These days it has been cold and wet, which has actually kept me from shooting. I’ve only been out to shoot a couple of times apart from one day when I spent some time to document one of the local Christmas traditions. I have been covering the local traditions pretty thoroughly over the last couple of years and this last tradition surrounding the Reyes Magos was one that had been quite impossible with my previous gear. It was just way too dark for my Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 a couple of years ago and too crowded for my 50mm Nokton f/1.1 last year. This year with my new Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 I finally managed, which is another reason why buying this lens was a great decision. By now I’ve shot 40 rolls with the lens and I’m really impressed with the results. I will probably still get quite a number of rolls in before I have enough light for my Zeiss 35mm during my typical shooting time in the late afternoon.

Yesterday I also went for a walk in a cloud with my Rollei. Sometimes when it’s very rainy the clouds hang rather low and one can walk into them by climbing one of the hills. I have been meaning to do this since I moved here, but of course rain usually keeps me from shooting on such days. Yesterday there was a little break in the rain when I set out on my adventure, but of course that didn’t prevent me from getting a bit soaked. Obviously it tends to be rather wet in clouds and I had to wipe the lens of the Rollei many times even before it started raining again. I hope I got some nice pictures in return at least!

The film I shot during my adventure was in this case XP2, since this is the ISO 400 film in 120 I’m shooting these days. I’ve shot about 5 rolls of it so far and I will leave a few of them for our trip to Madrid which we booked yesterday. Only a week to go until we travel! This time we won’t have to face 40°C weather like in September and it will probably be less exhausting to shoot street. Apart from the XP2 I will also take some Ilford Pan 400 and other odds and ends – maybe a few more rolls of Rollei Retro 400s, a roll of Kodak Vision 3 500T and some Delta 3200. And what about gear? Well, of course I’ll take my Leica and Rollei as always, but it will be the first time that I travel without my Zeiss lens. My Voigtländer lenses are definitely more flexible and I don’t mind the extra weight.

Apart from all of this there are a couple more experiments worth mentioning that I embarked upon over the last couple of weeks: I finally figured out the right development time for Rollei Retro 400s in HC-110 and I successfully pushed a few rolls of Delta 400 and Ilford Pan 400 to 1600 in HC-110 semi stand-development. I still have to find the sweet spot with the right amount of developer to protect the highlights and still get enough density before exhaustion, but i’m on the right track. I was hitting the limit of what I could do with pushing in Rodinal – it fogs too much – and I think HC-110 stand could be great for pushing T-grain film like Delta 400 and T-Max 400. I don’t always need that kind of speed with my Voigtländer lenses, but having the possibility to push this far without too much grain is definitely helpful in certain situations.

But now, let’s finally get to some pictures. It’s now 2017 and I’m still posting pictures from April 2016! Yes, I am quite behind, but I actually didn’t shoot that much over the summer, which means that it’s not as bad as it seems. I also quite like having a distance to the pictures that I post. It’s a little like reading an old diary. This time it means that I get to relive our last Argentina trip in April.

Pictures taken with: Leica M6 with Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8 and Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.1. Rolleicord V, Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 75mm f/3.5.

Starting with: M6 / Biogon / Kodak Gold 200.

Doesn’t look like the softest ground to practice flips!

In case you ever wondered how girls turn into cats, here is a progression documented on an abandoned car.

More of an internal joke that one. There was another silly poster of him in another post recently.

M6 / Nokton.

Fluffy handbag.

More fluffy handbags.

We were at the Feria de Mataderos.

Yes, I’m obsessed with these fluffballs.

Creepy dolls anyone?

Sweet stuff.

In case the writing on the t-shirt is too small, it actually says: “I wanna be white” illustrated with a black dog trying to paint himself white. So weird.

Definitely take note of the boy biting his fingernails in the background.

Llama alarm!

Pose your kid on a pony for a picture.

Car turned bench.

Weeeeird!

Add sleeping dog in matching colour to your booth for decoration.

Care.

Rollei / Portra 400.

Always difficult to colour correct with harsh shadows, but I really like how this one turned out.

M6 / Nokton / Kodak Gold 200.

What a look!

More sweet stuff.

This booth was very creative.

And another fur ball!

I’m not the only one who’s obsessed with them.

Nope, couldn’t resist the mirror.

M6 / Biogon.

Playing foosball.

Kodak Farbwelt 400.

Uhm weird! Taken from a cab.

Colours!

Dogs expression matches the skulls.

He was having fun though.

Blocking the whole street for a little chat.

How to combat boredom while queuing.

Out for a walk with his grammophone. I just couldn’t get a good angle before he was gone.

Paying attention while crossing the street is clearly overrated.

Light was going.

Kodak Gold 200.

Candy apples!

Bookshop self-portrait.

Love how this one turned out!

At the bus stop.

Quick, before she runs away! Oh wait …

Rollei / Portra 400.

Someone’s bed.

This is actually a university.

Colourful. My own universities were rather boring in decoration.