Das Schätzchen ist eine Leica IIIa aus dem Jahre 1937 mit der Seriennummer 261159, bestückt mit einem Leitz Elmar 5cm, 1:3,5. Oben drauf ist noch ein herrlich großer, schöner Sucher. Irgendwie warte ich ja nur darauf, dass Minolta - bzw, Sony, da es Minolta Digital ja nicht mehr gibt - einen Vollformatsensor rausbringt, der dann auch noch bezahlbar sein sollte. So ein großes Sucherfeld hat schon was...

Das Objektiv stammt aus dem Jahre 1952, wenn man nach der Seriennummer 987440 geht. Es ist also schon vergütet, man kann schon Farbfotos mit ihr machen, aber ich werde trotzdem einfach mal einen Schwarzweißfilm reinspulen. Nach Empfehlungen des Leica Forums einen Kodak BW  400CN. Ein SW-Film, der im normalen C41 Prozess entwickelt wird. Ich brauch also nicht meine alte Entwicklungsdose hervorkramen und bis zu den Knien in Chemie waten... Zum Ausprobieren gerade richtig.

Einen Ilford XP2 werde ich dann auch noch mal ausprobieren.

Meinen Belichtungsmesser kann ich dann auch endlich mal wieder benutzen, auch wenn die Schwarzweißfilme einen relativ großen Belichtungsspielraum haben.

Ich bin gespannt, wie es sein wird, wieder mal auf Bilder zu warten. Zuerst knipsen, dann Film vollmachen, aus dem Urlaub wiederkommen, Film wegbringen, Bilder abholen, ärgern, dass die Bilder nichts geworden sind usw. ... schon spannend.

Nachher muss ich erstmal versuchen, da überhaupt einen Film reinzukriegen. Zum Glück gibt es Youtube, da kriegt man ja zu allem ein Lehrvideo :-)

Das ist zwar ne M2(?), aber prinzipiell funktioniert das bei der 20 Jahre älteren Kamera ähnlich. Ich muss bloß vorher noch den Film zurechtschnibbeln...

Und wo wir gerade beim Ausprorieren sind werde ich dann mal sehen, ob die Zorki 1d, die hier auch gerade vor mir liegt, noch ordentliche Bilder liefert.

I took photos at a ballett for kids.

Kids. Exciting.

Bad resizing. Hilarious.

I'm wondering how many photos I've got of someone checking the photos on my camera.

Some fantastic 5tR33T.

Journey into yourself. Fantastic translation. +fav

"Fucking Austrians." Adorable.

Aww... lovely. Great job on the feet.

Me in like 10 years. Happy happy times. <3

Me in 10 years ago.

Now: Kodak 125PX

At a wedding... I still need to make a print of this one and give it to her. I'm a lazy bastard.

Obviously, it's not an traditional Austrian wedding... but India.

Very decisive cropping.

Sadly, I shot almost exclusively digital. I plan posting them "soonish"... hah, like... next year.

Contemporay Austrian 5tR33T art.

That's Steffi. You might remember her from the previous entry. If not, never mind.

And one more for the collection.

Vienna. What a lovely concrete desert.

I actually tend to like this one!

Now 400TX again. Another wedding.

Now: Again 400TX but with ART. I forgot rewinding the film and umounted the baseplate just to see that... well, I didn't rewind... yielding in adorable art.

I finally exposed a roll of Ilford PanF50 that I had in my fridge literally for years. The negatives are thin and a bit dirty. Nice.

More portrait stuff for Steffi.

I actually somewhat like the dark look of them. Although I'd have prefered some 125PX-like punch.

Anywho, I'm tired and my pillow is feeling lonely. Hope you enjoyed. On a side note: These shots were taken in late May. Catching up, I am.

Until then, have a good one,

Bernhard

Now, I would never, ever try to compete with Russel Davies's Eggbaconchipsandbeans, but for once in my life I wanted to at least try to emulate the amazing experiences he must have when he sneaks into a new cafe, camera at the ready, poised to picture another perfect plate of food. So, when I had a morning to spend in Ilford (the less exciting East of London's East End) I found this little gem of a cafe and, wielding my trusty TX1, entered the premises and uttered for the first time the eternal words:

Can I have Eggsbaconchipsandbeans please?

And it worked. After 5 minutes (in which I wanted to write numerous letters to the Daily Mail, as this was the only paper that was lying around) this arrived in front of me (with two enormous slices of fresh buttered bread and a smile)

Now this looks as good as most of Russel's cafes. The cup of coffee was lovely and fresh, the smiles genuine and the price fair. The beans were desperately clinging to the edge of the plate, not to be pushed into the abyss by the generosity of the cook. The chips were lovely and not too dark, while the bacon made an almost teutonic statement of hegemonical prowess draped over a a third of the porcellain, and only the egg retained a modicum of modesty.

They had more lovely stuff on their menu:

I am now a part of the gobal brotherhood. I will worship in the altar of the greasy spoon as often as my ever expanding waistband will allow me. But I will defintely return to this, my first place of epiphany.

Thanks, Russel.

Noah's Ark,

10 Chapel Rd
Ilford, IG1 2AG

Justin Goode Photography Permissions Contract

In Ilford !

Iphone fever must have truly gripped the last corner of the British Isles.

There is nothing more to say than that the food was absolutely delicious, the service was extremely good, friendly staff and that a wonderful feeling of satisfaction arised.
The special aspect of Tamrah is that anyone from any class can visit without being treated any differently. I KNOWfor a fact that Tamrah has many common customers and has become a local, lovable place. It was very obvious to me that many of the visitors who were there had been there plenty of times before due to the fact that they were well known by the owners. Many knew the menu by heart and had great knowledge of the best dishes served. The prices are amazing considering how much food is in 1 portion at Tamrah. I can definitely recommend this place and it is absolutely worth a trip to East London!

Pro’s: Amazing food, great service, charming.

Con’s: Not the best location

[audio https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/4726/08%20Sub%C3%BArbios.mp3]

(Lisboa, Maio 2008)

Foto: Ricardo Jorge Carvalho

"I o to chodzi", rzucil do mnie szef, trzymajac wyciagniete oba kciuki w gescie zwyciezcow. Znaczy, ze sie nadaje, o :).

A teraz znowu mala retrospekcja.

W sobote wybralismy sie z Jedynym na ryneczek. Najpierw male rozeznanie terenu. Wniosek jeden - nie da sie byc niezauwazonym. Trzeba... PODEJSC do ludzi. O zgrozo, zagadac. Przywyklam juz do tego w pracy, dalam rade. Kolejny kontakt z rzeczywistoscia. Ludze sa mili. Przyszla para wyrostkow z prosba o zdjecia, a Oni, nie dosc, ze pozowali, zalatwili nam innych "modelow", to jeszcze obdarowali Nas siatka warzyw z domowego ogrodka. Pyszne byly. Jedyny tez potwierdzi, gdzyz Kamis specialnie dla Niego przygotowala twarozek i jeszcze kanapki mu do pracy przywiozla. Starzeje sie, robie sie pro rodzinna... masakra.

A w pasku prawie-jak-ilford :). KLIKAC!

Co do paska. Dokument to dla mnie cos nowego. Chcialoby sie wiecej. Wciaz siedzi we mnie zlota zasada podzialu i niechec do przekrecania kadrow... Ech. Mam tylko nadzieje, ze udalo mi sie przekazac szczerosc i zyczliwosc tych ludzi, kaczek tez :D.

Musze napisac do Poradnii Psychologicznej dla Artystow. Na ulotke wpadlam w Lazni. Tak, to jest rozwiazanie ;).

Choc jak ktos mi mowi, ze moj styl jest symetryczny, to tak sie cieplej robi. Przynajmniej mam "styl" ;).

Swoja droga polecam te ekspozycje, tj. te z okazji 10-lecia Lazni. Duzo zdjec, duzo dobrych zdjec. Poleca rowniez Duma Topolowki. Zeby nie bylo, siedzialam z Duma Topolowki przez 3 lata w lawce, o :).

Kami

ps. Kaczuszki na zdjeciach sa przemile w dotyku. Trzy ostatnie nosza tytul roboczy "The way of the Duck", co madrzejsi zakumaja ;).

ps2. Kupujcie kaczuszki, sa tansze niz chomiki!

ps3. Wybacz Martus, obiecalam sobie, ze kiedys to napisze :D.

[audio https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/4726/Linda%20Martini%20-%20Morda%C3%A7a.wma]

(Lisboa, Maio 2008)

Foto: Ricardo Jorge Carvalho

A few weeks ago I took a one day trip to Sandon with Karsten and Dan.  I had been to this former boomtown now ghost town in the Kootenays before.  A couple years ago, Faeryll and I explored the hiking on the valley sides above the townsite.  This time, however, there was five foot snowdrifts and no hiking, but again lots of photography.  The shot from Sandon were taken on Ilford 400 and Fuji Neopan 400, with a Rebel G, and my SMC Takumar 50 1.4 lens or my Bushnell 28 2.8 lens, both screwmount.  Perhaps the highlight of the day was Dan rappeling off of a road bridge on the way home!

All the photos are in this set at Flickr

In addition I distribute Ilford and Magiclée photo papers and canvas which are also fine products.

Ilford produces GALERIE Smooth Gloss, Smooth Pearl and Smooth High Gloss.  These papers incorporate cutting edge porous inkjet design, allowing an ‘Instant’ dry effect in both dye and pigment based printers. A new addition to the Ilford range is an economical 250gsm satin photo paper

The Magiclée range includes superb presentation and poster weight papers in gloss, satin or matt. Papers in the Magiclée line include fine art, matte presentation, and fast-drying photobases. Canvas selections range from 100% cotton to poly/cotton canvas blends. All are compatible with the water-based ink and printer systems and most are compatible with longer-lasting pigment ink sets. Magiclée brand media makes it possible to achieve quality results with sheets and rolls, which are available in a variety of sizes.

Email me at ian@straydogphotos for more details on papers.

the first shot has gave me some ideas for my upcoming shoot with the Breakers. It's a well executed shot anyway. And as for that video, WOW is all I can say.

Ben Roberts is this amazing photographer who I just discovered last night through flickr. His "Higher Lands" series is a body of work that really works well. His other work is worth a look too, a lot of good inspiration.

It's also good to see that one of my favourite London photographers, Jamie Stoker, is back on the scene. His coverage for the Howies catalogue is really good. View it on his blog!

The past few days have been about... bento boxes, Brand New and their first album, one essay down one to go, delta 3200, late evening sunshine, cuddles, holding hands and watching ned girls steal ghosts.

Before giving a brief introduction to the Homo Photographicus some rather old frames - shot on Ilford FP4.

Stefan and I went out because we can. What a cutie-smile... aww...

Cruising the street with a ridiculous amount of cameras, we spotted a fellow 5tR33T-fighter armed with a Leica M and some serious lenses. Those frames were shot with his 75/2 asph. Anyways, I'm not too impressed with the lens to be honest. Maybe it's my focus skill... who knows.

Bernd joined in. He loves the cameras.

Team Awesome.

Eva!

Aww... happy faces.

Stefan showing off his impressive burping skills.

One in a million.

So Eva, Stefan and I were hanging out at Naschmarkt... having Dürüm, burping and beer.

Some serious camera geeking.

Eva freezing her ass off.

There's quite a lot of dust on those frames for some not so obvious reasons...

More of Eva because the light was so lovely.

Back to 400TX - I'm not too fond of FP4.

Parking cones indicate that some serious business is going on.

On my way home I met those two young fellows. Für den Hoond - die haben ganz fest geshuffelt.

A few frames from the bottle recycling facilty... I know... I should finally post the digital frames. I'll do so... soon.

She was argueing with her dog. I told her that dogs are the better human beings - we both smiled.

Then, it was me and the PET bottles again. Good old soda bottles... filled with the remainings of XTOL, fix and stop.

Waiting for the film to dry... beer.

I figured that my second series is going to be about bins.

Eine Geschichte zum Weinen.

One of those scenes I like. Yay!

So, finally , a few frames featuring the Homo Photographicus in his natural environment. Shot on Kodak Plus-X 125.

The silverback giving the obviously younger and inferiour Homo Photographicus a stern look.

The Homo Photographicus at his favorite activity: Hunting.

Like monkeys.

Their bananas.

Free Tibet - because it's hip to be square.

That Homo Photographicus is definitely ready for some serious action.

The last unicorn.

Tight ass. Tight camera.

See, monkey see.

Fabian.

Hope you liked some,

take care,

Bernhard

Dear All,

I have been out for a few days and several of you have sent me PM's re POLAROID : Please see below :

April 18th, 2008, Mobberley, Cheshire UK and Minnetonka, MN, USA -- HARMAN technology Limited and its monochrome brand, ILFORD Photo and Polaroid Worldwide have been in discussions about ILFORD Photo taking on production of Polaroid's black and white professional instant sheet film. Despite their best efforts, together the prospective partners have determined that they can not find a commercially viable way forward.

HARMAN's Chairman and Managing Director, Phil Harris said. " The processes involved in the manufacture and assembly of professional instant sheet film products are very demanding and it would require substantial investment to re-establish them at HARMAN technology's site in Cheshire, England. When compared with current and projected sales for the products, it was clear that such an investment could not be justified."

Phil Harris continues: " While we had hoped to work together on continuing the production of instant sheet film, it is cost prohibitive to meet the declining demand. As a company, we are saddened that such an inspirational form of expression will disappear, but we will always remain staunchly committed to the long term future of monochrome photography in all its facets and we will continue to do everything we can to support it".

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

Io sono un raro caso di passaggio dal digitale all’analogico, a causa della rottura dellla macchina digitale, non potendo comprarne una nuova decisi di usare una reflex manuale che giaceva inutilizzata in casa.

Dopo diversi mesi mi trovo bene, non so se tornerei indietro dato che i risultati mi soddisfano. Come vantaggi posso dire che scatto meno foto e penso di più prima di farlo. Poi trovo sia più bello non controllare sul momento quello che hai fotografato ma doverti fidare senza la possibilità di verificare.

Uso in genere EliteChrome 100 per il colore e Ilford Delta 100 e TMAX100 per il bianco e nero, recentemente ho comprato HP5 Plus che devo ancora provare. Ho usato in passato Velvia 100 ma visto il prezzo elevato ho trovato un buon compromesso tra qualità/costi passando a Kodak.

Tornando a voi: quali pellicole utilizzate? Ditelo nei commenti!

Since I was on my way to Glasgow on Sunday night to watch my friends band The Bensons play, I thought I may as well take along the Konica and see what it could do. Loading it with (expired) 3200 speed Ilford Delta which I found in the fridge, I was able to get shutter speeds of mostly 1/60. Not bad considering the lighting was shite anyway.

Here are a few shots from the roll, developed in Xtol (stock), scanned with an Epson 4490 and touched up a little in CS3.

Just to wind on the roll

Some new landscape work will be up by the weekend hopefully!

Ilford, Velvia and Fujichrome :)

Part of my photobook project

In the wait of a gig-packed month of May, April is being quiet so I challenged my legendary rigidity towards pop groups (and chilly spring nights) and I rode my scooter to see The Long Blondes presenting their acclaimed second album, “Couples”, live.

Surprise surprise! I enjoyed the show. Driving back home I randomly drew some general, personal and band-related conclusions.

First of all, being open-minded helps a lot on having a happier life. Easy to understand, less to put in practice. Try it, go where you wouldn't go, shock yourself!

Key for a band (live) success is the (stage) presence of the leader. To me bands work even better when a vocalist not involved in playing any instrument, fronts them.
The Long Blondes have a marvellous lead singer. Kate Jackson is the key to their success and to my enjoyment.

She guides the show with confidence. The look of a blonde French actress, red-carpeting Cannes 1963, translated into a brunette English girl, coming from the city of the renaissance of Brit music, Sheffield 2008.
Elegant, outgoing, she fascinates the fans with magnetic eyes and a surprising creative singing that can shift from a romantic, seductive voice to an amusing singing-along attitude.
If you thought Blondie (I mean Debbie Harry) couldn’t team up with Siouxsie you may want to think it again; surprisingly the result materializes in a sophisticated, although entertaining, art-rock outcome.

The Long Blondes are not just Kate Jackson. There are two girls and two guys invited to the party. It wouldn’t be the same band without guitarist/keyboard player Dorian Cox. His rhythmic on guitar, technically supported by a brilliant “left hand” (he is left-handed and holds the guitar "Jimi's way"), is the heart of their beat. His work on keyboards is indeed the secret behind the magic of their new electro-pop musicscapes.

Murphy’s law is not a humour book, on the contrary, it is the closest demonstration to exactness and reproducibility of science I ever came across. If it is true that a car and a truck travelling in opposite directions will meet right in the middle of a narrow bridge, it is as true that in a month so poor of gigs, on the same night, a Sunday night, there are three tour buses arriving simultaneously in the small town of Cambridge, UK.

The Long Blondes supported by the mediocre XXteens.
Blood Red Shoes (coming soon!) supported by the interesting Violet Violet and These New Puritans (which I missed to see XXteens and I regret, sorry guys, next time).
KT Tunstall supported by Teitur both left out; photo-pass was confirmed too late, I already shot her once and I am not convinced of her “Yankee-ish” twist.

By the way, it is worth acknowledging, I learnt I have a partial gift of ubiquity. I can be in two places at once, sadly not three. The madness of listing seven bands on the same night was mildly balanced by having five of them in two adjoining venues. I managed to check out four of them, not that bad.
On a personal consideration, I also realized that I couldn’t do a multi stage festival without being frustrated to miss some bands out in order to watch others.

Back to the gig. The new single, Century opens the show and indicates the direction. Congratulations to the Long Blondes to have completed their second album choosing the difficult path. Instead of opting for a selection of first album out-tracks, as it happens for 90% of sophomore outings, they came out with totally fresh, new, different material. A more mature sound which left the fellow-citizens, Pulp influenced, brit-pop to the past and blinks at electro-atmospheric-pop.
It is not my favourite music, but it is undeniably good music, hence, I was positively surprised.

Live the new songs don’t look out of place combined with the classic hits, at least to the ones (me) not too emotionally attached to the first album, Someone to drive you home. Thanks to Kate voice and band arrangements, they harmonize well, giving the audience an opportunity to approach the band from diverse points of view.

Their famous early statement "We do not listen to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors or Bob Dylan. We chose an instrument each and learnt to play it" is still audibly valid, nevertheless leaving those vinyls in daddy's sitting room, they must have browsed a lot of nice contemporary music to come out with a setlist which has been better than even my more optimistic expectation.

Meet them here [myspace]  [website]

Friday 4th April 2008

Chris Cheesman

Polaroid chiefs are in talks with the maker of Ilford film over the possibility of producing Polaroid black and white instant film at Ilford's base in Cheshire, UK.

In February, Polaroid announced plans to axe film production, blaming competition from digital cameras, 61 years after it hailed the birth of 'instant photography'.

A spokesman for Harman technology Ltd, which trades as Ilford Photo, told us that Ilford Photo and Polaroid are 'talking' but added that 'it's very early days'.

He said discussions are focusing on Ilford Photo 'taking on production of Polaroid monochrome instant film'.

Polaroid Europe's general manager Philippe Kalmbach confirmed that Polaroid is 'working on various options to keep our instant business alive as long as possible'.

In an email he told Amateur Photographer (AP): 'As you can imagine, we are working on several scenarios but none of them are locked yet.

'We have to give the best possible support to the instant community, either by leveraging further some of the portfolio or by giving them new options based on our digital instant products with technologies like Zink.'

Zink stands for Zero Ink, technology that Polaroid hails as the digital equivalent of instant film. It uses a process similar to dye-sublimation printing to produce an image on special paper.

Polaroid plans to include Zink technology in a range of digital compact cameras later this year.

In an interview with AP earlier this year, Kalmbach revealed that Polaroid may also launch a Zink-enabled 'bridge' camera – a model with a non-interchangeable lens, positioned in the market between a compact and a digital SLR.

The first product to incorporate Zink technology will be a printer scheduled for UK launch in June.

Formed in 1879 - and based in Mobberley, Cheshire - Ilford became famous for its black and white film, paper and darkroom chemicals.

Focusing

• The Lone Wolf: ,91m or 3ft.
• Three-some: 1,83m or 4-6ft
• The Crowd: 2,74m or 8-10ft
• The Mountain: Infinity. Hard to tell, like most things about this camera.

Looking thru the viewfinder probably doesn't do any good as it suffers from ages-old parallax problem. Most shooters aim and shoot.

Film: I have tried the following 120 films for my Holga 120 FN:

B&W: 

• Ilford FP4+ 400 (gallery, post)
• Ilford Delta 400 Professional (developing)
• Kodak T-Max 400 (developing)

COLOUR NEGATIVE (C-41):

Fujifilm ist dem Namen nach und speziell in unserer Branche ein Begriff für photographische Aufnahmefilme. Und in der Tat stellt die Firma diese auch her. Das Film-Geschäft trägt jedoch nur noch unbedeutend zum Ertrag der Fujifilm-Holding bei.(1)

Fujifilm-Chef Shigetaka Komori sieht die Zukunft des Unternehmens im Pharma-Bereich und kauft entsprechende Firmen im großen Stil auf: "We aim to become a comprehensive health-care company". Offenbar lässt sich das Know-how, das sich bei Fujifilm zur Filmherstellung angesammelt hat, gut für die Herstellung von Medikamenten nutzen.

Probleme mit der Qualitätskontrolle?
Fujifilm Neopan-400-KB-Container mit falscher Kennzeichnung
Photo © Martin Frech, Berlin

Wichtige Geschäftsfelder von Fujifilm sind heute Flachbildschirme und Bürokopierer, zunehmend auch Medizintechnik (Gen-Analyse, Ultraschall- und Röntgenbild). Filmfabriken wurden schon geschlossen, die Kameraproduktion von Japan nach China verlagert. Es könnte also sein, dass Fujifilm sein Filmgeschäft bald aufgeben wird.

Bei Kodak sieht es ähnlich aus, Agfa und Polaroid sind Geschichte

Somit gibt es mit Ilford nur noch eine Firma, deren Kerngeschäft die komplette Palette an Schwarzweiss-Materialien ist und die diese mit hohem Qualitätsanspruch selbst produziert.

Es gibt kleine Anbieter, die sich in diese vermeintliche Lücke drängen und den sehr kleinen Markt fragmentieren. Dieser Markt lebt wesentlich von der Nachfrage der Liebhaber und der Künstler. Diese kleinen Anbieter, die entweder Material von den Großen/Verblichenen umetikettieren und/oder manufakturähnlich selbst herstellen (wollen), verstehen es teilweise sehr geschickt, das Internet als Marketingplattform zu nutzen. Sie versuchen, den Eindruck zu erwecken, sie seien die wahren Sachverwalter der silbernen Kunst.

Ich sehe das anders und kaufe bei Ilford. Dort glaube ich meinen Materialbedarf zukünftig am ehesten gesichert, und das in zuverlässiger Qualität und einer gewissen Bandbreite. Bei den "neuen kleinen" weiß ich zur Zeit nicht zuverlässig, welche Emulsionen sich unter den Etiketten verbergen und ob sich dies bei der nächsten Lieferung wieder geändert haben wird. Auch erwarte ich von dort kein modernes Material -- diese Anbieter beschäftigen man sich m.W. nur mit klassischen Emulsionen und haben (außer mit Efkes 127er-Rollfilm) nichts zu bieten, das ich nicht auch bei Ilford bekäme. Und jeder Kauf bei denen schmälert Ilfords wacklige Zukunftschancen.

(1) Hall, Kenji: Fujifilm Focuses on Pharma. In: businessweek.com. Online verfügbar: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2008/gb20080312_471823.htm (2008-03-23)

Weitere Randgebiete-Beiträge zu dieser Thematik (Auswahl)

• Photographie ist unverzichtbar für die Menschheit
• Nachfolger für Provia 400F
• Kauft Gefrierschränke
• Ilfords SFX200 ist wieder da
• Rollei Digibase CN200 Pro