80mm

Late Spring Light

 
 

One of the things I love most about shooting with film is the wait. I didn't really wait to develop this film 6 months, but have been sharing the images from these couple rolls slowly. I've had these scans for a couple months now. Certainly, it's nice to have a little window to a warmer day when it's just above freezing out.

Jonsrud Wildflower

 
 

As I've mentioned here before, Jonsrud point is one of my favorite places at sunrise. This particular morning the view out toward the mountain was a bust, but I hung around for a good hour afterward and as the sun broke over the top of the clouds, everything lit up in Oregon Summer Sunrise light. This iimage is from my latest couple rolls of film from my Hasselblad.

I'm not sure what species of flower this is, and not for a lack of Googling. If you know, enlighten us in the comments!

Last Maui Sunset

 
 

I just got photos back from the film I shot on our Maui trip last month. I waited way too long to drop it off. As soon as I saw this image it brought back exactly how it felt to be there sitting on the seawall next to our hotel at sunset.

I've got a few more I'll share soon, but I felt that this one belongs close to my last post.

This was made with my Hasselblad 500 CM, the Zeiss 80mm lens and Kodak Portra 400 metered at half box speed. Developed and Scanned by Blue Moon Camera and Machine.

My First Hasselblad Medium Format Prints

 
 

I posted a photo of the Hasselblad 500C/M that I picked up a few weeks ago and have been really anxious to see if I have any idea what I'm doing. I just got my first couple rolls developed and printed and I'm really happy with the results.

Because I do most of my sharing online, I usually get the negatives scanned and forego the prints, but considering tradition and the advice of Jim at Blue Moon Camera, I had prints made of these first few photos with this camera.

...but I still wanted to share, so I went a little meta, and took digital photos of the prints.

One thing I've learned already- I shouldn't have been so intimidated by this camera. It's big and mechanical and somewhat foreign, but all the same basic principles apply here. It's still shutter speed, aperture and film ISO.

One thing that was a little disconcerting, is the maximum Shutter speed of 1/500. When you are metering and want to shoot with your aperture fairly open, what do you do when the meter says you should be at 1/2000? The simple answer is you just shoot at 500 and everything will turn out fine within reason. Film has lots of headroom.

 
 
 
 

There is something magical about shooting with this camera. Looking down into the viewfinder is like nothing I've ever seen and it really does give you an immersive sense of what the final image will become. As soon as I opened the envelope and saw the first 2 prints – the ones from the beach – I was hooked. Now I just need to figure out the workflow to do this on an ongoing basis and keep the costs reasonable.

Luckily I've got a great lab with reasonable prices, but I'll probably figure out a way to scan my own negatives for convenience and cost if I'm going to shoot a lot of film.

 
 

The color prints were made with Kodak Ektar 100 and the black and whites with Kodak Tri X 400.

I also picked up 3 rolls of my favorite film thus far, Portra 400 and will be taking this kit to Maui next week.

So, my foray into medium format film = Success!