If you are an attentive reader of my blog, you might know that I’m currently in the process of moving to San Sebastian. Shooting street in San Sebastian is definitely a bit more challenging than in Berlin where you get the variety of a capital city within reach of the subway. Here one has to walk a bit more to get more variety. I therefore decided that I need to explore San Sebastian a bit further to find all the good spots for street photography. My approach to this is to go out with my Zorki and explore somewhat systematically all the different streets of the surrounding neighbourhoods. Some of these streets and neighbourhoods are obviously less crowded than others, so you’ll probably get to see less people and more of San Sebastian in this project.

These pictures were also developed in a slightly different way thanks to the tips of a fellow San Sebastian photographer. I mentioned before that I didn’t quite like the tonality of K400 film for street photography, but as a matter of fact I managed to solve this now with a new agitation scheme. Agitating 30sec and beginning and end instead of 60sec at the beginning, and also quite a bit less agitation – swirling instead of inverting – seems to make all the difference here. Another advantage is that this scheme produces much less grain with Tetenal Ultrafin. Black and white development is not a standardised process so I guess it helps to spend a bit of time trying to figure out the right recipe and agitation scheme for each film and developer combination. I really like the look of these pictures, so I’ve decided to stick with Kentmere 400, Ultrafin and this agitation scheme for a while.

All pictures taken with: Zorki 4K and Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8.
Kentmere 400 developed in Tetenal 1:20, 16min.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

I wanted to preserve some shadow detail and as a result managed to blow the highlights on the white wall a bit. I guess I was trying to have the cake and eat it as well. I can’t even remember when I last overexposed a shot. Normally I underexpose if I get the exposure settings wrong.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

I like the structure of the ground in this one.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

I love this one. I even managed to get a reflection of the zebra crossing and this extremely odd shadow! Quite a bit of detail in the shadows despite the details in the clouds.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

It says “toxic” on his bag.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

No idea what this means.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Nice view.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

A lion!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Again, shadow detail vs white wall, I learned my lesson.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

The reflections are nice in this one.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Robot ecology? How could I have not taken this picture having studied Robotics?

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

I think the portrait format really works in this one. I usually don’t bother when I’m out with my Olympus – I shoot from the hip there, because I can’t compose properly on the screen anyway, especially not in this bright light -, but with my Zorki I took the time. Maybe I should invest in an electronic viewfinder for the Olympus.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014