Encounter Studio: experiments + journeys

brief notes on experimental photographic journeys

nostalgic pleasures #3

The picture below is a  second  example of using  expired Fuji Velvia 50 with a Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex Super SLR  and  a Zeiss  Pro-Tessar 35mm f3.2 lens.  The  film  was processed in E-6 chemistry at an Adelaide lab,  then scanned by me  using an Epson V850 Pro flatbed scanner with Silverfast software. The  digital file was post-processed  in Adobe's  Lightroom   This analogue/digital combination makes it a hybrid. 

(Pitkin Rd, Waitpinga, 2024)

The picture was made in the late afternoon during the winter months whilst on a poodlewalk with Maleko and it is a part of the low key  Roadside project, which  is a work-in-process. Pitkin Rd  is a no through  local road in Waitpinga, in the souther Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia  and it leads to several small hobby (life style) farms.  

This is  definitely old school film photography.  I  have to really  think about making the photo with Velvia 50: --- is the subject suitable (avoid lots of shade);  is there enough light; will a shallow depth of field work here; what are the colours (Velvia 50 favours reds and yellows); do I want to  add warmth to the image; will the deep saturation and vibrancy  be suitable and so on.  Those  kind of considerations  slows you down. 

On this occasion I knew the scene from a previous photo session and I thought that it would be suitable location to experiment.  So I was able to  pre-visualise the scene.  I was curious  to see how Velvia 50  would represent the appearances of  the roadside. Velvia 50 doesn't have the dynamic range of the digital Sony A7 R111 but it livens up the picture more than digital does. The picture has more presence, but not all the pictures on the roll of 36 were like this. 
  

We are  in the dusk of analogue photography. The last of the  expired Velvia 50 roll of 36  is in the quirky Contaflex but  I have continued the experiment with  a roll of 120 Velvia 50 in a Rolleiflex SL66 film back. There is no Velvia 50 in any format available in Adelaide, nor will there be as  it appears that Fuji has either discontinued producing Velvia 50, or is making it available in Japan only from  old film stock.  

Whilst  Fuji is walking away from manufacturing its film stocks --- they are  currently repackaging Kodak colour film (Gold and Ultramax) into Fuji packaging in China -- new film stocks (eg., HARMAN Phoenix 200) are starting to emerge.