through the hassle of making the bathroom light tight. If my photographs were any good, that'd be a different matter :) It takes about half an hour to develop, a couple of hours to dry, and half an hour to scan so it's no big deal.
Yes. My aim is to shoot it all on film. I get no sense of enjoyment from [what I see as] the sterility of digital images so the digital camera only comes out for "work".
 
So week 8 was the week I finally felt a little more inspired. Mainly because the idea came to me in a flash of inspiration. Film photographs are obviously realised as a negative which then gets flipped to a positive when you print (2 negatives make a positive right?). So I thought it would be interesting to take a vaguely symmetrical photograph and cut it down the middle, displaying the negative on one side, and the positive on the other. (Duplicate the layer in PS with CTRL+J, invert it with CTRL+I then make a selection over half the image before adding a layer `mask)

Things kinda went downhill from there because I chose to use my least comfortable camera (Rolleiflex Automat) because it creates a square negative. Then I thought it would be cool to do a mirror selfie, and finally, I wanted to see how Ilford Delta 3200 fared in Ilfotec-DDX, because I'd never tried it before.

The idea has merit I think, and it's something that will sit on my backburner as an "idea" for the future. I need the right conditions though (camera, film, lighting and environment).

This was a PITA to do. my eyesight is pretty awful and the Automat's finder is very dim, so finding focus is the opposite of easy. These were shot at f/5.6, 1/125 at ISO 3200 which shows that the light was pretty poor. I was lying on the floor, focussing on the camera brand text, then trying to move my head forward to match up. Not easy when you're lying down.

The one shot that did work (#2) sadly didn't have the camera in there so my Vivian Maier homage went out the window.

Still. I'm quite pleased with it, and I got to find out that Delta 3200 isn't worth the money (IMO). Better to push HP5 to 3200.


Week 8: Half
by Ian, on Flickr

And the 2nd where I got myself in focus...

2021-02-27-delta3200-automat-14.jpg
 
Well done Ian, bang on theme and an original twist on an old standard. Good to see you got the TLR out.

I think we should start calling you Vivian II.
 
Cracking idea for the theme, I like the first one better as a composition to be honest. Not that there’s anything wrong with the second, which is also nicely done!
 
Interesting idea Ian certainly works for the theme the first one works better I feel with other yourself and the camera being cut in half
 
Good work Ian. I too find myself drawn more to the first one. There is more elements to it which for me makes it the more interesting of the two.
I particularly like the insight to your thought processes in the making of these.
 
I’m impressed by the huge amount of effort you’ve put in and what a novel idea! It sounds extremely tricky and you’ve done a brilliant job. I find the negative eye a bit spooky in the second image.
 
Half gets my clever clogs pic of the week for sure! :clap:
 
Very impressed, even more so when you are using film. Looking at the first image, my mind sees the image as stronger with it vertically mirrored with the negative on the right.
 
Really interesting idea for the theme. I do love your story of thought processes and technicalities. The first is the better in my opinion.
 
Thanks again for all the replies.

Week 9 was Reflection and after mucking about with mirrors for the half theme, I decided to stay with it. I do have a fascination with mirrors. As a kid I used to spend hours looking in them wondering how cool it would be if there really was another world on the other side. Yeah... We didn't have Playstations when I was a kid :(

We broke our clock during the decorating, so Mrs H ordered a new one and didn't really pay attention to the size. But it's a big mirror clock and it's really cool. Well... I think it is anyway... So I decided to try and do a mirror selfie. As usual, nothing was straightforward and instead of moving the cabinet that sits under it, I decided to leave it there. Also, I decided to use my rangefinder camera which focusses by matching up a "patch" in the viewfinder. Fine when I'm wearing my specs, but not so fine without. Also, I am left-eye dominant, which means my face sits behind the camera, as opposed to "normal" people who have their left eye free to see what's going on. What I didn't realise was that when I switched to my un-dominant right eye, I can barely perceive the patch.

I took quite a lot of shots of this, all around lunchtime (because 2 minutes to midnight) across Friday, Saturday and today. It was good practise whittling down the contact sheet to a single shot, and I have a couple of others I'll be keeping from the roll. Will serve as a reminder of that kid who let his imagination run riot.


Week 7: Reflection
by Ian, on Flickr

And bonus shot with the focus on the clock. I like it, but it is just a picture of a clock.

2020-03-07-hp5at1600-m6-09.jpg

Shot on HP5+ at 1600 and developed in Ilfotec DD-X.
 
Nice story behind the image, although there's nothing wrong with the first one, the composition is very good, I do quite like the second one.
 
I think you chose the right shot; the second is a nice shot of a mirror, but the one you went with is a reflection shot.
 
Nice filmy shot. Pushed HP5 has a lovely look to it :)
 
I quite like the 2nd tbh.
All the clock, and still plenty of ( subtle) reflections
 
Nice camera! ;)

good image for the theme and I think you chose the right one for the main thread
 
I like as much camera detail as possible, and I like the positioning of the cameraman in #1.
 
I'm with Chris on this choice too. I particularly like the geometric nature of it.
I like as much camera detail as possible, and I like the positioning of the cameraman in #1.

I spent quite a while thinning out the contact sheet... Lots of spikes coming out the top of my head...

2020-03-07-hp5at1600-m6.jpg

As you can see I experimented with a lot of compositions and perspectives (and left eye, right eye). And whilst the second shot is very symmetrical, it's almost too much so. I'm really quite pleased with the composition I chose because of its asymmetry...

Thanks all for the comments though. Much appreciated.
 
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