Getting Back to Basics

Having checked through some blips I'm pretty certain I saw Messrs Tonto McDuff and Silverback at lunchtime, looking like Blipperati Cowboys...

Lunchtime today was actually all about finishing off a roll of film in a Pentax ME Super that I've had on loan from my dad for a while, to go with another roll I finished a few days ago. Just trying it out really, with some strange results. A few of the photos look great, a lot of them are incredibly grainy (I think they're the ones at a higher f-stop) - it's all made me want to get my own film SLR and a wee developing tank... Of course I've got a few more even-more-back-to-basics cameras in the house.

An old Brownie Reflex has had a roll of 127 film put through it, and has another in just now, and I've found a place online that will develop them for not too much money. That came from my mum having a clear out of her loft. The even older Kodak Folding Pocket 3A (Model B5 I think) came from our next door neighbour. It was his mother's and probably dates from the 20s sometime. I need to get some 122 film, or adapt a spool to take 120 filme, before I can have a go with that beauty. Now that will make for an interesting lunchtime blander. Only get about 4 or 5 shots to a roll, which will make you think long and hard about what to photograph!

Mind you, that was the feeling with the film camera today. The first few shots there was the automatic glance at the back to see what I had taken. And more often than not I forgot to wind on. But there was something nostalgically fun about handing the film in for processing and waiting to see the results. More hit than miss, despite shooting manual (and it being, naturally, maual focus), pleased me. It was funny once I'd finished the roll, I then swapped over for the D90 in my bag and reverted to clicking away at everything, where until that point I'd been composing and thinking and calculating.

There's something to be said for taking a step backwards...