More from my film camera.

Oldbones

Oldbones

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The Nikon FG20, not used it for a while, I also have a couple of old folder med formats that will be getting used soon.
For now here is some from the FG20.
I feel that I am starting all over again with photography, not such a bad thing in reality.
Film is fun but not something that I can take hundreds of shots and then sort them out in the afternoon of the day I shot them.
Slowed me down, indeed it has, hopefully for the better, in time.

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You certainly have a good eye for a picture. I particularly like the bench seat and the bunch of flowers. A lot of folk would have simply passed it by. Personally the one with the bales of straw and to a greater extent the one with the dual carriageway are a little too dark, but that one would have more appeal if the bridge were the bottom of the picture with the girl (at least I think it is a girl) on her own silhouetted against the sky. The vehicles on the road are not really contributing anything. These are my feelings but not all may agree,
 
I agree. The bench with the flowers is the best. It has a narrative element which the others lack.
 
Thank you, this has really helped me.
I think it is beginning to show that I need to get closer to the subjects.
Partly because the bridge and the hay bales look too far away, and when I do any cropping it puts a lot of grain into the photograph.
Devil or deep blue sea for me at the moment !
The bench photograph, I was only just a few feet behind it not more that 5 or 6 feet.
I was not worried about the back ground as I thought it needed no explanation, I just wanted no people in the shot.
Just had a feeling that when the people have all gone home, the memories and flowers are still there to tell a story.
This only my second outing with my SLR so I am happy.
 
The background of the picture with the flowers is spot on. If all the picture had been fully in focus then what do you have? Were the flowers placed there by someone who used to pass this point with a husband/wife/partner who particularly liked the peace. If all was sharp theoretically you loose that element. Pictures tell a story without needing any words.

With the one with the bridge, scroll the image down so the bridge is the base of the picture and eliminate the road it becomes all that much stronger and in its way also hints at a story.

The hay bales again is similar. It is the end of the summer and the harvest is in, but the very very dense hedge that is dead centre cut the picture in two and is the dominant feature. Possibly the negative may be a little under exposed which is why there is no detail in the foliage.. Possibly lightening up the foreground may bring some detail out I simply do not know.

As for getting grain when cropping a negative image, this is a penalty for scanning a negative (I assume that is what you did, I don't know) If I post a picture from a negative that print will have been made in a darkroom and the actual print is what is scanned and uploaded. That almost every time kills the grain problem. It is the same with colour as well, and makes a print look muddy.

Not helped with the lab that processes your film will not be using a fine grain developer so the film may not be getting the initial treatment that is deserves. Doing it yourself overcomes that problem to a large extent.
 
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Here is one more I have from the beach day.
Again it is a bit dull, but I do feel the composition is ok, although it says a tinge of sadness is involved.
Yes these photographs are sent to a lab and scanned and then digitized then sent to me, after which I do some basic edits. That is where cropping is really showing the grain, in saying that there are lots of very powerful photographs that are grainy and such.
Is there a point where the scene overtakes the technical aspects. Such as its not 100% in focus and it has faults but the scene is so impactful it then becomes a really thought provoking and quality photograph.
I have lots to learn, it will take time.
At least I am now shooting film and intend to keep going with this.
One of the good points film can be found for fairly moderate prices, and they don't have to be processed immediately.
Just when you want to, there must be thousands of unproced film all over the world waiting to be found.

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"Is there a point where the scene overtakes the technical aspects. Such as its not 100% in focus and it has faults but the scene is so impactful it then becomes a really thought provoking and quality photograph. ..."

This is a point I made in piece I gave a the camera club about a year ago. I would say the answer is yes and I might even suggest that photographs can be better because of it. Duane Michals, who we sadly lost in June, was a master of it. His photographs are not technically perfect, their edges are often dog-eared and scruffy, and he writes on them with not a particularly attractive hand. Often, the lighting is confused, and there are dust marks, hairs and other debris on the negative he prints from. I don't think they would pass muster in front of a club judge.

And yet he is able to create such an atmosphere, and to show such narrative imagination in his photographic sequences that his works command high prices and are owned by some of the most prestigious museums and galleries in the world.

Vive la difference.

 
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Wow, very powerful indeed.
I have heard of this fellow before, but this video is a first for me.
It gave me goosebumps.
Thank you for your comments on this.
 
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