I’ve been getting more and more involved with photography for several years firstly with several successive phones, then a Sony a6000 mirrorless camera. I have now finished my 2nd full week of a 4 year part-time BA(Hons) Photography Degree at the University of Westminster. My passion is becoming serious.
This term in practical we are going back to basics with analogue black and white photography. Some photographers say that this is irrelevant in the digital age – however, I would have to disagree. Analogue forces you to slow down (not take hundreds of pictures in an hour), understand the technicalities better and more thoroughly and really think about every shot you take. It is more zen, more meditative. This term in practical it’s shooting analogue 35mm film, developing my own film in the darkroom and printing real photos all in real black & white (not colour converted to b&w in post production). This is slow photography, craft photography.
With my beautiful (new to me) 40 year old Olympus OM-2 35mm camera, a 50mm f1.8 prime lens and a 28mm f2.8 prime lens. I am using film which has been made since the 1940s. I shot one roll of city landscapes with Kodak tri-x 400 film. I also shot a roll of this weeks music Open Mic at Project B in Croydon using Kodak t-max p3200 pushed to 6400iso. Yesterday for the first time ever I developed my own film in the darkroom. So far as I can tell from the negatives, both rolls look good. Next week it’s printing my contact sheets and my own photos myself, then I will really see if I am any good.
