Film Photography Podcast – Episode 186 – May 15th, 2018
Notes By Alex Luyckx
Hello Pod People! It’s your favourite photography podcast, that’s right joining Michael Raso around the table today is Mat Marrash, Mark O’Brien, John Fedele, and Leslie Lazenby! We’ll be talking on the Lomo’Instant Square (Pigalle Edition) Instant Camera, Holga: Photography by Michael Kenna, Alan Ross Workshops, Film Doctor, Listener Letters and so much more! Stay tuned and stay caffeinated!
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Thinking Square, Think Lomo’Instant!
A few years back, Lomography began to introduce their own line of Instant camera that use the Fuji Instax line of instant films. The one that caught the FPPs attention was the Lomo’Instant Square (Pigalle Edition). Both John Fedele and Leslie Lazenby took the plunge and backed the camera on Kickstarter. While John’s has turned out to be a bit of a lemon, Leslie’s has been well worth the effort. No surprise, Leslie has been doing all-things-Polaroid since the original SX-70 days.
The Lomo’Instant Square (Pigalle Edition) has a retro-future look about it, folding up in a neat package and comes in various colors and patterns, including red. The camera itself is well designed, takes a bit of firm hand to open, but has plenty of great features – flash, tripod socket, bulb mode, auto-exposure. There’s a 94mm glass lens (about a 45mm in 35mm comparison), with 30.5 threads for filters and apertures from f/11 to f/22 with shutter speeds ranging 8 seconds to 1/200”. Zone focus with three points, a ten second self-timer and remote triggering. Leslie has found the image quality to be fantastic!
Leslie scanned the above image and made a huge print from it. The camera has reinvigorated Leslie’s desire to shoot Instant film again! If this has interested you, you can pick one up from the Lomography store, you can get them in Black, White, or Leslie’s favourite, the Pigalle Edition, which is in Red.
HOLGA by MICHAEL KENNA – We again dive into the extensive library of Mark O’Brien. Holga is a collection of photographs by Michael Kenna and saw a release in March of this year. Mark is a big fan Kenna’s work, the technique, images, subject, and even the time of day. And while Kenna has worked with some high-end cameras such as Hasselbad, but this book features images all shot on a Holga. It just shows that the equipment doesn’t matter, if you’re master at something you can create art with any tool. The images are, as Mark describes them, luscious. And if you’re interested in good photography and toy cameras, then this book is certainly worthy of addition to your personal library.
ALAN ROSS WORKSHOPS – About three years ago Mat had a chance to learn under Alan Ross and since that time he has maintained contact. And recently sent Mat an email letting him know that Alan is now offering a pair of film only workshops in the USA. The first is July 13 to 15 called Crafting the Fine Silver Print at the Dallas Center for Photography (Dallas, Texas), preregister for a discount! The awesome workshop is Crafting the Fine Silver Image, and it will involve shooting in the style of Ansel Adams in Yosemite and it is taking place October 9 through 13. You will be shooting, developing, and printing at the Ansel Adams Gallery at the National Park. In both cases, it’s best to register quickly because these workshops will fill quickly.
THE DOCTOR IS IN! Here at the FPP we often have to diagnose a lot of problems we get questions about film, cameras, and general questions from new users of film. So the Doctor is in, that is Film Doctor X. Oddly enough, there is a qualification from the past, and that is a CPC, or a Certified Photographic Councilor, and yes Leslie has her CPC qualification. We have two patients in the office today. First up, Patient 5 is getting pink negatives when processing their Kodak TMax P3200 in Xtol. Well the trouble stems from the anti-halation layer on TMax film will often leave a pink hue. To help reduce this, pre-washing, a full fix (5-6 minutes) and an archival wash afterwards will help reduce this hue. You may notice your developer will take on a bit of a colouration, but don’t worry you haven’t contaminated the chemistry. Also, from Kodak directly, the pink hue does not affect the film’s performance in the darkroom and will fade over time. Next up, Patient 7 has curling films and it is driving them nuts, and the problem is that the customer is using Tri-X and it is cupping, curling from the center. The trouble comes when you scan, rather than printing in an enlarger. Loading cupped negatives into a film holder for a scanner will have you learning a wide range of cuss words. So how to reduce the effect of cupping, well if you can do it safely adding a bit of heat for drying that will reduce it. Another method is to back-roll the film, give it about 12 hours, and your negatives will be flat. Another way, cut and put them into print-files and weight them down. Having a problem you’d like Doctor X to look at, email us at podcast@filmphotographyproject.com!
FPP EVENT 2018! Did you hear the news? The FPP is bringing back the Walking Workshop! Taking place from August 3rd to the 5th in Lovely Downtown Findlay Ohio! Head over to the filmphotographyproject.com for more details. We do require you to register and there is a minimum 25$ donation fee, but make sure to check back often and sign up quickly as space is limited and will go quickly!
That’s it for this episode, but we’ll be back next week! In the meantime why not head over to our Flickr Group to join in with the community and you can always write us through email, podcast@filmphotographyproject.com or though the postal service, Film Photography Podcast PO Box 264 Fair Lawn NJ 07410!