imaginary tunes

In the last few weeks I have developed and scanned roughly 80 rolls of film. I only have 5 more rolls to go until I will have managed to catch up. It was quite a development marathon, which means that I didn’t have much time for shooting, but I still managed to shoot 9 rolls in my Rollei in October. The funny thing is that I basically shot only my Rollei last month. I already once tried to only shoot Rollei in August and struggled with it immensely. This time I had tremendous fun with it though and stuck with it quite by accident. As always, attitude matters.

In any case, today I’m sharing with you the last pictures from January. It was that time when I started falling in love both with my Nokton f/1.1 and with Delta 400. Surprisingly this perfect fine grain film with just plain awesome tonality plays very nicely with the quirky slightly flawed character of the Nokton wide open. I’ve since moved on from Delta 400 in 35mm – as always I keep experimenting with different emulsions -, but I know that when I finally settle on one ISO 400 bw film it might well be Delta 400. Settling down is difficult of course, because I really like several films very much. I haven’t finished testing all ISO 400 emulsions yet and can’t really say anything definitive. Of course, one of the emulsions left to test might surprise me in some unexpected way, but to be honest none of the emulsions that I have left seem very much like they fit my style. I can actually somewhat predict now that in the end my choice seems to come down to three very nice emulsions, none of them excessively cheap: Tri-X, HP5+ and Delta 400. More on that later though when I’ve finally finished all my tests.

For now my attention will probably stay with my E6 experiments though. There is a whole 100ft can of Rollei CN 200 which is waiting to be rolled and shot and it will definitely be a priority. These experiments will determine what I will do to develop the 5 rolls of E6 I brought back from Argentina and after 6 months it’s really about time. Also coming up, now that the sun is going down earlier (you see what I did there?) are finally some experiments with Kodak Vision 3 500T. I’ve been meaning to do this for the longest time and have already developed some other ECN2 films here and there in C41 and RA4, but I’m only getting serious about it now that I have the perfect lens for it on its way to me. Yes, a new lens!!! It’s going to be the other super wide aperture Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 II, which is supposedly even better and much less quirky than the 50mm f/1.1. 35mm remains my favourite focal length, which means that I will have less trouble with the framing and can take certain shots for which I just wouldn’t have the space with the 50mm. At the same time the lens also adds a little more of a challenge because I will have to get closer while shooting from eye-level, which is still a little uncomfortable for me. With the 50mm I can stay a little further back and that works fine, but with 35mm I might still hesitate. Time to get bolder again! I think shooting 500T with this new lens will keep me happy this winter, which is normally a time when I find it particularly challenging to shoot.

But now let’s finally move on to the picture part of this post. Grab a cup of tea and enjoy.

Pictures taken with: Leica M6 with Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8 and Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.1.

Starting with: Biogon / Delta 400 @800 / HC-110.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Mobile speaker gone wild.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Not really visible in this little version, but the girl is squashing her nose up to the window.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Time travelling dog walkers.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Light and dark.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Another instalment of “people pointing at things”.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Entangled.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Confidence. I also like the reflection of the girl.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Someone wants to dress up.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Oh no!!

Nokton / RPX 100 / HC-110.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Focus on the money.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Cigar break.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

He didn’t mind having his picture taken.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Timeless.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Guess what the girl is touching.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Expectations.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Looks like graffiti in the making, but she’s actually just opening / closing the door.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Biogon / Delta 400 / HC-110.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Tired.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Drums, always drums.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Fun way of being carried. I believe I printed this one.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

The sea, the sea.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Needs some guessing as to where the head is.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Whoever thought that this was a good promo picture needs to have their head examined. I laughed every single time I walked past this one.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Innocent look.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Supermarket scene.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Not two but three little girls.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Mid-jump.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Cigarette break.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Surfers and sun-stars.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

The little dog also wanted to see.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Aww!

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Ball action.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

More pointing and more balls.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Awww!

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

More expectations.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Light was going and I was out with my f/2.8 lens.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Accident waiting to happen with ambulance at the ready.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

There was a fire apparently.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Printed this one. Delta 400 really prints wonderfully by the way.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Random encounter of dog walkers. This town is crazy about little fur balls, which is the reason why I take so many pictures of them. They are everywhere.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Moving subjects in low light ISO 400 and a 2.8 lens are possible very occasionally. Just wastes a lot of film on blurry shots though.

So, winter light asks for Nokton from here on.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Waiting for the rain to stop.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

So cute!

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Probably my favourite picture of the entire year so far. Ministry of silly walks in the rain! I printed this one several times and it turned out just lovely. Delta 400 for the win!

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Rain action. I don’t like to shoot in the rain, but that day I was determined to shoot.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Save on exit.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Also printed this one. Turned out lovely too.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

People like scooters here.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Skating in the rain.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Better not!

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

I guess I was in a 5:4 mood. One day I want to shoot 5:4 for real.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Self-portrait with huge lens on my Leica. Looks super strange, doesn’t it? Lenses for the Leica are so small normally. When you’re not going for super wide apertures like f/1.1 or the even wider and substantially more expensive f/1.0 and f/0.95 of course.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

Cigarette break.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

4 boys, 4 guitars.

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

© Lilly Schwartz 2016

My god, what is it?! Last one for January.

Comments

  • such hard work to scan this amount of rolls !
    i love these full of life moments, my absolutely fav is a “Surfers and sun-stars” image !
    waiting for more Lilly

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