Natural Light with the Hasselblad 500cm

I have to admit that sometimes I really like it when a photo session is incredibly easy.

This image is a perfect example. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to be photographing that day and I had planned on an outdoor adventure over the course of many hours. However, when I showed up at the model’s home to pick her up the light coming in through the windows was just so lovely we decided to stay in and work with that instead.

I ran about five or six rolls of film through the Hasselblad 500cm and barely changed up the scene the entire session. It didn’t matter what direction I pointed the camera, or what pose the woman I was working with put herself in. Everything just clicked and worked and after developing just a couple of the rolls it is already hard to choose a favorite.

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More With The Hasselblad SWC and Ilford HP5

I’ve been doing a lot of work with my new-ish Hasselblad SWC lately and loving every minute of it. It is incredibly refreshing to have a new tool that gives me a new perspective on the world. In this case, a very wide perspective on the world. For a photographer that can feel a bit like being a kid again. Considering these wild and crazy times we live in the distraction and the new directions that allows me to take creatively is a welcome one.

I captured about five frames of this particular pose and out of the five, this was the only one where I managed to get the horizon line straight. I’ve noticed when working with extreme wide angles, getting a straight horizon line is not the easiest thing in the world. The Hasselblad SWC does have a little bubble level that can assist with this, but it is only really useful when I put the camera on a tri-pod. Given the difficulty of the pose, having the ability to move more quickly without a tri-pod was worth the trade off. Thankfully I managed to get one solid frame right?

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Ilford SFX 200 On The Beach

It has been a very long time since I’ve worked with Ilford SFX 200 film. For those who may not know, Ilford SFX is what many would refer to as a “light infrared” film stock. In other words, it has extended sensitivity to the infrared wave length and depending on how you handle it can produce the same or similar effects as a true infrared film.

In this case I used the film with a deep orange filter, which ultimately produces a very mild infrared effect, which is exactly what I was going for. Darker skies and a soft glow to the model’s skin tones in a nice and subtle manner without going to the extreme. For whatever reason, that just seemed like a fitting way to go.

This image was made right as the sun was peaking out over the horizon in the early morning hours of the day.

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Using The Mamiya C330 TLR Once Again

It’s been a long time since I’ve brought the Mamiya C330 TLR with me to a photo session. For well over a decade that big mammoth of a camera was my go-to machine for just about everything and quite honestly I almost forgot how much I love using it. Getting the hang of it’s controls, it’s strengths, it’s weaknesses took me but a few seconds before muscle memory kicked right in and I was once again using a piece of equipment that just works perfectly for me.

I had quite a bit of sunlight, and quite a bit to work with in the frame so it felt right to put on a wide angle 55mm lens and get in nice and tight to the subject. I probably should have been working with a slower speed film, but at least Ilford HP5 is resilient enough to handle a good variety of light.

This particular session was also quite special to me because I finally had a chance to work with Vivian Cove, who I’ve been trying to connect with for years. We did some rather amazing work together on this particular bright and warm morning and I’m looking forward to diving into more rolls of film from the day.

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Hasselblad SWC and a Contortionist

I recently decided to splurge and buy myself a present in the form of a Hasseblad SWC. This is one of those cameras that I’ve wanted for years, decades even, and I’ve never been able to justify the cost. However, after more than a year of figure I deserve something special just for me.

So what is a Hasselblad SWC? Well, basically it is a medium format Hasselblad camera built around a very nice wide angle lens; the 38mm Biogon f/4.5. By medium format standards a 38mm lens is quite wide. It’s equivalent to 21mm on a full frame digital body. I’ve only used the camera for a couple of sessions and I’m happy to say that the camera and the lens lives up to the hype. I plan on doing a more in-depth review at some point in the future but for now I couldn’t hold off from sharing some results.

I had the wonderful pleasure of working with a model who could effortlessly pull off some rather amazing contortions. We had a ton of fun and the wonderful shapes and curvy poses she was able to do made a perfect paring with the Hasselblad SWC.

More to come soon!

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