Pandemic Photography

I have used and developed quite a few rolls of film since ‘lockdown’ was announced towards the end of March. Using the word ‘lockdown’ feels a little disingenuous as I’ve been fortunate enough to been able to keep running regularly, with plenty of opportunities for social distancing in the fields and woodland close to our house. I take photograph all the time, most often using my iPhone camera. However, I am increasingly drawn back to using film and thought I would use a post to share some of the sets of mainly 35mm photographs I have taken over the past few weeks. I love the process involved in taking and developing film, the unpredictability, the materiality, the imperfections…

All black and white photos below were developed at home using caffenol – a mixture of coffee, soda crystals, vitamin c and water.

I recently set myself a project of focussing on photographing light and shadows. This resulted in the following two sets of photos, both taken with black and white film in a compact Canon camera. The first set were taken in and around the house over the course of one day.

The second set were taken on a run, again focussing on light and shadow…

My instant Instax camera has been good for photographing some of the blossom that appeared during spring. I like the way it renders the colours, in particular.

I made my own pinhole camera for pinhole camera day on April 26th 2020, using a box of anti-anxiety meds to construct the camera.

If you put 35mm film in a medium format camera it enables you to use the full width of the film and the final image includes the sprockets. This was the first time I had tried this and I was pleased with the results.

The next set were also taken on my Ensign Selfix 420 medium format camera, this time using medium format film. These are from my first two rolls of medium format, having only just purchased the second hand camera – an Ensign Selfix 420 dating from 1942.

Colour film shots – I’m not set-up to develop colour at home so I sent these away to be developed and scanned in the negatives myself. To be honest, some of these could do with some additional colour correction, but I quite like them as they are…

And finally, a few more selections from a couple of other black and white films, mainly taken out on runs.