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Kodak Portra and the Nude

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I feel like it has been a little while since I’ve posted any work with color film. Even though the majority of my work is in black and white, I actually love working with color film. Color negative film in particular tends to be my jam because I feel like the results are a bit more muted and slightly more painterly than color slide film. Granted, I’m not picky and will happily work with any color stock I can get my hands on for a halfway decent price.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Kodak Portra 400 120 film.

Both of the images in this post were made using Kodak Portra film stock. The top image was with Kodak Portra 400 and the bottom image with Kodak Portra 160. In practice I don’t find a huge amount of difference between the two. Yes, of course the ISO 400 film has more grain, but the warm color rendition with both film stocks just looks absolutely gorgeous. A little bit gets lost when I digitize the negatives, but I still think there is a different vibe here than one would get from a color image coming from a digital camera. It’s just a bit more organic in my opinion.

Photographed with a Pentax 645n and Kodak Portra 160 medium format film.

This post also marks the debut of the first image I’ve posted with the Pentax 645n medium format camera. I’ll speak more about this camera at a later date, but I recently purchased it on whim after seeing one in a store for a very VERY attractive price. It’s been a fun new tool to play with and I’ve been pleased with the results.

Nude on the Shore

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I’ve been quite happy with a lot of the film I’ve been developing lately. This image is a perfect example. It was made right as the sun was setting over the mountains to the west of Portland and I managed to make an exposure in those last few seconds when the light gives off its last few seconds of usable glow.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 medium format film.

I think this image is made all the sweeter for me as I managed to pull it off with Ilford Pan F film. I love Ilford Pan F film but I won’t deny that given its relatively low ISO (i.e. low sensitivity to light) and my general loathing of tripods I don’t use it all that often. Ilford Pan F tends to also be high in contrast, which is a quality that I think adds to the dramatic effect of the low hanging sun.

Escaping The Wind

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Sometimes when the weather is not cooperating during a photographic outing one really needs to get creative. Or you just need to get lucky. When these photographs were being made the wind was bitterly cold! The temperature on paper wasn’t really so bad, just a mild day in the late fall here in the Pacific Northwest. But the wind… The wind was making it feel fifteen to twenty degrees colder than it actually was.

Anyone who has ever tried to operate a camera with bitterly cold wind howling around you, not to mention anyone who has ever tried to remove their clothing under such conditions can tell you - it is really not fun!

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 medium format film.

I was actually ready to call the day a bust when we found a strange tree growing near the ground along the shoreline that had a perfect opening. I was able to stand out in the windy cold while the model was able to take shelter at the opening and didn’t have to endure the wind at all. The branches and foliage on the tree were so thick it felt like climbing into a sturdy tent.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 medium format film.

Our options for posing were very limited given the small opening, but I think we made do with the difficult conditions we had before us and I’m quite happy with the results. I was only able to expose one roll of film in this spot before it was physically impossible to continue. Sometimes one roll of film is all you need though.

Summer Has Yet To Begin

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The weather has been very dreary in the Pacific North West this year. Oddly, I’m not bothered by this in the slightest. When I read the weather reports of other parts of the United States hanging out in triple digit heat I can’t help but think I’ll gladly take a little bit of rain and overcast. Getting a little wet when making a photograph has never been a very big deal.

Photographed with a Mamiya C330 TLR and Ilford FP4 120 film.

I really enjoy the soft lighting of overcast weather. Sometimes it can make working with a slower speed film a little bit of a problem, but nothing a tripod or a steady hand can’t solve. Plus it gives me an excuse to work with the lens aperture wide open. On my Mamiya C330 TLR working at f/2.8 creates a tad bit of softness to the final image that can be enjoyable for portraits and figure studies.

Ultimately, whatever weather gets thrown my way, the bottom line is you have to work with it and do your best!