Thursday, January 26, 2012

A Day Trip to Bacchus Marsh with MSMinc

MSMinc Bacchus Marsh trip
MSMinc Bacchus Marsh trip
MSMinc Bacchus Marsh trip
MSMinc Bacchus Marsh trip
MSMinc Bacchus Marsh trip
MSMinc Bacchus Marsh trip
LC-A (Lomography X-Tungsten 64 film)

Last Saturday I went on a photo day trip out to Bacchus Marsh (about 40 minutes train ride outside of Melbourne) with the excellent Melbourne Silver Mine Inc. crew. 

As always, I took many cameras... but my trusty little LC-A was again, the champion. It was lovely being out of the city for a view hours while catching up with other film camera geeks, snooping through abandoned houses, past farms & generally having a nosey around the streets of Bacchus Marsh.

This was the first time I've used the Lomography X-Tungsten 64 film & I must say I had high hopes... & most of them were met. I love the variety in the cross processed colours & the low speed. Can't wait to use it again.

Has anyone been on a photo trip out of town lately? 

I hope everyone (in Australia) is enjoying their day off for Australia Day, regardless of your view of it's importance.

x Mel

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Brisbane City Lights with La Sardina

Brisbane City Lights / 15

Brisbane City Lights / 8

Brisbane City Lights / 4

Brisbane City Lights / 11

Brisbane City Lights / 10

Brisbane City Lights / 9
La Sardina (Lomography CN 800)

Ever since my luck with long exposure bulb shots in New York, I've been slightly obsessed with taking night shots... especially since most of the cameras I use require either natural light or a flash, its nice to know that there are other shots you can take at nighttime.

These photographs are of Brisbane at night, taken over the Christmas holidays while I was visiting my family & friends. It wasn't easy to get a whole lot of light trails, since there were hardly any cars on the road, but I love how the lights of the city & Southbank glow in these shots.

I had Lomography CN 800 film already in the camera, so I wasn't sure how long to leave the shutter open while using the bulb setting, but most of these shots are between 20-30 seconds.

Apologies for the quiet time on the blog front, being back at work & training up a new assistant... along with enjoying summer, I've sadly neglected blogging. 

x Mel

Sunday, January 8, 2012

LC-A: A History in Film

Welcome to LC-A: A History in Film! 

This is a rundown of all the film I have used since I first received my LC-A camera 18 months ago. Please feel free to ask any questions that come to mind, or if I have missed anything out that you would like to know, then please drop me a comment.

I hope this post can give you an idea of what kind of results you can achieve by using different film with your LC-A, it is by no means definitive, but I hope it can help you in your choice of film.

your laundry days
Fuji Sensia 100 ISO Slide Film (cross-processed)
[more photos here]

Sensia 100 was one of the first films I ever used in my LC-A... I wanted to try out slide film, found a couple of expired rolls at the local photo lab & took my new camera out for a day. I was so impressed with the beautiful pinks, purples & blues that you get from cross processing Sensia 100. One thing I found though is that if there is a strong light source in the frame that the shadows become very strong in the photos, so it may be worth shooting it at 50 ISO to lessen the darkness.

ladies who lunch in lavender fields
Rollei Crossbird 200 ISO (cross-processed)
[more photos here]

I was blown away with the results I got from Rollei Crossbird in my LC-A, the amazing yellows & greens and rich dark contrasts. It really is a perfect match for the LC-A, along with the fact that it's packaging states that you process it in C-41, making it easier to convince your local photo lab to cross process it for you without batting an eyelash! 

You can see my Rollei Crossbird review on Lomography.com here.

st kilda loneliness
Fuji Superia 200 ISO (colour negative)
[more photos here]

Fuji's colour negative films are renowned for their colour balance & fine grain. I have to say that I was surprised with the beautiful quality these photos have, a light vignette without cross processing & lovely colours. This film is a delight to use & a wonderful choice for when you want a little more speed than a 100 film with a lovely fine grain. 

highway
Kodak T400CN 400 ISO (black & white colour negative, now sold as BW400CN)
[more photos here]

To say that I love Kodak BW400CN is an understatement! It is one film that has never let me down, and has always given me consistant results. In the LC-A it gives balanced light & shadows, beautiful details & if well focused, beautiful crisp focused images. Another reason to love this film is that it is a C-41 development black & white film, so you can develop it cheaply & easily.

Dome LC-A
Rollei Redbird Redscale 400 ISO (colour negative)
Rollei Redbird is a delight to use, if you are prepared to break the rules a little. I know it says its 400 ISO, but rate it lower, at between 50 & 200, you will find more than just reds & oranges, soft to bright yellows, lime to blue greens & beyond! I love redscale, but with higher ISO films it tends to get a little too grainy for my liking, so I tend to push these kind of films a little lower on the ISO & the light & detail they pick up are amazing & make for stunning photographs. With the LC-A especially, I find if I use the non-automatic aperture or zone focus, you can get wonderful results in portraits & close up shots. 

a kiss
Kodak E100G Ektachrome 100 ISO (slide processed)
Bright saturated colours? Fine grain? Excellent light expression & capture? Oh Kodak E100G Ektachrome, be still my beating heart! This is sadly a film I have not used as much as I would like too, but it is a stunning film & although I have only ever had it processed as slide film, I'm sure that you would get just as wonderful results when cross processed. I think that after the results I have had with this film in my LC-A I will continue to slide process it. The colours are truly amazing & consistant, it is an expensive film, but well worth trying.

carlton gardens towards the city / 2
Lomography XR50-200 Redscale 50-200 ISO (colour negative)
[more photos here]

Similar to the Rollei Redscale 400 ISO film, this film from Lomography has been promoted as a wide spectrum ISO film & is incredibly good at it! The further to push the ISO down, the more yellows, greens & blue you get. It is also a wonderful film to use in the LC-A if you want some unusual results without using slide film and cross processing. It is cheap to buy & process, from my experience once you start using it, you can't stop.

Brighton Beach houses
Lomography X-Pro Chrome ISO 100 (cross processed)
[more photos here]

The Lomography range of slide films really are wonderful to use & with the LC-A they will give you rich bright colours, textures & vignettes. X-Pro Chrome gives your traditional 'Lomo' effect & is wonderful for using on bright sunny days. You can push down the ISO a little to capture more light, but I tend to stick to it's 100 ISO rating. You can guarantee that your results will always be quite fun & colourful.

Doug-hnuts
Lomography X-Pro Slide ISO 200 (cross-processed)
[more photos here]

Like X-Pro Chrom 100 from the Lomography range, the Lomography X-Pro Slide 200 will give you the traditional 'Lomo' effects, but with a little more light capture & a sea of yellows, greens & blues. A aqua blue overtone tends to be present in this film when cross processed, while with works well for many photographic scenes, it isn't everyone's cup of tea. I personally love it for street photography, where it brings out shadows & highlights, for this reason if you want to catch more mid-tones in your photographs, it would be best to go with a colour negative film in your LC-A. 

You can see my review of Lomography X-Pro Slide ISO 200 on Lomography.com here.

-4A
Kodak Ektar ISO 100 (colour negative)
[more photos here]

I had so many people tell me how wonderful Kodak Ektar was, they said that it is the saviour of colour negative films, I was doubtful... then I used it in my LC-A & discovered the slide like quality to it's colours & textures. Again I haven't used this film as much as I would have liked, but can't wait to use it more in the future. It has a beautiful blend of super fine grain & rich colours, along with the zone focus of the L-CA you could do wonders with this film.

Another tip you might find helpful is, if you own a LC-A without the +, you don't have a little window on the back door to see what film you have in your camera. If like me, you tend to forget what film you have in your camera at any given time, then you might find the Washi Tape & Sharpie Film Discovery Solution helpful.

I have also written a Diana Mini: A History in Film post that you may find helpful if you use the Diana Mini, Holga 135BC or similar 35mm plastic cameras.

x Mel

Friday, January 6, 2012

Golden Times with SX-70

bowls, bowing private <----
The Gus & Lene show gold frame Lene
gus & lene chillaxing my mother drawing
SX-70 with PX680 Color Shade Gold Edition & ND filter.

Over the Christmas holidays, I ventured to my home state of Queensland to spend time with my family & friends. Many photographs were taken, rolls of film developed when I returned to Melbourne & now I only have to finish the last few exposures on the films still in cameras.

One of the cameras I took to Brisbane was my newly acquired SX-70... this time with the new PX680 Colour Shade Gold Edition... I shot one pack of this film & am quite impressed with the results, 6 out of 8 exposures isn't bad at all.

While in Brisbane I enjoyed taking my parents & friends to the Matisse: Drawing Life exhibition at GOMA, they have a drawing room and cafe as you exit the exhibition with props & still life arrangements to draw & while away the day. I highly recommend it!

x Mel

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Happy 2nd Anniversary Melbourne!

Carlton Gardens The Square
Melbourne pedal power
Diana Mini (Kodak 400VC & Kodak 800)

It has been 2 years this week since I first moved to Melbourne... time flies when you are having fun, working, studying etc.

It's hard to imagine what life would have been like if I had stayed in London or if I had moved back to Brisbane... all I can say is Melbourne I love you & for now I may go on holiday occasionally, but I will be coming back to you for a while yet.

Happy Anniversary Melbourne!

x Mel

New Year Film Giveaway Winner is...

 

The winner by lucky hat draw of the New Year Film Festival Giveaway has been drawn....

Congratulations Much Love Anna!

A million thanks to those who took part in the giveaway... it has been wonderful to get to know new people & new blogs!

Remember to keep an eye out for all your analogue film needs at the Film Festival eBay store... especially when wanting to try out new types of film, you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it can be to experiment with B&W, slide and high speed colour negative films.

I hope the New Year has found everyone happy, healthy & with renewed spirits! Who knows what we are capable of in this year of 2012... I think we might just all surprise ourselves yet!

x Mel
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