Back to Niagara On-the-Lake for another street shot; I don’t know what distracted the two kids from looking away from the window into a ice cream parlour …
Rolleiflex 3.5E3 (Xenotar lens)
HP5+ film @ E.I. 320, developed in Perceptol 1+1
I’ve recently liked developing Ilford HP5 Plus in Ilford Perceptol developer, for fine grain and nice tonality, but it is an expensive developer. I was very happy therefore to find an equivalent developer, Legacy Pro Mic-X that gives me the same kind of results, for a lot less money! Both these images (shot in Niagara-On-the-Lake using my Rolleiflex 3.5E3 camera) are all from the first roll of HP5 Plus I developed using this developer. I’m sold!
It is very rare that I am happy with all twelve images on a medium format roll of film; one of my rolls from this past weekend in Niagara-On-the-Lake is one such example. It was a very hot day, with a brilliant sky and the ground baked hard under my feet. Fort George is a wide open space, with little respite from an unrelenting sun, and forme the use of a red filter to darken the sky and make the light more dramatic really helped capture the day. The camera was my Hasselblad 500C/M and the film was Rollei RPX400, developed in Rodinal.
As time goes on, my preference seems more and more towards using slower (less light sensitive) films and the larger negative size of medium format; it is hard to beat that combination for sharpness and fine grain. (Not that grain is always bad, quit the opposite) but this is the look that resonates with me these days. This set of photographs is from this past weekend in Niagara On-the-Lake, at Fort George. All were made using my Hasselblad 500C/M, shot on Ilford Pan F Plus, a slow speed (ISO 50) but wonderfully sharp and detailed film. Toned in post.
This image is from our trip to Niagara On the Lake this past weekend. It was a gazebo, so I had to shoot it, but to me the woman stretching out in front gives the image a slightly different, almost surreal aspect; it would be a very different image without her.
Nikon F2, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens
Eastman 2366 film, E.I. 10, developed in Xtol 1+1 for 10 minutes @ 20 C