Tales on Film

Wow, we’re already at week 15, time sure flies. Anyway, here is the selection of the photos I liked in our Flickr-group this week

the arrival by Greg Zauswoz taken with a Pentax 6×7 on Arista edu ultra 100

19629928 by Assaf_Photography taken on Ilford pan 400

Rainy by Rabea G taken with a Canon AE-1 on Kodak color 200

Scan-110620-0014.jpg by SeanGalbraith.com taken with a Shen-Hao PTB45 on Fuji 160S

Suddenly… by photomat- taken with a Yashica D on Kodak Ektar 100

Today we are talking to Frédéric Buchet, I wrote an article about his project a couple of weeks ago. He gave me the best answer, I ever got on why he shoots film

Can you introduce yourself in a few words ?

My name is Frederic Buchet, my nickname “youkfou”, I m 35, I live in Baudour, a peaceful village near Mons in Belgium, I am a self-taught photographer for just over two years …

My days are simple: on Sunday, I scour garage sales and flea markets in search of old cameras and obsolete films. The rest of the week I walk in town with the same equipment and I try to revive it practicing “street photography”

Do we need to say more about me ? Photography was a revelation to me, now I know how to project myself into the future and I hope one day to live the passion !

I sometimes give classes for beginners in film photography. I see some adults who are delighted to discover a creative outlet and some troubled children who find in photography a way to focus their energy.

I have had my first paid assignment recently. I formed a photographic duo with a friend. I have other projects in my portfolio such as the creation of a photography club, a series of portraits of mentally deficient people, and a “no camera” photo essay.

Why do you like shooting film ?

Ask to an addict why he take drugs … )

Do you have a favorite camera and / or movie ?

Absolutely, I found my perfect komrade about a year ago, a magnificent Fed 3a ( russian copy of a Leica ), I feed him with very rare “B/W Macophot 400″ ! He is made for me ! Unfortunately few weeks ago, I damaged him, forget him in the sun ( burned curtain ) that is why I proposed the project “Fred & Fed” on the site crownfounding “Ulule” to try and repair him.

Among the hundreds of cameras found for cheap on flea markets, I like to use the Nikkormat FT2 (24×36), the Yashica Mat (6×6), the Canon Demi EE17 (18×24), the Taxona (24×24), the Felica (6×6) and many others, the list is too long ! I do not consider myself a collector because I use them all, one after the other.

What is your best analog picture till now and a little explanation about it ?

Very difficult question ! I’ll get around it by saying that if I should pick one, my portrait above would be it, because it condenses into 1/500 of a second all I am: a roll of B/W Macophot 400, my Fed & me have fun on flea market … or maybe this picture, a 1/500 sec snap shot, the good place, the good moment !

What’s your vision on the Future of film photography ?

On an old vinyl you’ll find some flaws, some scratches but you also find warmth, beautiful harmonics ! Things you’ll never find on a CD or MP3 …

Same for film photography, you’ll find some drawbacks, some defects but above all you will find a charm, a soul that you’ll never find in digital …

There’s evidence that film is far from dead … and will revive soon !

Take the opportunity to make a stock of good stuff ^^’ !

Another Kodak film that’s not made anymore, but I use quite often, because we have quite a large stash of it, Kodak Royal Supra 400. It was a professional negative film, but there is not much to find about it on the internet. The Royal Supra replaced that the older supra 400, it was supposed to be the same colors, but just a different and better emulsion. The reports are mixed, but I do generally like the film.

Outside, the film has a nice neutral color, it doesn’t really turn yellow like most of the kodak 400 iso films do.

Inside the film turns a bit red, but not too much, to be annoying. There is however not a lot of detail in the shadows, this makes the film pretty contrasty, something I like.

If you push the film about 2 stops, it has the tendency to get very vivid colors. There is a lot of saturation when pushed, but it works pretty good with the high contrast the film already has in darker situations.

Overall the film is pretty good, the only thing that can become annoying is the grain. There is almost none in dark situations, but in good light it’s very noticeable, although it’s definitely not ugly. So again I kind of like it. It’s not the best 400 color film I used, but it’s a decent film, with very consistent results. There is no noticeable color cast on it, after all it was a professional film.

I noticed in the search results of this site, that there is a huge interest in the different film types you can find. I’m only reviewing the film I have used till now and keep in mind that these are my personal opinions

A couple of weeks ago, Sara and I went to the 48th annual Bièvres international photofair, it’s a photo fair, specialized in film photography. It’s a 2 day event in a very small town located just a bit below Paris for antiques and second hand film photography gear. There is a massive amount of gear in all types of conditions, the sellers range from amateurs selling of their collection to big shops bringing there most valuable stuff.

As you can see in the photo above, you can literally find anything there. There are definitely good sales to be done at the market, Sara got herself a Caniom or Hasselblad clone with 2 backs in an leather case, for a very reasonable price. I found a strap for my RB67, a lens for my Leica R4 and a lot of info about some cameras. It was basically a 6 hour long film fest. See some more photos of the fair below. Next year, we’ll probably visit again and hopefully we’ll meet some of you guys there.

In the beginning of June, 2010 the dutch website Digifoto Pro had access to the Impossible Project factory in the Netherlands. They made a 10 minute video about it, the speech in the video is in dutch, but you can activate the english subtitles by clicking on the cc button under the video.

Here is another video made by the fine folks behind How is it made