P.E.N.A.F. #1: A year of photography,

or maybe more?

This is the first post of the series (P)hotography (E)ssays (N)obody (A)sked (F)or in which I will just write whatever its on my head about photography or (maybe only slightly tangentially) related topics. I also promise some pictures, not that they will be good or anything, but there will be some, I guess.

The full series is listed below.

1. A year of photography

2. 1/125 of a second.

3. The problem with film photography

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The photography bug strikes again.

So... around a year ago, I re-started using my forgotten Sony a6000 that was permanently mounted on a tripod as a web camera since the world went to a temporary online phase (we all know about that). To give you an idea, I was so not into photography that I even had the (one-in-a-lifetime) opportunity to go to Iceland and Scotland and I didn’t even think about bringing a camera. I, of course, regret it now; however, it was primarily landscapes, and I am terrible at that, but anyway, it is what it is. After taking the camera from the tripod, it lived for more than a year. I started using the camera extensively using a mix of Chinese lenses (7artisans, TTartisans, Mieke) and classic vintage manual focus lenses (i.e., Takumar, Helios, Zeis, Nikkor…) using adaptors that make it look like a hand grenade, sometimes.

It was great. I was having a great time with the camera and the different lenses i started to accumulate on the shelf. Unfortunately, I started to miss the old-but-goldy film experience that has been so much talked about lately. Additionally, I used to use it extensively while I was in undergrad years ago, for anything serious, I had no idea what I was doing back then (not to say that now I have a clue). I used it only to document my family and friends around. The camera I used at the time for you gear-nears-out-there was the incredibly popular Ricoh KR-Super II. I don't know what to tell you if you haven't heard about this camera.

Jokes aside, it is an entirely plastic body that feels like a toy after using fully metal Nikon and Pentax cameras. It has a PK-mount, to which I mounted the also incredibly unknown 'Auto Chinon 50mm f/1.9' lens, which, to me, at the time, was the equivalent of having Leica glass in my hands. Actually, the bokeh this thing renders is just superb (if I am allowed to say so). Below is a picture I took in 2015 in Santiago de Chile using the lens mounted on the little Sony nex-3n, my first-ever mirrorless camera. To this day, it still remains my favourite picture of one of my favourite parks ever 'El Parque Bustamante.'

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Anyway, I went off track... the thing is, I always used manual focus lenses (I am terrible at using autofocus, tbh), so I was just one step away from replacing the digital sensor with an overpriced light-sensitive pellicule, and as you might know already, I did it. It actually all started with an ad I got from the @morifilmlab via Instagram. It looked like a fantastic place, so I paid a visit, and yeah, as expected, those guys are the coolest. Incredibly passionate about their work and producing top-notch results. Once there, I couldn't resist buying a pristine Pentax Spotmatic they had on the shelf. After that, everything changed, and fast forward half a year: After a brief cinema-film phase (see the Japan-arc), I now predominantly use black and white film (Ilford HP5+ pushed 2 stops). I learned how to develop at home, which is also incredibly fun, and I even started printing my negatives in the darkroom, which changed literally everything.

All I think about when shooting (and developing!) is how to get the most “printable” negative to use in the darkroom. The ultimate goal now is to print, and not so much to scan or see the image on a computer screen. I even stopped posting most of what I do because I find that it only looks good on paper, and on screen, it's just kind of meh. Although they might just be awful, regardless of the medium, who knows?

To give you an idea of how the analogue workflow goes, it can take up to a month to get a print done after you take the picture (finishing the roll + going to the lab/developing at home + booking the darkroom + printing + drying + etc + etc + etc…) Meanwhile, using a digital camera you can get a print over the same day. However, I wish I could feel the same way using a digital camera; it would be much cheaper (!) and faster, but I just don’t feel connected the same way. Also, contrary to what you might be thinking, I do not feel a superiority complex over digital shooters, nor do I look down on them. On the contrary, I envy their capacity to connect with a medium different from film and produce fantastic work with it. In my case, every time I attempt to grab my digital camera, I think, “What if a damn unicorn shows up? Imagine I got a not-so-embarrassing shot, and I can’t print it in the darkroom”. After that mental gymnastics, I always end up putting my almost-a-kilo brick of metal and glass around my neck and walking out the door (ready for the unicorn).  

The entire process sounds like too much of a hassle (a nightmare, if you will), and on top of that, a lot (a whole lot, trust me) of things can go wrong (developing problems, un-sync shutter speeds, light-meter problems, unexpected light leaks and a much more). However, everything boils down to the evident lack of immediate feedback. So, I honestly think this whole process drastically reduces the number of ‘good’ pictures I can get, but simultaneously, it also taught me that I do not need a hundred ‘printable’ photos per year; I only need two or three. Those I can use for printing, which now feels like the end game of a picture to which I feel genuinely connected. 

Anyways… here is a recent darkroom print of a shot from three months ago. I did it with a lot of supervision from Ivan, who I consider my photography teacher and some sort of mentor when it comes to printing, and help from my girlfriend (@lousy.shots), who is also on this analogue ride. The print turned out great. I am very happy with the result, and I think it is probably the only picture I feel proud of this year. Especially since it is perfectly straight, something I usually struggle and fix in post, but when printing in the darkroom, although it can be done, it is just a complete hassle to put the frame straight.

This is also a kind of “unicorn picture” because I took it while I was going to buy lunch. I just grabbed my camera, “just in case”, and when I saw this mysterious shoe coming out of the wall, I quickly took one snap, closing down to f/16. I just crossed my fingers that everything was in focus (I had my lunch in my other hand). I got fortunate with the bike in the reflection, creating a more balanced overall picture. In this way, the frame does not rely only on the mysterious shoe that initially caught my attention. By the way, this particular roll was developed at @fotostudioleuven. Shout out to them for always being nice when I visit the store :)!

PS 1: Here is a scan of the negative. Apparently, it was frame number 19, which is about all the metadata we can get when we are shooting film. I only remember closing down to f/16 (that's why everything is in focus), and the shutter speed was up to the aperture priority; thank god the light conditions weren't too hard, hehe.

If you read up here, congratulations; your attention span is remarkably lengthy compared to what we have these days. See you around for the next post in probably a few months (years?). Who knows...

See you around!

Á.A.