Let it Snow - with Snow

Yesterday I shot my second roll of Film Photography Project's 'Let it Snow' in much more of the conditions it was intended for. Erin and I went for a hike at one of my favorite trails in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park - Tha Langes. I've photographed a bunch here over the years and yesterday was pretty perfect - snow covered but with some sun and a bit of blue sky. I used my new Minolta XD11 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens and a red 25 filter(for most of the images). The film is very fine grained and has a very clean look. It isn't my favorite emulsion ever but I'm glad I tried it a few times as it does have a unique appearance.

Let it Snow - Without Snow

I just broke all of my own rules - I shot a new camera with a new film and developed it in a new developer....but it worked! These came out pretty nice for a mostly overcast day. I rode south down the Towpath and just took some snaps before hitting some industrial gravel and finishing the roll. The camera is my new(to me) Minolta XD11 and the film is Film Photography Project's 'Let it Snow' which is based on Svema Foto 100. The film is extremely fine grained and with a red 25 filter on my lens has that infrared look. It is also the flattest drying film I've ever shot which is great for scanning. I developed it in Adox Rodinal at a 1:50 dilution for 13 minutes.

Akron From Above

I needed to take some drone video for jobs I'm working on but I also snapped a few still photographs while I was flying. The upgrade from the original Mavic to the Mavic Pro 2 is huge. I can edit these photos more like they came from a professional camera. The 20MP RAW files are very nice and give good leeway - which is important as there is often a lot of differing light in drone images. The other awesome thing about the Mavic series of DJI drones is how small and convenient they are to carry - I had it in my backpack along with my Canon EOS R5 while I rode my bike to these three locations. 

Bergger around Akron

I shot my second roll of Bergger Pancro 400 last week. I was riding my bike around Akron with my Minolta X-700 mostly looking for hand painted signs and old run down buildings. I guess this vibe kind of fits the sensation of isolation lately. Alone together. Anyways I really like this film - I made a video about my first roll explaining all the reasons(linked at the bottom) but in a nutshell it has tremendous exposure latitude and a grainy but nice look. It is the newest black and white film on the market and this French company has created something truly unique. It isn't cheap but I definitely will buy more.

Corners

I've been riding and photographing downtown Akron a lot this Fall. I really like these first three "corner" images that I took during magic hour. After that I headed down to Kenmore Boulevard to photograph their light displays and stopped to get a great sunset photo.