Dublin - Street shooting

Deirbhile getting to grips with the waist love view finder on the Mamyia. Photo Taken with a Canon AE-1 with a Canon 50mm ƒ1.4 lens on Kodak T-Max 400 (TMY) 

Myself and a few friends decided to meet up to go street shooing and introduce one of the girls to the wonderful world of film photography.  Myself and Colin also decided to swap cameras, with Colin taking my Hasselblad 500C/M and me taking his Canon AE-1. I handed my Mamyia M645 to Deirbhile and quickly showed her how to use it before losing it with a roll of tri-x. 

Being a typical Irish summer day it rained nearly non stop for the whole day. With everywhere grey and dull I decided to shot a medium speed black and white film.  I had a large choice of films from Fuji, Ilford and Kodak. I took a roll of Kodak T-Max 400 to see what the modern equivalent of Tri-X was like. 

We had planned to do a "one roll of film" style project using my Hasselblad. The project entailed taking 12 frames and be proud to keep and print each one. However this didnt happen as we all were shooting very carefully, which made us take out time with our shots. Along with this it was difficult to shoot all 36 exposures on the 35mm Canon AE-1, and manage to get 36 shots that I would be proud to keep and print with in the time we were shooting. 

Knowing that it was going to be a difficult day shooting I decided to try and get at least 12 of the 36 shots at a standard that I would be happy to keep and print.  All the shots below have been taken with a Canon AE-1 with a Canon 50mm ƒ1.4 lens on Kodak T-Max 400 (TMY) 

through the window of The Butcher Barber,  Just off Grafton street.  Colin's reflection as he was spectating me shooting. Photo Taken with a Canon AE-1 with a Canon 50mm ƒ1.4 lens on Kodak T-Max 400 (TMY) 

I set out to capture some of the interesting things I seen when walking around. After running between rain showers, in and out of buildings and 4 hours of walking I shot all 36 shots. above and below are some of the shots I liked and would be proud, these shots are from the first part of the roll of film where i was striving to make each shot count. 

The monk at the church door. I feel like this was an ominous scene compound with the grey, rainy day.

The decisive moment, a quick shot as the woman explores the lanes of dublin

Through the arch at Trinity College Dublin.

The Spire between the buildings of Temple bar

To me this shot feels very metropolitan, encompassing many of the things we associate with european city. 

My reflection, taken in one of the many Gino's Ice-cream parlors around Dublin. 

Necklaces hanging in georges st. arcade 

The radio tower, from Grafton st. 

An interesting celling in Trinity College Dublin

Lines and people on Grafton St. 

A quick portrait of Colin and Deirbhile

Bee Keeping

Earlier this year I got my hands on a Hasselblad 500C/M medium format film camera, I decide to test it out and shoot some places and activities that happen in my local village. I started off with something very close to home, my dad; and his bee keeping and egg farming. 

Taken on Fuji Neopan 400, Carl and Cormac getting ready to go into the hives and inspect the bees, Carl lighting the smoker while Cormac takes a look at the tools and metraials for making frames. 

All the different parts that go into making frames for the bees. The frames contain a foundation wax which the bees use to build honey comb.

These pictures show a small glimpse into what goes into both making parts of the hive and maintaining the bees to get a good yield of honey.  With over sixty thousand bees per hive, and not having a suit I decided to be quick and get a few shots before the real work began, and the bees became agitated.

Taken on Kodak Tri-X, Carl and Cormac talking about what they are going to do, Carl holding a nuke box with some empty frames already inside.

Taken on a Hasselblad 500C/M using Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f2.8 on Kodak Tri-x.

Pumping smoke around the hive, to warn and calm the bees, making them go back into the hive, just before the lid is taken off. 

Taken on a Hasselblad 500C/M using Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f2.8 on Kodak Tri-x

Lifting the crown board from the lid to get into the frames of honey. 

Taken on a Hasselblad 500C/M using a Zeiss Planar 80mm f2.8 T* on Kodak Kodak Tri-x film. Inspecting the frames. Here Carl is checking how well the bees are progressing making honey. 

Carl explains to Cormac about how the bees fill out the wax on the frame and then fill it with honey. Taken on a Hasselblad 500C/M using Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f2.8 on Kodak Tri-x

Cormac nervously holding a frame of wax and homey, with a few hundred bees still attached to it. Taken on a Hasselblad 500C/M using Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f2.8 on Kodak Tri-x

Fine art - Flowers

Sometimes beauty can be seen in the simplest of things. Here is a selection of flowers that I have shot.  All the shots below were captured using a Mamyia M645 medium format film camera.  The monochrome shots were taken on Kodak Tri-X and the colour shots on an out of date roll of Fuji Provia Slide film.  Shooting out of date film has given the film a strange washed out look, along with a strange but interesting  colour cast.

Travelling to Delf and some Medium Format Film

Delft

Recently I was lucky to get the chance to travel to Delft, a city in the Netherlands.  The city is a quite architecturally beautiful, with many of the building being centuries old and of typical Dutch styling.  The Small streets, the many canals and bridges along with the churches really do make Delft what it is. 

We spent a few days wondering around, sampling all that Delft has to offer, the food, the sights and the atmosphere.  We Explored both the Old and New churches, which have significant links back to Kells, Kilkenny through William of Orange. Below are a few shots of Delft and the final shot is of a walk way in Amsterdam on the way home 

While there I came across one of the coolest vintage camera shops I have seen, they had a wide selection of vintage film cameras, from the Nikon F to Hasselblad 500C's and everything in between. I was looking for a Medium format camera, although lusting after a Hasselblad, I knew they were out of my range starting at €700 just for the body with no lens. Looking around I seen some Bronica's, Lubitel's, Roleiflex to name a few.  After taking to the shop assistant, I finally decided on a Mamiya M645 camera.

Shooting with the Mamiya was a challenge in its self, with no metering and no hand held light meter I had to first test expose with my digital camera and then take the shoot with film,  The view from the waist level finder and ground glass was very similar to the experience I had shooting a Hasselblad 503C, Which is in a previous blog head over and check it out Here. I also found myself using the Sunny 16 rule and making an educated guess at what what the photos would come out like. Taking photos with this camera was a thrill, even more as I couldn't wait to find out what I had captured. 

Scanning the film presents another challenge as at the moment I havant got a backlight scanner, so I have to take a photo of them using my digital camera and my computer screen as a light source. It isn't the best quality so I haven't scanned many. but here is a small low quality sample of whats to come when I get a scanner. The films used are Fuji Reala 100 and Lomography Colour 100, 120 Rolls. and C41 processed. I do have some Ilford Delta 100 but that will take a while as it has been sent off to be hand processed.  Below The top picture is Kells, Kilkenny where I was using the end of the rolls, below that is Up a windmill in Delft with my Folks.