This week's roll is a Portra 800, this means it has an ISO of 800. This high ISO was a special challenge for me (and my old Zenit B) since my camera's shutter speed does not exceed 1/500 s - in short: is not fast enough for this high ISO in broad daylight (and it was a very sunny week here in Berlin - white snow and sunshine - yeah for me, nay for this film). So I took pictures in the late afternoons and with a small aperture (mostly 11). I'm not quite a fan yet of the Portra 800 because the colours are a bit too cool for my taste but the pictures I shot at night out of the car, I like a lot. Maybe this is the direction of this film for me - the city at night. For next week I'm also photographing with a Portra 800 but with the difference that the film is expired. I will try to get also some night shots with it and am very excited to see if there is a difference between the film this week and the expired one next week.  

PS: I don't know what happened to the last picture but I like the green curtain :) 

Analogue Friday

One of the plans for that year is that I want to do more analogue photography again. I just miss this slow photography, the excitement of opening the envelope, of physically touching the pictures. So, to challenge myself to go out more often with one of my bulky non-digital friends, I want to publish a new roll of film here every week. Just what I get in front of my lens, may it be a loosely woven series or just a set of pictures totally unconnected. No sooner said than done, here is my first roll!

Me and a friend walked around the streets of Prenzlauer Berg and the deserted Mauerpark. It was a grey day with a strangely calm atmosphere and some traces of snow and mud left on the streets. When the roll was full I wanted to wind back the film to take it out of the camera. But I was reminded that there aren't only bright sides of analogue photography when the film suddenly broke while rewinding. So I couldn’t take any more pictures without exposing the film to daylight. That was the end of the photo walk and I drove to my trusted photo shop where they saved my roll. There are the ups and downs of analogue photography for you: it never gets boring.

analogue memories of the sea

Usedom in January was wonderful - a bright sun, a clear blue sky, lonely beaches and a calm, slightly moving sea. I took with me a Zenit B, which my Dad got me last year on a flea market. It is only the fifth or sixth roll of film and until now the Zenit didn't disappoint me at all. I definitely want to use her more.

Although these pictures were taken in January, looking through them makes me instantly think of long gone summers, of childhood memories and school holidays. It's a very special atmosphere created by analogue photography and this old camera.

Come with me along the beach, think of summer, wind and ice cream ... ;-)