Black and White Film

The Human Form in Architecture

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I’ve been exploring indoor spaces a lot lately. In part because the weather has been incredibly cold, but also because it has been thrilling to entire a defined space and figure out ways I can use four walls to my advantage. There is something about photographing in a studio sometimes that really forces you to just work with what you have in front of you.

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

I am particularly happy with the light play here and the way the bright highlights were bouncing off the white roof out the window, creating heavy shadows that wrap around all the shapes in the frame. There is a fun juxtaposition here between the straight lines and sharp corners of the studio space and the curvy lines of the model.

I’m also particularly pleased that I managed to retain a lot of shadow detail even though I was working with Ilford Pan F film. Anyone who has ever worked with Ilford Pan F knows that it is very easy to get out of control with the contrast! With gentle agitation in the developing tank and mixing a slightly cold chemical bath I think I kept it under control though.

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.

Nude From Above

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I apologize if it feels like it has been a minute since I’ve updated this blog. A lot of life changes have been going on, mostly for the better, and that means having to prioritize what I can realistically accomplish without burning myself out. I assure you however, I have been very hard at work making new images! In fact that has been my primary focus right now. Developing film, editing finished pieces, and enjoying the satisfaction of completing something.

Social media and the internet in general sometimes just needs to be ignored in order to make that happen.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 ISO 125 medium format film.

Anyone who has ever photographed with any camera with a waste level finder knows that it can be incredibly complicated and disorienting to try and photograph straight down. This is primarily due to the fact that the image in the viewfinder is already reversed, and when you are holding the camera above your head or straight out at arms length and aiming down it will almost make you dizzy trying to compose an image.

I made about seven exposures of this exact pose in this exact spot and this was the only frame that I feel like I composed properly. I was standing on a broken log above the model, balancing as best I could, with the camera being held straight outward, the lens aiming straight down. Needless to say, a Hasselblad isn’t exactly built to be held in this manner and working the controls, focus, and hitting the shutter button was awkward.

The little challenges one encounters with photography can be interesting that’s for sure!

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.

Using the Hasselblad SWC In Small Spaces

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I’ve mentioned before on this blog how much I really like using the Hasselblad SWC. The 38mm Biogon lens is an absolute marvel and I very much appreciate the almost point and shoot nature of working with the SWC. Set your focus distance, meter the scene, and you are good to go just pointing and clicking to your hearts content.

Photograph of a nude model made with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 film.

I’ve noticed a lot of camera reviewers making hay about having to “guess” the focus distance with this camera but in real world use I have found this to be a complete non-issue. Even at a wide open aperture, the depth of field is so wide I never miss out on focus.

There is one scenario where the Hasselblad SWC can be a bit of a challenging tool - working in tight spaces. To be fair, I’m not sure the SWC was really meant for small rooms. This is a landscape camera through and through. However, I’ve never been one to be contend with using a camera purely in the situations it was designed for. I recently used the Hasselblad SWC on a balcony overlooking downtown Portland that was about four feet wide and only about three feet deep. It was tight quarters for sure, but I think the Hasselblad SWC is perhaps the only camera I own that could have pulled off some good images at all.

Photograph of a nude model made with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 film.

The challenge to using the SWC in small spaces is the fact that the closer you get to your subject, the more the viewfinder on the top of the camera becomes “off”. The fancy term for this would be Parallax Error. In other words, what I’m framing with the viewfinder on the top of the camera isn’t the same thing the lens is seeing just below it. When your subject is far away, the difference is minuscule and practically undetectable. The closer one gets to the subject, the more dramatic the difference is. On a tiny balcony I was forced to be only a few feet from the model meaning I was guessing my adjustments big time.

Thankfully practice can make perfect. Or as perfect as visual art can be anyway.