Gabi Roozee

Intrepid 4×5 | Paper Negatives Week 5

I am falling further behind with posting the results of my 52 week paper negative challenge. This was shot two weeks ago during week five. My husband and I took our dogs for a walk in the woods. It was freezing and had snowed just a little overnight. The sun hadn’t come up enough to melt it all off. I did not want to carry my kit or make my husband wait in the cold so I found a subject within 100 feet of the car.

The image I like better is the second shot I took but the first shown here. I always shoot the first sheet without a filter and then add a yellow filter for the second. I was having issues with my tripod moving and my numb fingers couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t locking down. The original composition is the bottom image. While adding the filter and inserting the film holder for my second shot, my camera rotated. I was too cold to be bothered to take out the holder and fix the composition. Luckily, my laziness worked about. The rock makes a good subject with the reduced contrast.

I was also too cold to take notes. I do know this was shot on Ilford RC Multigrade Deluxe Glossy using a Fujinon W 135mm and a yellow filter. ISO 6.

Same as above but no yellow filter:

These are both scans that I inverted in Photoshop. I would like to try contact printing at some point.

Intrepid 4×5 | Paper Negatives Week 4

I am now a week behind on posting my paper negative results. However, I am not behind on shooting so week five should be coming soon.

For week four of my 52 week paper negative challenge, I went to a park in the early morning and shot the edge of a frozen pond. The pond wasn’t the only thing frozen. It was hard to work with my numb fingers. I decided to shoot three sheets of paper instead of my usual two so I could experiment with the yellow filter. All I learned is that this particular scene didn’t really need the yellow filter.

The next day, I decided to shoot another three sheets at a different location. I didn’t end up using the filter on any of the three shots and learned those conditions absolutely needed the filter. I haven’t bothered to scan anything from my second day shooting week four. Maybe when I scan week five I’ll add them on.

These were shot on the new Ilford Multigrade RC Deluxe glossy paper. I used my usual Rodinal 1:50 developed until I thought they looked okay. First up is no filter…

And here it is with a filter…

I don’t hate the filter version but it looks muddy to me. The other sheet is too busy but I prefer the contrast. Overall, I’m still struggling to find interesting compositions with large format.

Intrepid 4×5 | Paper Negatives Week 3

For week three of my 52-week paper negative challenge, I was excited to try out my new yellow filter. A yellow filter is supposed to reduce the contrast of paper negatives. I added an extra stop of exposure to compensate but the negative was underexposed. I was metering in the snow and was already overexposing the meter reading because of the snow. It is hard to know if the filter needs two stops extra or if it would have been okay if my base exposure had not started out wrong.

I always shoot two negatives of the same scene. The second one I shot as a control without the filter so I could see the difference. The image has too much contrast and the tree turned into a dark blob.

I have a location picked out for week 4’s shot tomorrow. I might break my two sheet tradition and try three so I can experiment with the yellow filter exposure.

Intrepid 4×5 | Paper Negatives Week 2

The weather forecast showed nine days of snow, starting Friday night. I had a plan to shoot a snowscape in the park for week two of my 52 week paper negative challenge. The snow never came. By Sunday afternoon, it was too windy to take my camera outside so I had to come up with a new plan.

I decided to use my dwarf lime tree as my subject. It took a long time to figure out how to compose each image and I am still not happy with them. I have never been a fan of still life photography so this was quite a challenge for me. I am sure there will be plenty of times this year when I will have to shoot indoors for my weekly challenge. Let’s hope I get better at it.

The clouds outside were moving quickly so the light changed during both of my exposures. The first composition is of a lime flower. I shot it at ISO 6 with an aperture of f/11 exposed for 15 seconds.

I struggled to figure out a composition for my second shot of a growing lime. This shot had twice as much exposure time at 30 seconds but ended up too dark. I believe it is because of the changing light conditions outside. I developed the paper in Rodinal 1:50.

Intrepid 4×5 | Paper Negatives Week 1 Cont.

I started my 52 week paper negative challenge on Wednesday January 1st. My plan for the year is to shoot my two paper negatives on the weekend. For this reason, I decided to shoot week one for a second time to get on the right schedule.

On Sunday, my husband and I took our dogs for a walk at a local state park. It was windy and cloudy but I brought my camera along in the hope that conditions would improve. By the time we were done walking the sun had started to appear.

My first sheet was shot under a hazy sun. It is a 2 second exposure at f/32 and ISO 6. I prefer this shot because there are details in the shadows and the river is bright.

As I was getting ready for a second shot the sun came out completely. The resulting negative has higher contrast and the shadow details are lost.

New Year New Project – Paper Negatives

2020 was shaping up to be a bleak year photography wise. I have a large expense coming towards the end of the year so I have to cut my film and development budget. Luckily, someone suggested I try large format paper negatives. I am going to attempt a 52 week photo challenge using paper negatives. The project inspiration comes from an Emulsive article about Don Kittle doing the same.

I did some research on shooting with paper and discovered I already owned everything I would need but I was short on paper. There are claims that RC glossy paper works best but I only had two sheets left so I ordered a box of the new Ilford Multigrade paper. If I shoot two negatives a week this will be enough for the entire year.

I have an Intrepid 4×5 version 2 that has been collecting dust since 2017. I used it a couple times but my tripod was crap and made predictable results impossible. I finally was able to upgrade my tripod last year but I have only shot 4×5 once since then. Paper negatives seem like a great low budget way to get the hang of shooting large format.

Other than the cost, most of the appeal of paper negatives is the quick and easy development. Setting up the chemicals and hanging my light proof curtains took longer than developing two sheets of film. The whole process took maybe 15 minutes.

For week one I had my sister pose for me. I rated the first sheet at ISO 6 and shot it at f/16 for 2 seconds. The second sheet I shot at ISO 3 for 4 seconds with a 0 grade paper filter to try to reduce contrast. It was overcast so the contrast was already low. My phone light meter app can’t handle an ISO that low so I had to guess on the times. My sister moved during both exposures but my focus was off to begin with on the second shot.

I developed the paper in Rodinal 1:50 for around 1 minute. I don’t use stop bath with film so I didn’t have any on hand. I rinsed the sheet for two minutes under cold running water before fixing.

For a first attempt I am pleased with the results. I am excited to pick a subject and try again next weekend.

Yashica Mat 124G | Southwest

Here are a few photos from a roll of Kodak Portra 160 I shot with my Yashica Mat 124G on our southwest road trip last spring. We were bored at the Grand Canyon so we decided to leave a day early and head to Arches National Park. We passed through Monument Valley and made a quick roadside stop for photos. It was stormy by the time we reached Arches but the rain held off long enough to hike to Delicate Arch.

Rollei 35 S | First Roll

For the past few years I have been searching for the perfect compact 35mm camera. I thought the answer was a point-and-shoot. I have tried the Olympus Stylus Zoom, Chinon Auto 3001, Yashica Auto Focus Motor D, and Olympus XA2. I believed the Olympus XA2 was going to be the end of my search but it has been frustrating to use. Mine has a sticky shutter release button which makes operating it slow and difficult. My main issue with all the automatic cameras is not having control over the exposure. I hate getting back a roll of film and finding half of the photos have exposure issues. I had heard that the Olympus XA2 had a great meter but it too misses often enough to leave me disappointed. I do really like the Yashica Auto Focus and will be holding onto it. It has been the most reliable exposure-wise. While a good camera, it is not the go-to camera for me. There are more expensive point-and-shoot cameras with great reputations but I cannot afford any of them. These four cameras only cost me $65 combined and most of that was for the XA2.

Two weeks after getting a sad batch of XA2 film back from the lab I saw a post with cameras for sale on Facebook. One that caught my attention, despite knowing nothing about it, was the Rollei 35 S. I did some quick google research and realized the Rollei could be my ideal camera. It is a beautiful design, compact, manual exposure, and fully mechanical. Being fully mechanical is my favorite trait in any camera; I hate relying on batteries. Shutter speed and aperture are set by turning dials on the front of the camera just like my beloved Yashica Mat 124G. I imagine some people would be turned off by that but it is how I’m used to shooting so I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. The only downside is that it is zone focus. I have a little experience with zone focus but it will take some practice to get it down. I am very grateful to the seller/fellow member of the Film Shooter’s Collective for giving me a great deal and allowing me to purchase a camera I otherwise couldn’t afford.

The Rollei arrived just in time to make our fall trip to Zion. The first roll was Kodak Tmax 400 shot in the Narrows. I was nervous taking my brand new camera on a water hike but we both survived. My focus on this roll isn’t great but overall I am happy with my new Rollei. I would rather blame myself for mistakes then be forced to gamble on automatic exposure. I think my compact camera search has come to an end.

Here are some shots from that first roll.

Bronica ETRSi | Olympic Trials

I am terrible at developing film in a timely manner. Last week I was feeling motivated and developed three rolls. One roll was three years old, one two years, and one only a week. These shots are from the short track US Olympic Trials in December 2017. I did not take many photos because I was too busy enjoying the racing and it was really dark in the oval.

These were taken with a Bronica ETRSi on HP5+ pushed to 1600. I processed the roll by stand development.

Yashica Mat 124G | Mt Rainier NP

Our big adventure of the summer of 2018 was a trip to Mt Rainier and Olympic National Parks. We had three full days at Mt. Rainier before travelling to Olympic. I wish we had spent the entire week at Mt Rainier instead. There were too many trails we wanted to explore and not enough time to see them all.

Two of our days had perfect weather. It was sunny and beautiful with full views of the mountain. The other day was overcast with rain on and off. We decided to do our planned hike anyway. It was not raining hard enough to leave my camera behind so I carried my favorite Yashica Mat 124G. I shot two rolls of film, one black and white and one color. The roll of Kodak Portra 400 I shot on that hike has my favorite photos from the trip.