not allowed inside

Finally I managed to take my Rollei out today and promptly a guy started talking to us on the beach, because he noticed that we were shooting with analog cameras. We started talking shop a bit and apparently he is building his own large format camera at the moment to get on with some collodion wet plate, way cool! I love encounters like this and my Rollei for being such a people magnet!

So, today I shot 2 rolls – one 120, one 35mm with the XA – and developed one roll of 120 Tri-X in Caffenol which turned out magnificently. I was also trying to optimise my scanning routine a bit. I tested Epson scan after not having used it since April and was disappointed yet again. It just crops too much in thumbnail mode and the automatic exposure is appalling. With Color Correction off it’s ok, if you then do a levels adjustment in Photoshop. However, it’s just as slow as Silverfast if I have to select every frame individually. Seriously though, I’m not scanning for print after all, so my perfectionism is slightly exaggerated. I just spend too much time scanning! Maybe I try automatic scans in Silverfast for a while to see whether that’s more workable. At least it doesn’t apply automatic exposure automatically and I don’t have to turn of all Color Correction to make it work. I’ll see tomorrow how these automatic scans handle in post-processing.

By the way, next week I’m starting my Spanish course, which was probably part of the reason why I thought it necessary to optimise my scanning process. My mornings will be occupied, so I will have to see how I arrange all the different things I need to do – working on the PhD, shooting, developing, scanning, posting and so on. It will probably take a few days until I have sorted out a new schedule.

All pictures taken with: Leica M6 and Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8.
Kentmere 400 @1600 stand-developed in Caffenol-CL, 90min.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

This one had to be taken …!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

And the reflection proves that I wasn’t shooting from the hip.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

These negs were a little thin, so I gave the next rolls half an hour more. Makes these ones more eerie though.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

I got noticed …

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Ah, cars from back in the day.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Decisive moment and focussed correctly … I love my Leica!

Leave a Reply