Hey FPP,
I heard about the 220 rolls of Tri-X 320 given away, as mentioned on your podcast Episode 34. I’m late to the party and only found out about your podcast a few weeks ago and I’ve been listening to some of the older episodes first. I was gutted to find out that you had a meet up in London and I missed it by 2 days because I found out about it too late. I’m in Oxford, UK which is only an hour from London by train. Hopefully you guys will make another trip over here in the future.
Here’s the concise version of my bio: I got my first 35mm camera, a Canon Sureshot II (which I still have) around 1984. Whilst on a week of work experience from school at the local newspaper in September 1986 I was handed a Nikon FM loaded with Tri-X to shoot with. I remember that moment so clearly. After getting the photographic bug I bought a Nikon FM2 and started to build up a kit of prime lenses. After a recommendation led to me getting a job in 1988 at a small photo lab processing E6 film by hand for the local pro photographers my photographic obsession really took off. I’d bulk load my own 35mm film and had free E6 processing so times were good. In 1990 I bought an RB67 and 90mm lens but the lenses were so expensive I couldn’t afford any other lenses. Also in 1990 I bought a brand new Wista Field 5×4 camera which I used to shoot large format E6 and a little b&w.
After leaving the lab in 1993 my photography slowed down when I had to pay for processing and film at full price. Fast forward, I got distracted by DSLR’s for the past 7 years and after making 40K+ exposures on my Nikon D700 in the past 2 years I felt that I was missing the art of photography from my roots. Lots of little dots joining up have led to reigniting my passion for film photography. The Inside Analog Photo Podcast has been a big influence and so has the Vivian Maer story. My day job is in publishing but during my lunch hours I enjoy walking into town with a film camera and making street portraits of anyone that catches my eye. I develop my own b&w which I find incredibly enjoyable and rewarding. You can see some of my shots on my photo blog: www.simplyoxford.com
Thanks to your podcast I am going to give C41 processing a try. Over the past few months I’ve had a really bad case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and have been picking up a huge amount of gear in different formats from ebay because prices are more affordable now than back in the 1990’s. The thing is I get so much enjoyment from using the gear I don’t see it as a bad thing. Recent purchases include: Mamiya RZ67, Mamiya C330f TLR, Mamiya 645 1000S, Pentax 67, various lenses for all of those, Horseman LE 5×4, Olympus Trip 35, Olympus Mju-II and Nikon F90X.
The best decision I ever made was not to sell any of my old film gear so my Wista is getting used again. Thanks to the FPP I’ve gotten into Polaroid pack film cameras and shooting FP-100C. I have a Polaroid back on it’s way from Japan that will allow me to shoot FP100-C on my Wista. I can’t wait. I do still shoot with my D700 but it feels so hollow compared to shooting film.
That’s a lot more than I was expecting to write and believe it or not that is the concise version 😛
Cheers,
Nasir Hamid (pronounced NASA)