Shots off some recently developed rolls from the past couple months
Unfortunately I never seem to shoot the same film stock consistently with the same camera so I never end up developing everything on a regular basis- I’d like to start ensuring I have everything I shoot in a given month developed by the time that month ends but we’ll see how it goes
I had been trucking out the Rolleiflex on the lead up to the New Year- I took yesterday to get into the darkroom and develop up my first roll of Acros 100
I think something went wrong with my Rolleiflex during this frame- it did some naturally vignetting and when I cut out the frame from the area the scanner covered it didnt appear to be the same size as my others
I’ve been carrying around my Nikanos V on account of all the rain, the following are a mix mostly composed of Australia Day
I had taken a photo of the same dog on a roll of Astia 2 months ago
Up till now I had only been running color film through the Rolleiflex but seeing the results of the Neopan really affirms my preference for black and white
Depending on when I can get into the darkroom next I should have more on the way; I’ve been lax on the shooting on account of work stress- this past Friday was the first day I was able to get out and into a decent flow.
Not making time for the darkroom plays a part too- the longer I go without developing my film and seeing the results the less interested I am in continuing to shoot leading to my having less exposed film to develop and less reason to take an evening or afternoon to stand around measuring out developer and turning a tank upside down for 3 or 4 hours.
In an effort to switch it up a little I dug through the big bag of negatives to find something more modern
Someone’s vacation shots from a trip out to Alice Springs/Uluru National Park back in 1984- only thing written on the negative sleeve was “REB AIR AUG ’84”
I have no leads as to the actual photographer
Film stock was Illford FP4
A few more images off the negatives I picked up late last year
This hotel is still standing today in Mackay, Queensland
I had been contacted by another collector who identified the woman in many of the photos (including the image above) as Mollie Thomas; this is further substantiated by the name Thomas written on the actual cardboard negative sleeves.
I’d like to take more time to do some research on locations and people but trying to stay social, check off all the miscellaneous life errands, and keep on top of work is leaving me little time to even do any shooting of my own- the egg tray of my refrigerator is over loaded with rolls of unshot Tri-X and Neopan.
My study is getting full of stacks of old glass negatives, boxes of color slides, and rolls of black and white film that all need to be trayed, scanned and edited up- I’m hoping to get a breather sometime around mid-Feb when I can section off a clean weekend to keep things rolling.
I haven’t had much time to do any homework into these shots- I tried to see if I could look up the Exchange Hotel from the first shot but the subsequent Google results were too much to sort.
For now, I’ll focus on getting some scanned and posted- research can wait till later.
Reference:
I found a second hand shop was having a 30-50% off sale last weekend so I swooped in to see if I could get a deal on any old negatives they had- I ended up with a sizable bag of what I would guess is going on a few hundred spread across multiple packets.
Since the quantity is so large I’ve decided to break it down into a few separate posts, I’ve dubbed it the ‘Crown Street Cache’ since the actual store I found them at was on Crown Street in Darlinghurst.
These seem to be the most promising find yet- with the sheer amount of shots taken, there should be plenty of clues as to decade and location, I’ll see what I can manage this week for research.
I realized I had been forgetting to scan a few different rolls I had developed since I got back from the states so here’s a quick mix of shots in rough chronological order
That’s it for now
Originally I was trying to stick solely to negatives but I find I end up breaking that rule once in awhile and buy something like this- since these are scans of actual prints I left the tint and discoloration in tact for dramatic effect.
Most of the shots are of a European vacation and feature what are still common place tourist destinations such as the haunted Jamacia Inn, this same shot taken today can be found on the Inn’s main website.
My guess on time period is late 40’s/early 50’s- based on the dress of the people and the cars their driving.
Quick update with an image I was able to scan off of a glass negative acquired here in Sydney
They appear to be either miners or possibly railway worker posing in front a monument.
There is a date on it partially visible over the shoulder of the guy on the far right on the back row but I’m unable to make out the last digit, its reads either 1913 or 1918.
I went out to Sculptures by the Sea at Bondi and brought along an old Rolleiflex TLR that I had picked up about 8 months ago off a Canadian camera collector- I ran a couple rolls of Velvia 50 medium format through it just to get a feel for the handling.
The focus is much slower, the camera bulkier, the view finder is backwards (i.e. left is right) and the metering not as exact- even the square framing is a change- not to mention the 80mm focal length which feels telescopic compared to my usual wide angle lens.
When I switched from digital to film, I found that it forced me to think and plan ahead more in getting ready for a shot since I could no longer rely on auto-focus or a rapid fire shutter release- I’m willing to bet if I spent more time with the Rolleiflex I would find a similar gain in that it brings a new mode of working.
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