I was very disappointed yesterday to find out that my favourite drugstore colour film was discontinued. I obviously was trying to stock up on the stuff, but only found some relatively cheap Kodak Gold 3pack which turns out double the price of the Fuji stuff that they used to sell. I even asked an employee of the drugstore and she said that it was completely off the lists and so it’s unlikely to reappear. It’s the end of an era, because I used to shoot this stuff even before digital! In any case, if I want to keep the look I will have to shoot something like Fuji Superia 400 which is a lot more expensive. At least I managed to shoot 60 rolls of it before it disappeared.
In any case, luckily I didn’t rely on finding some film in the drugstore and ordered some Kentmere 400, T-Max 400 (who would have thought!) and Cinestill 800T before coming here. I already put the Kentmere to good use and shot some more urbex stuff after running some errands in town. Most of the rest I will hopefully get to shoot in Dresden though, where I’m going today to prepare the exhibition. The part that has to be done now is hanging the prints, since I already mounted them last night. I also ordered some more prints of a number of my favourite shots from the last few months and I’m very happy how they turned out. And I have to say that my Olympus XA really will feel even more neglected in the future since the quality difference in the prints is staggering. It might not always show much in these little versions for the screen, but with a 20 x 30cm print it’s really quite obvious that my 35mm Zeiss is the superior lens.
By the way, I’m very curious whether I’ll find a good use for the Cinestill. I got some very nice results from the last two rolls I shot and I have been considering to get the original stock with the remjet layer still intact. Whether I’ll do it or not will very much depend on the outcome of my experiments with the few rolls of Vision3 250D I shot recently.
However, more on that later. Today I’m showing you some more shots from our trip to the southern hemisphere taken on the drugstore film that is now not available anymore.
All pictures taken with: Leica M6 + Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8.
dm Paradies 400 developed in Fuji Hunt C41 Kit.
© Lilly Schwartz 2015
We asked the guy what they were doing and it was apparently some sort of meditation.
© Lilly Schwartz 2015
I love the light in this one.
© Lilly Schwartz 2015
Like all the parks over there this one was really crowded as you can see here in the background.
© Lilly Schwartz 2015
And somehow people never get sick of the football.
© Lilly Schwartz 2015
I found the light very beautiful over there. Sometimes a real challenge to shoot in, but really great for colour when it worked out.
© Lilly Schwartz 2015
I like how the light just about highlights the person stepping into the shop.