2018 On Film

Poppies, Olympus XA, expired film.

Happy New Year everyone – I am sure you are a bit surprised to see me posting in this blog, since it has been half a year since I last published. In the missing half year I have been in the field four times, including totally off grid for about two months, and super busy when back at home with data analysis, report writing and so on. Some people call me “retired”, I am not sure why.

I thought I would post some of my favourite photos shot on film – I still have a few rolls not scanned, or in cameras, so this is not really complete. And fieldwork was nuts this year and I barely shot any film while in the field, so there is nothing from those expeditions here (there might be something forthcoming from the unscanned rolls, and I might also do a selection of digital shots from 2018 at some point).

I have been posting more on Instagram in 2018 (my feed can be found here and here), but even that dried up this fall when I was off grid for 6 weeks. I shot, or loaded, 62 rolls of film this year – the last one in July – using 21 different types of film through 15 cameras of various formats.

I have grouped the images into a few themes, each of which has a gallery of its own below. To see a larger version of any image in a gallery, then click on it – you can navigate with the arrows or by swiping.

Travel

We took a work trip to Tenerife in the Canary Islands to attend a conference, and then spent a week staying with my sister in Provence, France. Many of my favourite shots from this year are from that trip – I only took small film cameras with me as I needed to keep luggage to a minimum. They were both by Olympus, the XA rangefinder which I used and the MJUii which was a back up, but not needed or used.

 

TENERIFE

PROVENCE

Portraits

I have been taking my mother on outings when I am in town and often take her photo. Other family members get in front of the lens too, and even the neighbour with her chickens. These images were taken with a variety of cameras, quite often medium format, though I lead with a half-frame shot that combines my two most common photography subjects – my mother and the storm drain.

Storm Drain

The storm drain in Ross Bay is somewhere that I take a lot of pictures as well, though this year I have not taken many that I really like. The first one with bikes though, that one I think is one of my best storm drain shots. One interesting event this year was decadal low minus tides during the day that dried the whole drain out on the beach, and allowed a view in the end. All of the images in the gallery below are taken with an Olympus XA rangefinder.

I have this feeling that the apex of that project may have been reached with the half-frame triptych with my mother that leads the previous gallery. And since my wife has retired and I no longer drive her to work, passing the storm drain every morning in at least one direction, I think that project may have come to a natural end. Now to do something with the hundreds and hundreds of images.

Half-Frame

I got my 1960 Olympus Pen back into action. I find I can make pictures that I like years afterwards, probably because I have to take a lot more care with each shot, or group of shots, than with most cameras. This past year I also returned to scanning my own negatives, out of economic necessity. I found I was better at it than when I quit a year or so ago.

Exhibit

One 2018 highlight was the inclusion of three of my images in a film photography exhibit at the new Gallery Fourty Nine in Market Square. These two shots are from the exhibit, one from opening night, and the other at a more sedate time.

Around Town

This gallery is a miscellany of shots from around Victoria.

Out of Town

More miscellany, from day trips out of Victoria.

Well, that’s all folks! For film images anyway.

I would love to hear if there are any favourites in this group, or if there is another image absent which has stuck in your mind that I posted here or on Instagram in 2018. Thanks for sticking around, even if I have been letting down my end of the bargain.

Happy New Year everyone.

 

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24 thoughts on “2018 On Film”

  1. Again, it’s great to see you back. I suppose the weeks spent off the grid were nice in many ways. There are so many gems here – I love the accidental double exposure of your mother. Also the stones at the drain’s end, the plum tree with that wall behind it, Ross Bay cemetery, and the last two – the bathroom sink and the gorgeous bay. A wide-ranging group of images! Re the storm drain series, maybe that’s a book or a pdf?

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    • Being off the grid is excellent in many ways. Especially when spent in beautiful places – the work can be heavy and tiring, but the environment takes the edge off.
      I have been considering what to do with the storm drain images. When I took a photo workshop with Sam Abell he recommended a book of 10 or 12 images. Such a short book would barely be worthy of the name book, but perhaps easily managed in terms of costs etc. The hard part would be choosing only 12.

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    • Hi elisabettina – that is a good idea. I have been thinking about a short compilation, perhaps even hardcopy, of the storm drain photos that I like the best. Finding time for it is intermittent. I have a partial folder of selected images, but need to go through my archive and make sure nothing is lurking. Then I need to decide what to do with them. Happy 2019!

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  7. Wow, a year into one blog post gives a lot of diversity and a lot to peruse. Since I like your photography and style, perusal was a pleasure. There are quite a few photos here that I’d favorite. May 2019 be good to you and family, ehpem, and may you have the time and inspiration to keep on showing us your photography.

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    • Thank you so much Joseph, and nice to see your blog alive again on WP. As you will have noticed I have nearly dropped out of WP for a while, which includes rare visits to other blogs for the time being – they are made in bursts I am afraid.
      I notice that the link which gets made with your name when commenting here is a dead end link, while the link in your gravatar works fine.

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    • Thank you Theresa. There is a strong look that has continued into the next generation – one of my brother’s daughters is nearly indistinguishable from that sister. Including the way their hair falls.

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