bookmark_borderNot quite what I expected

The pictures from my photo walk to the local park aren’t great. But here they are anyway.

I developed the film with the Bellini Foto C-41 kit yesterday and scanned the negatives as soon as they were dry. The process was a little stressful, because I had to maintain the chemicals at a precise 38⁰C whilst keeping time and agitating the development tank the correct amount for each stage. But at least, the good pictures below (from 2018) tell me that the development was successful and is not the cause of the bad ones.

As I said, the FG-20 held an unfinished roll of film from around 2018. In addition, it was a film that expired in 2005. Its age is a factor in the poor quality of the pictures, but I am mostly at fault for not setting the correct exposure on the camera when taking the shots.

bookmark_borderTrying film photography again

I finally visited the park that opened near my house in 2020 amidst COVID lockdown. It is a former golf course that has been rehabilitated as a green area. I carried a Nikon FG-20 camera with an unfinished roll of film on my walk and took pictures of the trees and wild grass that have grown all over.

Back at home, I pulled out old negatives that I had never bothered to scan until now. Going through the photos, I feel my interest in film photography being rekindled.

I don’t have pictures of the park because I am still waiting for delivery of new chemicals to develop the film. In the meantime, here are photos from over a decade ago that I scanned just today.

bookmark_borderA slightly more successful job

I finished the last post by describing my plan to cover the shed roof with a tarpaulin. Dissatisfied and impatient, I executed it two days later. The task was much easier than I had expected.

I was well prepared, having run the procedure in my head many times, even at the beginning when I was considering which of felt and tarp to use for the roof. So, when Amazon delivered the 3m x 4m tarp, I already knew that I had to use holdfasts to secure it against the wind whilst I worked, that I had to fold the slack so that it fit on the 2.5m x 3m roof, that I had to fasten it with washers and screws, and that I definitely had to stand on a thick board when I was on the roof. Starting the repair as soon as I signed off work, I finished in just about one hour.

Later that evening, the rain that was forecast arrived, and I could assess whether the job was good enough. I was pleased to see that water did not leak into the shed—everything inside remained dry. But I was concerned by water puddles remaining on the roof for a few days after the rain stopped.

My other worry is about the quality of the tarp. With a weight of 90 grams per square metre (gsm), it is noticeably thinner than my other 150 gsm tarp used to collect garden rubbish. I am not confident that it will last long against exposure to the weather, foxes, and the neighbourhood cats. This said, I console myself with the thought that the tarp is cheap and easy to replace.