End of part one

Laundry is coming along nicely.  The landscape shots are consistant and giving the impression of the laundrette business in 21st century but now it is time to get away from these.  It's now time to start looking to the people that work and use the laundrettes.  It's time for a new phase in the project.  Watch this space!

Getting Back to Laundry

Well, my holiday is a long distant memory and it's time to get back to work.  So, I loaded up the K1000 and went out to shoot some laundrettes.

I'm quite pleased with some of the shots.  Others I think I need to re-shoot.  They will be posted over the next few days to my flickr stream.

The look of Laundry has changed somewhat.  The film I used in the original series of shots is now unavailable and as such I have gone on to use Fuji Superia 400 which in my opinion is an excellent film.  If fact it's a bit too good.  I have lost a little of the atmosphere of the original series of shots due to Fuji's better colour reproduction, sharpness and low grain.

Second roll makes an appearence

I have recaptured my photography youth!

Actually, I'm not that old but in terms of technology, I must be somewhere near 250 years old.  I should explain.

Right up to around 2004, I was still shooting on film.  I had a brief flirt with digital but went straight back to film although I did start learning how to scan and manipulate prints in photoshop.  When I finally went fully digital I soon began to realise that I missed something about my photography.  One day, I actually put my finger on what it was.

Back in the good old days, I didn't do my own processing.  Not even black and white.  In fact, I actually shot mainly colour and its only as I have got wiser (not older, I hasten to add) that I have found a love for monochromatic film and processing it.  In the good old days, you took your roll of colour film to a lab and you waited three or for days to see what you got back.

If I concentrate I can still feel the excitement and anticipation building as you wait for the lab assistant to hand the envelope with you pictures in and stepping out in to the cool air as you slowly prised open the end to have a quick flick through them before anyone else could see them.

For colour I still go to a lab.  Especially, with something like a roll of film from an essay.  The lab I used is based at Hayhursts Camera Shop in Nelson and they do a fantastic job for me.  They are still as passionate about film and film photography as ever.  Even still selling film cameras and equipment.  They are well worth a visit and a mention!

I suppose what I am getting round to saying (in a round about and convoluted way) is that I have found that bit of excitement again.  Taking my film off for developing, waiting a few days, getting back and then being as eager to scan it and see it on the screen as I was to open the envelopes.  I have to admit, I do take a sneak at the negs before I scan them.

Anyway, the second roll has now been developed and the essay is beginning to find it's feet.  Switching to the K1000 is proving to be a good idea.  The images now have a look about them and are beginning to develop a theme. 

This roll of film covers Blackburn and Earby and has a few nice shots on it.  I'm not sure if I'll use all the ones that I posted on flickr this weekend but there will be one or two that make it to the final essay.

Like the first roll this one is made up of mainly external shots which of course put the business in the context of the communities that they serve but this is useful.  Not every external shot will make the final essay but it has to be balance across the region.  After all this is supposed to be about Pennine Lancashire and not just Blackburn and Pendle.  Therefore, I will have to take trips out to Burnley, Darwen, Hyndburn, Ribble Valley and Rossendale to catch more external images.  These will come in time.  For now, I think I need to capture some detail shots and some people.



Visit Laundry's flickr set and see the full set of images.



Cheap versus Expensive

HP Scanned Negative

The other day I posted the scans of the negatives that had come back from the first roll of film.

I wasn't over happy with the scans.  There was a really bad blue cast and they weren't quite as sharp as they could be.

I scanned these negs with an expensive HP scanner with a dedicate TMA negative attachment.  You would think that a machine designed for doing this job that cost around £300 would be pretty damn good.  However, it wasn't and neither were the scans.

Maplin Gadget Scanned Negative

So, I decided to re-scan them with my cheap little Maplin Gadget Negative Scanner.  Costing £25 you would think that this would be highly inferior to the HP scanner.  In fact, I normally call this scanner the crappy little scanner.

I know have to hold my hands up and say I was wrong.  The scans from 'my little brilliant scanner' are sharper
and have far better colour.  Take a look for yourself.

Out of the tank

You know when your essay is coming together when your first roll of film comes out of the tank and the negatives go through the computer.

I have actually shot two rolls of film on this project but only one has been developed so far.

This first roll of films contains images from the two shoots that I had mentioned in earlier posts.

The scans of the negatives are in fact quite poor which has led to a blue cast over each of the images. The negative scanner that I own isn't the best and I have to admit, as far as scanning negatives go, I am a complete novice and I have a lot to learn.  Perhaps this will be an on-going tech-talk subject.

That being said, I have ended up with quite a retro look to the images that sort of match the original roll of film.  With this I am pleased.  I'm also pleased with how the essay is going so far.  I have some nice landscape type images that have a good feel to them and the pictures of the kids are great.

The second roll of film contains more landscape images.  I do need to shoot a few more external images to get an overall feel to the laundrette landscape in Pennine Lancashire but I'm quickly beginning to feel that it is now time for detail and portraits.  It's time to get serious!

The images from this recent shoot and the original mini-essay can be found on my Flickr photostream or in the Laundry set.

Talking Tech - Fujifilm Superia 400

Image courtesy Fujifilm

Once upon a time I used to go to the nearest shop that sold film, stuck it in my camera and didn’t give it much thought.  I was young and eager to shoot.  I didn’t care what it looked like when it came out so long as I was shooting.

Fast forward a few years and I notice that I began to like a certain type of film.  I started shopping for that particular roll.  I preferred it over other brands.  That roll of film was Fujifilm.

I wasn’t too worried about the speed of the film, it just had to be right for what I was shooting.

So when it came to re-approaching the Laundry essay I had to pick a film that:

1.       Sort of fitted in with the original series of images;

2.       Looked good when scanned and printed;

3.       That I like and;

4.       Is easily available.

The answer was a return to Fujifilm.

Superia Xtra is still manufactured and widely available at a reasonable price which made the decision relatively easily.  It is also still available in ASA400 speed which was the desired speed that I wanted for the project.

For those that are new to photography ASA or ISO (as it is now known) is the sensitivity rating of the film to light.  The bigger the ASA/ISO number the more sensitive the film (or digital sensor) is to light.  Therefore, the time need for the film to be properly exposed is shorter or ‘faster’.  For example a film or sensor with a speed rating of 400 is twice as sensitive as or faster than a film or sensor with a speed rating of 200. 

The speed of the film or sensor also has an effect on the quality of the resulting image.  A faster film or sensor will have a more pronounced grain (in film) or noise (in digital).  These will be little dots which appear a bit like textures in film and coloured squares in digital.  Noise in a digital image is often frowned upon, however, in film it is often seen as a distinction; part of the image something to add to the photography.  I have to admit it, I quite like it.  It gives character.

Why did I settle on ASA400?

400 speed film is considered quite fast.  It allows fast shutter speeds or smaller apertures in relatively low light conditions.  It also allows some shooting indoors without flash.  Perfect for shooting laundrettes.  400 speed film also has a touch of grain to it.  Not too much to be detrimental to the photograph but enough to give it character.  Again, perfect for the look of Laundry.

The sad thing is, the older I’m getting the more geek-ish  I’m getting with it.  I find myself looking for and reading film data sheets.  Some of these are very simple and give a brief overview of the film and how to handle it.  Other companies like Ilford and Fujifilm (my favourite films) produce very detailed documents that I find absolutely fascinating.  I know, very geek-ish!

I thought I would post the data sheet for Fujifilm Superia 400 here for you to have a look at!  Unleash your inner geek!

To see some fine examples of this film then vist the flickr group We Love Fuji Superia.

 

Getting Out

My K1000 pointing at Parkfield Launderette

It's funny, you know.  No sooner than I post about the weather holding me up, we get a much needed break from the persistent rain.  The sun came out and it was actually warm.  It felt like spring.

Time to get out.

The way I thought I would approach the subject of launderettes is to spend a bit of time making landscape and record photographs of the exterior of the buildings and then eventually work my way indoors to details and people.

I have to admit, I do tend to work like this with most of my landscape work.  I start with large wide vistas, then begin to hone in on the details.  I think it helps me to settle in to making an photograph and concentration my thoughts.  It's all in the detail.  I love detail!

Back to subject!

So, while the weather was pretty decent I thought I would get out and take some exterior shots.

The first launderette I visited was Lomeshaye Launderette.  This was one of the launderettes that I found after I shot the original series of images so this was a new one to me.  It is also one of the launderettes that began changing my opinion of the business as they are now.  It has nice frontage; it's clean, tidy and even has plants!

I took a couple of shots of the exterior with both a 50mm and 20mm lens on the camera.  I think they will make a good addition to the series.

Through the viewfinder.

After making the exposures, I went inside and met Jean, the attendant.  She's lovely!  I'm not quite sure what she made of me at first (I think she thought I was a little mad) but after chatting she gave me quite a bit of useful information.  I definitely want to return to this launderette and explore it further.  Hopefully, I will get a nice portrait of Jean as well.

Next I returned to two launderettes that featured in the original series of photographs.  The first was Langroyd Launderette in Colne.  Again, I was taking exterior shots when two little boys appeared in the window.  After talking to their mother I seized the opportunity to take a couple of shots of the boys through the window.  Hopefully, the will be quite nice images!

Finally, I returned to Parkfield Launderette in Nelson.  This one featured quite heavily in the original series of images but I wanted some photographs that put the building and indeed business in the context of its landscape and surroundings.

Of course, the photographs, being shot on film are not here to post but this time I did remember to take my compact with me to one of the locations so you have something to look at!

Weather, Weather, Weather!

I don’t think you can be anywhere in the northern hemisphere and not be experiencing some kind of extreme weather.  In the US it is cold, here we have torrential rain and storm after storm.

In Lancashire, where I am based we have got off lucky.  Yes, the ground in sodden to the point it will probably take until summer to dry out; yes we have lost one or two trees to the gale force winds but up in t’hills we are not flooded out.  We’re not wading through raw sewage or even having to get a boat to work so we are blessed.

What the weather is playing havoc with is actually getting out and shooting a laundrette.  I know, this sounds odd especially when I could do interior shots.  That being said there is quite a bit of work in organising indoor shoots.  You need permissions and more importantly people wanting to get involved.

What I want to do at the moment is get some external shots under my belt.  I want some out of the way and then I concentrate on the hard bit making beautiful images of wonderful people.

I can moan about the weather but at least we don’t have it as bad as some.  Wherever you are, whatever the weather, good luck our thoughts are with you.

Laundry makes 100!

This little essay blog began on the 5th of this month and laready it is gaining a good number of readers.  We are currently up to 100 views so if you have called, had a read and have liked what you see then thank you and stay with us, there's more to come!

And so it begins...

The problem with trying to write a blog about a film based photography essay is that there isn’t the images there right away for everyone to see.  This would make for a very dull text based blog.  The realisation of this dawned on me after the first shoot on the new phase of Laundry.

I’ve driven past the laundrette on Chapelhouse Road several times and never had the time or the opportunity to photograph it.  Last Thursday (7^th February 2014), I had a little time to spare so I decided that this laundrette would be a good place to start the new phase of Laundry and a new roll of film.

I parked around the corner from the laundrette and took out the equipment I needed.  K1000 (with film loaded and lens), shutter release cable and tripod.  I made myself comfortable and began taking some photographs.

The one thing that interests me about this building is that it is a former Co-Op.

To be honest, the weather and light weren’t great, but that sort of follows the tone of the original set of images and it will be interesting to see what they are like when they are returned from developing.

After I had done my exterior shots I packed the camera away and went to talk to the attendants.  I was hoping for permission to shoot the interior of the building and make some portraits of the attendants but the owner would not let me.  This was a little disappointing.

It was when I got back to the car that I thought to myself I should have taken my digital compact with me.  Then at least I would have had a couple of images to post here.  Oh well.  Maybe next time for now you can see what the building looks like from Google Maps!

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Tech Talk - Praktica MTL3

Photo by Richard

The camera used in the first version of Laundry was a Praktica MTL3.  This is a 35mm film Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera.

The camera was manufactured in East Germany by Pentacon between 1978 and 1984.  It has the M42 screw mount lens fitting that is sometimes called the Pentax Mount.  The camera itself was a very simple but solid work horse largely thanks to its metal shutter curtain.

Although a very basic camera it does have a light meter built in to that is operated by a black plastic switch on the right of the lens.  This is a simple needle that went from positive to negative.

The shutter has a bulb (B) setting and then ranged from 1 second to 1/1000^th second.  This is operated by a silver button on the front of the camera.  The shutter button also has a fitting for a cable release.

This camera is still popular with enthusiast today and many can be found on e-bay and the likes.  The lenses are also widely available and with relatively low prices make the ideal camera for anyone wishing to experiment with film photography or students looking for something simple, solid and dependable.

The Story of Laundry (final part)

It wasn’t until the back end of 2013 that I had decided to carry on the project.  Being a part of a camera club does mean that on occasions I do stand up and talk about my photography.  In fact, it has become a yearly ritual.  I do this for two reasons.  The first being that I do tend to shoot photographs very different from the usual type of camera club photography; the second, I’m not really confident with the idea of competing with photography.

The members of the club, although they thought I was a bit mad for my subject choice, were also quite receptive to the idea.  Not only that, the images from the roll of film looked fantastic in a darkened room on a big screen.

Further thought ensued and the realisation that I hadn’t finished with Laundry had now become my overriding thought on the project.  It is now time to do something about it.

The Story of Laundry (part three)

I suppose this began with the shoot of the Langroyd Laundrette in Colne.  I went in to the building and asked the attendant politely if I could take some shots.  She agreed with question.  There was also a customer in there and as I was shooting we were chatting about photography, about film versus digital and about laundrettes.

It became apparent that this man lived on his own and the laundrette was much more than a place to do his washing.  It was also a place for him to chat to people and to pass the time of day.  I just wish that I had interviewed him when I was there instead of concentrating on making pretty pictures.

Another day and another laundrette!  This time in the neighbouring town of Nelson and a similar story began.  This time the conversation was first with the attendant and myself and then an overheard conversation between the attendant and a customer.

Subconsciously, I was beginning to notice that laundrettes where not just places to do washing but were a sort of community hub as well.  Regulars knew each other, some were even friends; Staff had a rapport with the customers that also verged on friendships.

I also began to notice something else.  It’s like when you buy a car, soon you begin to notice the same type of car on the roads.  Were previously you only saw one or two you now see them all the time.  I began finding more and more laundrettes.  Even worse, my daughter started spotting them for me as well!

Some of these laundrettes were also changing my opinion of them.  More and more of them are popping up in our towns and not only that some are very modern, attractive places to be in.

The Story of Laundry (part two)

One day I worked passed a laundrette and noticed that the soap machine had the same artwork on it as it probably did in the 1970’s and 80’s.  On a closer look it became apparent that much of the artwork (posters and the like) where of much the same period.  This must have stuck with me.  Later as my brain was in creative mode I came to realise that many of the laundrettes that I had been in had the same sort of appearance.

I had decided.  The Boots 400 was going to be used to shoot laundrettes.  Thirty-six frames of washing machines!

I had anticipated that the film at 400asa was likely to be quite grainy.  I expected that due to the age and treatment of the film it was likely to have wacky colours.  I also reasoned that the MTL3 and Helios 50mm (from my original Zenit 11) would give the image a lomography feel to the photographs.  In short, I expected the subject to suit the film.

Being a fan of Martin Parr, I thought I would treat this as a bit of a joke subject; a little sarcastic and indeed, I started out this way.  However, as I began to shoot the laundrettes something began to change in my consciousness and a niggle began.

The Story of Laundry (part one)

Over the next few posts I will be posting the Story of Laundry along with some of the images from the original roll of film.  This will give anyone following this blog an introduction to the essay.

The Story of Laundry

Just over a year ago, I was toying with the idea of getting my old film camera out of the attic and running a roll of film through it.  I did.  I bought a roll of Kodak BW400CN film.  This is a monochromatic film that is developed using colour chemicals. 

To my surprise in the camera case there was also a roll of Boots 400 Colour Negative film.  This had been in the box for around ten years which had been stored in the attic.  As you could expect, the temperature up there is erratic to say the least with extremes of heat and cold.

I decided that I was also going to shoot this roll of film but I didn’t want to shoot just random pictures with it.  Boots 400 colour film was considered quite a cheap film.  If I remember rightly, it was actually made for Boots by Agfa (but I could be wrong on this!).

The idea of photographing laundrettes came much by chance.

About the author

Me (right) with my brother and our cameras.

I began taking photographs when I was about seven years old.  My grandparents bought me a little 110 camera to document the summer day trips that we took during our holidays.  During the next few years I went through a series of compact cameras (and formats) before receiving my first SLR as a Christmas gift a 12 years old.

Over the years my interest in photography continued although there were plenty of times when I put my camera away and got it our again.

Me (recently)

In about 2002, I had my first taste of digital photography with a Sony Mavica camera but quickly went back to shooting on film.  However, after printing the film I would scan the images and edit them in Photoshop to create new images.

It wasn't until about 2006 that I decided I would try digital again and went through a series of compacts before finally resting on my trusty Pentax K-x in around 2010.  I have to admit, I do love digital photography but I still happier shooting film.  I now use a variety of cameras to shoot my work including (the already mentioned) Pentax K-x, Pentax K1000, Qlympus Trip 35, Micropress 4" x 5" and Fujifilm F300EXR.

I have several fields of photography that are my main interests.  These include natural history, landscape and documentary photography.

My influences are numerous but include Jerry N. Uelsmann, Sebastio Salgado, Simon Roberts, Fay Godwin and Martin Parr.

I hope you enjoy my little blog site and I hope that you keep popping in to see how the project is developing.  If you don't fancy keep checking in why not subscribe by email.  You will only get an email when I post on this blog and your information will not be used for any other reason.