Playing with Laundry!

My pictures of the laundrettes have generated quite a bit of interest both through my blog and my flickr pages.  So I thought I would release them in a digital publication.  The first one is here held on Issuu and can be read on most devices for free.  Click the panel below:

If you really want a hard copy in the style of a magazine or to download a copy to your device then you can do so by visiting my magcloud page by clicking below.  Please be warned there is a charge for these!

My Beautiful Laundrette

In my last post, I wrote about returning to shooting on film and putting a roll of Kodak C41 black and white film through my MTL3.

When I got the case out I found that there was a roll of Boots colour film in there.  It was a roll of 400 negative film that had expired ten years ago.  

Yes, for those that don’t know, film has a best before date.

Not only that but the film had been kept in my case
in the attic therefore it had been subject to massive fluctuations in temperature.  So, it was difficult to determine what it would be like once it was shot.

I didn’t want to use this film for random images.  As I have posted frequently, I prefer to work in a series of images rather than one or two.  I like projects and this is what I wanted to do with this film.  I wanted to shoot the entire film on one series of images.  Next was the subject.

The subject had to be something that would work
over around 20 images.  The roll of film was actually 36 but being film rusty, the condition of the film and the chances that I would mess up some technicality I assumed I would have around 20 usable images if I was lucky.

The answer came to be by accident.  I drove past a laundrette one day and it struck me that it had the same appearance as it probably did when it first opened.  OK, it may be a little worse for wear around the edges, but the signs and ‘art’ (losing the term loosely) looked pretty much like I think they would have done in the 1970’s and early 80’s.  I thought about this carefully and I realised that every laundrette that I had been in had a same or similar appearance.  I also thought that as washing machines have become more affordable that laundrettes would be a thing of the past, a dinosaur waiting to become extinct.  I had an inkling that this subject would suit film and in particular would suit this roll of film that when process could result in weird colours and artefacts due to the age.  So off I went.

I began with laundrettes that I knew still existed and then I began to find more and more of them.  In fact, it has actually shattered my illusion.  The laundrette busy is still thriving and while the one’s I visited are a relic of the past there are new, clean, modern laundrettes opening up.

The film was processed by a lab in C41 chemistry and I have scanned the negatives.  I have to admit that my neg scanner isn’t very good and there is deterioration in the sharpness of the image, noise and colour isn’t quite right but you know what?  That doesn’t matter too much.  I think it suits the subject perfectly.

The final set of images has been posted on my Flickr stream or you can see them on the slideshow below.

I quite enjoyed doing this.  It was different and challenging.  Removing the comfort of digital has been both worrying and exciting.  I think there is scope for a bigger project here.  Watch this space!

Messing with Film

A few months ago I posted about returning to shoot on film.  Although I am interested in making prints its not something I'm planning to do on a regular basis and so for the minute, I'm just processing film to the negative stage.  This left me with a problem.  Getting the negative in to the computer.

Scanning them on a flatbed scanner just wasn't good enough and so I've been out and acquired a negative scanner.  Admittedly it is not a very good one but it will do to experiment with.  Not I've got to learn processing the negs.  These images and the ones found on my flickr  are very rough edits.  I have to admit though.  I do like the effect it has give the image at the top of this post.  Hovis bread anyone?

News on the Remnants Front

Well the show seems to be going well.  Quite a few people have gone through and had a look at the pictures on the wall.  The exhibition is on for at least another few weeks so if you do get chance please feel free to drop in and have a look.  Why not grab a coffee and some cappuccino cake as well?

I've been a bit quiet on the posting front as of late.  That is due to a couple of reasons.  The first is that I haven't really shot anything of note for at least a week and I wasn't convinced by what I had shot (see last post).  Secondly, I've been shooting on film quite a bit and I need to get the film developed and scanned before I post.  Thirdly, I'm in the middle of building a new toy and this one is special.  More about that in a later post.  Finally, I'm finally getting round to making prints available.

A couple of months ago (Friday 10th May to be exact) I posted about making edition prints rather than limiting a run.  I am now well down the road of doing this.

The gallery has part of the original set hanging on the wall.  These are prints are lightjet prints.  This is now an aging and difficult technology to find but it consists of a huge machine that fires a red, blue and green laser at a sheet of light sensitive paper (photographic paper) this is then developed using tradition wet chemistry techniques.  At the end of the process you have a real photograph produced from a digital negative.

Luckily, I have a printer that is very local to me that can do this for me and I can get actively involved in the process.  I have to say the end result is a stunningly beautiful quality product.

These lightjet prints are what I determine as 1st edition prints.  Each one individually signed and can also be mounted and framed by request.  As of yet, I have not found a way of selling these over the internet but are available directly from me via email and more information is available the same way.

I am also about to release the second edition prints.  These will be available from the internet.  Although the prints are archival (and so the manufacturer says likely to last 150 years) they are produced in a completely different manner and this is reflected in the price.  They are still a quality product and will look good hanging on any wall.  Some of the Remnants images have been uploaded and the rest will go up soon.  They will be available in two formats A4 and A3 sized.  Once the upload is complete I will post a link to the online store.

Look out for the new edition of Pixel Magazine coming very soon!

Adventures in Motion

Make hay while the sunshines.  That's the adage and I have.

Last night I was out with my local camera club.  We were in one of our local parks and I have my trusty K1000 with me.  Loaded with Kodak 400 colour film I shot nearly a full roll.  Nothing fantastically interesting, just playing to get used to the camera and how it handles.  I have to admit, it does feel very different in my hand than my digital K-x.  That being said, compared to my Pracktica MTL3 and my old Zenits it does feel small, compact and very light. The lenses are nice and compact as well.  The 50mm f2 lens is not much bigger than my 28mm lens; the 135mm lens is similar in length to my digital 18-55mm but not as chunky!  All in all it is becoming a pleasure to shoot again.

I have to admit, I love abstract images and not long ago I came across an article about landscape images taken while in motion.  This sort of appealed to me and I decided to give it a go.  So last night as the sun was setting I strapped the tripod and camera in to the passenger seat, remote to the wheel now to set the camera up.  For this it was a case of aperture priority mode.  I'm not interested in depth of field here I more interested in screwing up the shutter speed.  As a result the aperture was stepped down to f32 with an ISO of 200 (lowest a K-x will go in RAW mode).  Then it was a case of drive!

In post processing I wanted a certain type of look so went for something that was a bit bleach by-pass with a touch more blue added.  These are the first attempts but I have to admit, I'm quite liking the results so far.

Remnants is still on at La Dolce Vita in Colne.  Why not pop there, have a coffee and a panini while walking around and having a look at my prints!  Try the cappuccino cake, it's gorgeous!!!

Coming up - I've been working on something quite beautiful!  Look out for the new edition of Pixel coming out in the next couple of days!

Remnants - The Exhibition

As I keep posting, the last couple of weeks have been extremely busy.  The main reason for this is that I have been getting Remnants together for an exhibition.

Tomorrow night sees the invite only preview night at the new photo gallery that is housed above La Dolce Vita Italian Deli in Colne.

The exhibition consists of 23 prints from the essay that can be found on this website.

Remnants officially opens to visitors on Thursday 4th July.



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