Hasselblad 500C/M

Facing The Storm - With Hasselblad In Hand

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I feel like every year as summer is coming to a close, and winter weather is on the horizon, I do at least one photo session where the model and I are rushing to outrun some incredibly foul weather. Such was the case a few weeks back when Floofie and I made a trip to Sauvie Island for some early morning photographs. The day started off warm with plenty of sunshine, but once we got out on location it was quickly turning for the worse with every passing minute.

With every challenge there is an opportunity however, so we made our way out to an open field and took advantage of the storm clouds heading our way, hoping to get through at least a few rolls of film before the rain started pouring down on our heads.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford HP5 120 film.

For the black and white images I had quite a few rolls of the tried and true Ilford HP5 with me. I was expecting to do most of this particular session in a grove of thick trees that block out a lot of natural light. Had I known I’d be spending most of my time in a wide open field I probably would have brought a slower speed film with me. I could have easily gotten away with something like Rollei RPX 100 or even Ilford Pan F. ISO 400 film felt a bit overkill in this situation.

Photography has always been about running with what you have in your kit, so Ilford HP5 it was. In some ways it was a nice choice because I could just set my f/stop fairly small (I think these were exposed at f/11), turn the focus barrel to infinity, and let a long depth of field take care of most of the work while Floofie was free to move around and experiment with poses. Not a bad way to work at all.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Kodak Gold 200 medium format film.

It has been a while since I’ve done any “serious” photographed work with Kodak Gold 200 and this may actually be my first session with the film stock in medium format. I have to admit Kodak Gold really works in medium format for my tastes. Colors are bright and exaggerated in a way that reminds me of E-6 slide film while also retaining the grain that is typical of color negative C-41 film.

The grain isn’t too overpowering but it is definitely there. It gives the overall look a bit of a 1970’s cinematic quality which to me is quite pleasing. I need to make it a point to work with Kodak Gold more often. It may very well be my favorite color negative film at the moment.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford HP5 120 film.

For most of these images I found myself down on my belly in the thick tall grass, stamping down the plants right in front of me with my left hand, so I wouldn’t get the grass blocking the frame, and operating the Hasselblad with my right. With an autofocus SLR this would be no big deal, but with the more manual nature of the Hasselblad it was a bit of a comical balancing act. I’m getting to be that age when my grunts and groans from rolling around int he dirt are a common sound during a photo session.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Kodak Gold 200 medium format film.

As we left the scene, packed up, and headed toward the parking lot where we left the car the rain was starting to come down. It was one of those strange sorts of late summer rainfalls, wet and sloppy in small spurts with patches of sun still visible in the sky. Anyone who has spent time in the Pacific Northwest will know exactly what I am talking about. There is a drama to this kind of weather, a kind of dance that takes place in the sky above us and the goal with these images was the mimic that a little bit on the ground.

I think we pulled it off.

Color Film With Morning Light

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Waking up incredibly early in the morning for the sake of a photo session always has its rewards. This is especially true when the plan is to rely completely on natural light. I was itching to work with some color film after a long stint of exposing only black and white film and I wanted to capture that subtle warm light that starts peaking up over the horizon at around six o’clock in the morning.

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

I scheduled a session with Devi while she was traveling through Portland and made it a point to find a space with east facing windows. We armed ourselves with coffee to go, my Hasselblad, and about five rolls of Kodak Portra 400. It wasn’t the first time we had worked together so getting into the groove of a photo session only took a few minutes and about two frames of film to break the ice a bit. Devi has always been one of those models that gets into “photo mode” very quickly, something I really appreciate when we work together.

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

Even though I was working with ISO 400 speed film, the light was subdued enough to make hand holding difficult. I had a tripod with me, but the space was quite small and generally speaking I’m not a big fan of of using a tripod. So instead I decided to risk it and photographed the scene at about 1/30th of a second and wide open at f/2.8. My hands are still steady enough that I can get away with handholding the Hasselblad at relatively slow shutter speeds. There are a few frames from this session that are a bit too fuzzy to get away with calling “artistic” but for the most part the gamble paid off just fine.

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

I’ve been really craving the experience of working with color film lately and posting these images just makes that desire even stronger. Working with Kodak Portra 400 was the right choice for these images (it was low light after all), Portra has never been my favorite color film stock. I much prefer the bold saturated look of Kodak Ektar and I’ve had some great experiences using the new Kodak Gold 200 in medium format. I’ve also seen rumors that Ilford/Harman is going to be releasing their Phoenix 200 stock in medium format soon. I hope so….

Getting Used To A Portrait Lens

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I wrote on this blog recently that I purchased a Hasselblad 150mm f/4 portrait lens in the past year or so. You can find that entry HERE. It was inevitable that I would eventually bring the lens outdoors and try working with it during one of my regular location sessions. I’m not going to deny I found the experience challenging, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

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

Most of my awkwardness when using this lens is just simple physics. As opposed to using my usual focal length of 55mm or 80mm, with the 150mm f/4 lens I have to stand further away from my subject. Walking backward fifteen or twenty steps from the model feels incredibly disconnected compared to the way I usually work.

I imagine if I was a seasoned sports photographer or even a more skilled photographer when it comes to street photography this wouldn’t seem so strange to me. But, since I am neither of those things, standing further back from the model takes a lot of getting used to. Part of the reason I’ve always loved waist level finders on cameras like a Hasselblad or a Mamiya TLR is because I feel more connected to my subject. The longer focal length of the 150mm negates that a little bit.

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

All of that being said, there is a quality to the images using a 150mm portrait lens that I very much enjoy. All of the images in this post were photographed between f/8 and f/11. Even with a relatively small aperture the bokeh is incredible. It is smooth and buttery and the central focus in the image (i.e. the model) really pops out against the background. This is especially true considering the model was standing in a thick grove of trees that would have made these images appear otherwise incredibly cluttered and chaotic from a compositional standpoint. I can definitely get a sense of the creative potential here which is thrilling to say the least.

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

I’ll be bringing the 150mm lens with me from now on when I take my Hasselblad out for serious work. In fact, I’ll probably be leaving the standard 80mm lens at home and make the 55mm f/4.5 and the 150mm f/4 my go-to lens kit. It seems like it’ll be an interesting challenge to bring along the more extreme ends of the focal length range available to me instead of playing it safe with the 80mm “normal” lens. That is for now at least while there is plenty of sunshine and I don’t need the wider f/stop of f/2.5 that the standard 80mm lens provides.

Pushing Fomapan Film To The Limit

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A few months back I made a last minute booking to a studio space after my plans to work outdoors fell threw due to some very cold, wet, and dark weather. Sometimes that is just the simple reality of being a photographer in the Pacific Northwest. You just never know what the weather is going to be from one day to the next. It keeps you on your toes to say the least!

In order to access the studio one has to walk through an alley that has a real “old city” vibe to it, right out of classic Hollywood noir thrillers. Long strings of ivy running up brick walls and the space lit only by small lanterns built in the building structure. It felt like walking through a haunted space and I desperately wanted to make some images there. The trouble was, I was prepared to work outdoors and only had slower speed Fomapan 100 film with me. Not exactly ideal for a dimly lit scene.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Fomapan 100 pushed to ISO 400.

Still, I was incredibly determined to give a try anyway. The absolute worst thing that could happen is the photographs wouldn’t turn out well and in such an event I would lose nothing. After all, I was there to work in a studio, not necessarily the alleyway leading up to the studio. It was worth the risk to expose a quick roll right here and cross my fingers for the best.

The challenge of course was the fact that I needed to expose my 100 speed film to at least ISO 400 in order to get a shutter speed with the Hasselblad that I could hand hold. Even pushing the film two stops I was still exposing the scene at f/2.8 and 1/15th of a second. Any slower on the shutter speed and the resulting images would be guaranteed to exhibit a lot of blur. A tripod would have solved this issue of course, but the space was very small and exposed to the public street so working swiftly was also a significant factor. It was hand hold the camera or bust.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Fomapan 100 pushed to ISO 400.

As much as I like the classic look of Fomapan 100 black and white film, I’ve never had a lot of luck pushing the film beyond ISO 100. If anything, the film benefits from pulling it a little. I’m sure a lot of this has to do with the fact that my preferred developer is Rodinal, which is not exactly a developer known for it’s solid high ISO characteristics. But hey, rules and trends are made to be broken and there is nothing to gain if you don’t give it a go. I souped up the developer at a ratio of 1:25 and developed for a solid ten minutes, which is several minutes longer than the Massive Development Chart recommends.

The negatives still came out pretty thin, but there was enough there to get a pretty decent scan of my three favorite frames.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Fomapan 100 pushed to ISO 400.

All-in-all I wouldn’t say these are my most successful images ever, but I’m still proud of the fact that I took the risk and didn’t let the technical challenges deter me from giving it all a go. Sometimes that is the biggest obstacle to overcome when it comes to photography, or any other creative process for that matter. It is so easy to find a reason not to make an image and far more difficult to talk yourself into taking a risk.

Polaroid I-2 and a Hasselblad

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I’ve been a long time fan of making photographs with instant film. Anyone who works with instant film stocks knows it can be a frustrating thing to adore. Over the years the creative community has lost a lot of choices. Everything from the original SX-70 film stocks that could be manipulated while the image was exposing, Type 85 and Type 55 positive/negative film, peel apart pack films from both Polaroid and FujiFilm, the list goes on and on and on. Heck, I even once had the opportunity to work with the massive 20x24 Polaroid camera in a San Francisco studio.

It can be a little sad to think about quite honestly.

Photographed with a Polaroid I-2 and Polaroid 600 black and white film.

It’s a rare event when instant film users get thrown a very serious bone and today’s iteration of Polaroid did just that when they recently released the Polaroid I-2 camera. This post isn’t meant as a review of that camera, there is plenty of that elsewhere on the internet, but in a nutshell for the first time in a long while we have a brand new camera we can buy today with a quality lens and some creative control over exposure. In a very short amount of time it has replaced my trusty vintage Polaroid SX-70 as my instant camera of choice. I never thought I’d be saying that in the year 2024 so hey, good things do happen!

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford Delta 120 film.

It is a really common practice for me to expose a few Polaroid prints during photo sessions. I’ll often ask the people I’m working with to hold a pose for just a few more seconds so I can take a snapshot of the scene. Sometimes I’ll give those prints away on the spot to the model. Sometimes I’ll keep them as a quick visual diary of the work I’m doing at the time. Very rarely will I share them on the internet. Instant prints don’t quite have the same power and magic when scanned and shared on a digital screen in my opinion. That’s just part of their charm and power and it is one of the many reasons I like them. Not everything needs to be posted on-line after all.

Still, I thought this was a fun comparison. This isn’t meant as a test to determine which image is better. More of just a reflection that different materials and different mediums can have vastly different vibes and emotions from the same scene.