We’re hitting our stride now, a few rolls deep into film photography, and I am starting to get comfortable with the process. Taking on board the lessons learned in the previous rolls, I took full advantage of a couple of very bright and sunny days.
Camera: Ricoh KR-10 Super
Lens: SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2
Film: Ilford HP5+
Post Processing: GIMP
As with all rolls, the first few shots may or may not be exposed by loading the film. This means the first frame is usually only half usable, hence the strange aspect ratio of this picture. Honestly, I like it with the crop.
HP5+, being a higher ISO film than FP4+, had much more noticeable grain. I think I prefer the more grainy film, at least sometimes. It’s a reminder of the strange alchemy that is film photography. 
A cat!!! And a black and white one, at that!!! Perfect for black and white film photography! 
This landscape came out very nicely. There’s just enough contrast in the clouds for my liking, and detail enough in the shadows. 
A macro flower frame! Look closely at the center — a bee is hard at work. 
The same bee as previously, but much more obvious now. I had enough light to shutter at 1/1000 of a second, which got the bee frozen in time. I like this exposure a lot, it’s probably my favorite in the roll. 
Accidentally took this at f/4, and was pleasantly surprised to find the depth of field was not totally out of kilter! 
This is likely the best composition on the roll, perhaps one of the better composed photos I’ve taken overall. This feels like the photo is trying to say something, rather than just being about something. Are we waiting for a friend, or reminiscing about a friend now lost? Is an empty bench an opportunity for reflection, or new beginnings? Maybe I’m reading too much into it! 
This is another nicely composed shot, although I did lay right on the ground to get it. You may not believe this, but the cube is white with a red painted eight. Black and white does funny things to our perception! 
I considered grouping all the landscapes together in this blog, but kept it simple and chronological instead. Why? Maybe I was just lazy. Anyway, I think this photo would have been better if panned about twenty degrees left, such that the tree framed the scene better. I could crop it, I suppose. 
A self-portrait. Is an empty bench lonelier than a bench seat for one? 
Lonely no more! A friend joins :) 
Nice framing here. 
I tried to get this shot on the last roll, but the light failed me. This time, with a bright enough day, I managed. I think this was even taken at f/8, not f/2 or something ridiculous! 
A little off-balance but still a nice exposure down the river Leith. On the left of this frame you can see the result of an accidental double exposure while rewinding the film. The Ricoh has a bit of trouble winding the last frame sometimes, which I found out to great cost in this roll (one frame). 
Here’s another series of macro flower shots! I swear, when winter rolls about, I may well cry from the lack of flowers to photograph. 
The intensity of the light here made it a little difficult to meter correctly. There were three different colors of flower here, but they got washed out in the harsh sun. 
In the previous roll I tried to photograph the river and got some motion blur. Since the sun took my flowers from me, the least it could do was let me crank the shutter speed up and get the river! We see individual droplets coming over the weir, which I think is lovely. 
And once more, see the ripples in the water’s surface. This is pretty trivial with modern digital cameras, but I liked the challenge of recreating this on film! 
This is the same position as the failed exposure in the previous roll, but this shot came out much better. Redemption! 
A nice landscape, although I guess you could literally call this “street photography” 
And a church to round things out. There are plenty of excellent churches about Dunedin, I should make a whole collection of photographs… keep your eyes peeled! 
