#photography #analoguephotography #analogue

Analogue Photography

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In 2022, a family member very kindly handed me a camera bag filed with camera gear from a past era. Of course, era isn't exactly the most descriptive term when discussing tech, this was a piece of equipment from 1981. The camera inside the bag was a Zenit-11, a chunky SLR produced in the USSR, as is proudly engraved on the bottom of the camera body. These days, Russian isn't exactly a friend of the world, but they did make some excellent SLR cameras. Today we refer to these cameras as analogue, because some of them don't even have batteries let alone use digital sensors and screens. The first commercially available DSLR was produced by Kodak in 1991 which sported a, remarkable for the time, 1.3 megapixel sensor.

The Zenit-11

It was several months before I actually did anything with this camera. In June I finally decided to purchase some film and give it a try. I've been practising photography for nearly 10 years now, and I'm confident with how exposure works. The Zenit has this really cool feature that helps with metering. On the front of the camera is a grid which looks a little like a solar panel. In essence this is what it is, but instead it's called a Selenium Cell. This device produces a voltage based on the intensity of the light hitting it. A little marker visible on the top of the camera shows how bright the scene is. There is another two-part dial on the camera that we can change. All you do it set the first part of the dial to the ISO speed of the film you are using, and then turn the other part of the dial until a little circle aligns with the light marker. Then you can read off the dial what shutter speed you need. Set this speed and you're good to go. It's not the quickest process, but it works well!

Loading the film was fairly straight forward, I just followed the instructions in the Owners Handbook that is, amazingly, still in one piece. I was a tiny bit apprehensive about this process as I spent about £15 on the film and didn't want to throw the money in the bin. Thankfully it was a success; I was ready to shoot.

This was my 2nd film photograph: The Owners Handbook that came with the camera.

My First Shots

The first shots I took with the Zenit were a bit silly really. I had this great idea to go out and take some really creative photographs on the first roll of film, but the weather had other ideas. Due to the nature of the film, you can't change your 'ISO' so if its dark, it's dark, and it was one of those horrible English overcast, wet, days.

So I sat at my desk, and photographed this:

My 1st film photograph: A photograph of a box of Kentmere 400 B&W with a post-it.

Why was I scared? Well the pack of 3 rolls of film had set me back £15 and I still had to develop and scan them. I maybe over-reacted, but on reflection, it was a great experience. Rarely do you get to learn a fundamentally different way of creating images!

My Inspiration

What inspired me to pick up the camera, load the film, and start shooting? Well, it has its roots in social media. At the time, Instagram was undergoing those changes where everything just got worse. I'd built up a following of about 4,000 awesome, like-minded people, but Instagram were hellbent on ruining the experience for us all. It was the advent of reels which really pissed me off. Before boycotting reels, I was inundated with clips of people doing the whole "I'm a photographer, and I took this photo..."; to this day that phrase makes me want to throw something at the wall. To summarise this time in my life, I was generally just pissed off with everyone and everything that was associated with photography, including myself. I needed to break this negativity.

There were two things winding me up, the first was Instagram's force-feeding of reels. That was easy to fix, I just boycotted reels. It's true, I have made one or two reels since then, but thats for other reasons and it was on my terms. The second thing was this insistent, self-indulgent, fake, and downright fucking annoying trend of "I'm a photographer..." eugghh. These people were proclaiming they are photographers and here are their amazing photographs as a result. Lets face it, 99% of them are shit. For a start it's a vertical 19:6 crop which is just not good for nature/wildlife. Thats without considering the plethora of other things which make a good image. Now, I'm not saying I'm any better, but I'm definitely not proclaiming to the world what I am. Aside from the irritation, I felt attacked personally. I spend many, many hours in the field. I dedicate much of my spare time to learning my subjects. I work hard and I produce images I'm happy with. I don't proclaim to the world how good I am. These other people though, the spend more time filming themselves pointing their camera at nothing, than taking the image. So, how to solve this problem, which lets face it is my problem, in a way that is going to work and put it to bed once and for all. The solution I came up with was...

I'm going to prove to myself that I am a photographer. I'm going to push right to the core of what it literally means to create a photo-graph.

I was going to take some photos on film and I was going to develop and process them all by myself, at home, with my own hands. Now, I'm not saying this is a requirement to be a 'photographer', not at all. It was my way to proving to myself that I am a photographer.

Shooting My First Roll

So I had a plan to tackle this brain-rot which was eating me alive. I needed to shoot some film. The first roll was a technical roll. I wanted to practise loading the film, make sure the film advance worked, make sure the metering worked and everything was as I expected. I actually forgot to develop this roll before putting another in. Thankfully everything was working perfectly.

I'll not share more than one because they are...boring. Here is an example.

Technically my 3rd film photograph: A brick wall. Actually, my brick wall.

Shooting My Second Roll

This is where I started to put some effort in. I was thrown into a new genre, not just because I was using an SLR, but because I didn't have a big fancy telephoto lens to go after wildlife. I was going to have to shoot something different. I decided to shoot a family event because it was people who meant something to me, and it was a familiar setting. I'll share a selection of images here but ultimately it doesn't matter what you think; I'm sure you understand.

This is Eddy - The daisy tree no longer looks like that.

Ahh the British BBQ.

My sister gesticulating about something...

George - King of the pots!

Family, it's members come and go, but it's memory is cumulative.

I found this experience incredibly rewarding. From setting my exposure, composing, composing again, checking, and then triggering the shutter. The process is very deliberate. There is a satisfying clunk as the mirror slaps up and the shutter whips across. The process, a cliche word I know, is visceral; it's amazing. These images are highly sentimental, and hold value in pretty much only that regard. Most importantly, they are photographs that I created.

Developing

I don't want to go into detail here about the development process, however I will touch on it to complete the story. I was set on developing these rolls of film myself. It was part of the proof I needed that I am a photographer.

I found the chemicals I needed online and ordered them from WEX. I picked up a Patterson development tank from Amazon along with some other bits like a film squeegee and a dark bag (basically a light-proof t-shirt with a zip at the bottom). The development process was tense to start with. I used an app to help me time the stages. I prepared and got everything ready, then just cracked on.

The relief and sheer amazement I felt when I pulled the roll of film out of the tank was brilliant. I remember having an actual grin on my face that it had worked! In fact I was that amazed I took a selfie with the negatives as the hung to dry.

I've applied a B&W filter to make it fit the aesthetic. This was snapped on my phone.

I felt a huge sense of pride and achievement at this moment. On the whole I think there was a bigger relief from the realisation that I'd successfully proven to myself that I am indeed a photographer.

Film Photography Since

Since this first run, I've put about 10 rolls through the camera, including a very-out-of-date roll of colour film. Below are some highlight images that I really like, for more please do check out my Film Photography gallery.

A dear friend. This is a photograph I captured of a good friend of mine whilst out looking for red squirrels in North Yorkshire. There is so much character in the image, more so than you as a viewer can know without knowing my friend. This is a special photograph.

This is me and my girlfriend on a day out, the same day as the previous photo. It was my friend who created this image for me using my Zenit-11.

Despite only having a 50mm lens, it wasn't going to stop my trying some wildlife. This is a northern gannet colony in the England.

Vienna is an outstanding city. This was taken when exploring the outskirts of the city. Images like this need no explaining.

Exploring the beautiful canals of Amsterdam. This was a great trip, we saw so much incredible art and history. Amsterdam is far more than just sex and drugs.

The out-of-date colour film. This is the famous Marine Drive looking out onto Back Bay in Mumbai.

To Conclude

As with many of my musings, this went on longer than anticipated, and it probably doesn't make a whole load of sense. I think I wanted to share why I dipped my toes into the analogue world and what it meant to me. Also, I still think there is something different about capturing images on film. There is something visceral and real about the images you create in this way. The energy from photons that bounced off of your subject and travelled through your lens is captured and stored, chemically, in the silver halide crystals on the film stock. The image is imprinted in a tangible and real format.

To end with a quote, because we all love a quote but also I think this is quite relevant:

Created by Niall Bell (niall@niallbell.com)