Kodak Vision 3
Film nowadays is a precious entity. And photographers trying to experiment as much as possible with it. That’s how motion picture film made its way to our cameras. There are 2 ways of shooting motion picture film. The first is to use a film with a removed remjet layer. I already tried ReflxLab 800T film in Kuala Lumpur several months ago. Now it’s time to try pure Kodak Vision 3. I used a 500 ISO version of it even though it is a tungsten light film, I wanted to see its blues and greens in daylight shooting.
We went to Amsterdam. The bus station in Amsterdam is at the transport hub called Sloterdijk. Here all kinds of Dutch transport can be found: metro, intercity trains, bikes (of course there are hundreds of them) and a couple of old NS carriages converted into the hostel.
Usually, everyone goes to the Central Station from Sloterdijk to start the way through main Amsterdam places and neighborhoods. And of course, take a channel ride. Our mission that day was to show this city to our friend. So we went there. Tulip market, boats, very special houses, the Red-Light district, and those trams with kiosks inside. Glimpse of Amsterdam in one day.
The momentum
Nothing is more temporary than permanent. For many years my country was peacefully protesting and trying to make the world see that we want a peaceful future. Not everyone saw it. Not every protest ended up well for its participants. People with too much power were and are forgetting they are also humans. Alexey Navalny was for me a symbol of awareness in our society and the constant revealing of corrupted people to the public. Unfortunately, people in power decided to use their power to establish repressions. And try to erase the obvious. Torture our hope for living well and peacefully at the only place we could call home.
Now protests aren’t happening anymore. Almost not happening. Society is fractioned. People fled to each continent on Earth. Except maybe Antarctica, but who knows. Life goes on. Hope is alive. At least, for me.
Kentmere Pan 400 push
My second black and white film. And first time pushing film. I watched videos and read articles about Kentmere Pan as of very versatile and hard to make something wrong with pushing this film. One-stop push to 800 ISO for some contrast.
This film definitely has much more fine grain and a great overall look. And knowing that it can be pushed to 1600 and even to 3200 ISO makes it a great choice for any type of situation.
I didn’t have specific plans of where and how to shoot this film. We went to a couple of birthday parties so I just took some shots during paintball game breaks, journey to the parties, and top-golf.
Top-Golf
I always wondered, why golf players bring so big bags with them every time? Now I got the answer. Even when you touch the club, you can’t believe it is that big of a difference in the resulting power of the strike.
The game was fun, but a bit exhausting. Maybe it is just because of the first time. Feels close to bowling in the way how it is played: everyone is sitting and waiting for the turn and one is playing. I think with some practice it might become more interesting because for now, almost everything was just flying into nowhere.
Fujifilm Velvia
And the third film. The most interesting to me. First Fujifilm film and first color-positive film. It is so cool to have it developed now and look at it and see the same pictures we have digitally. I mean, color-negative is also the same pictures, but you can’t see the same picture without color reversing. And with this film it is possible. The price is painful though. The most expensive film stock so far I bought. But I guess it is because this film is rare. This is so unfortunate that Fujifilm discontinues one film after another. Can’t judge from the business side, but as an enthusiastic person about technologies, I think having two major players active (Kodak and Fujifilm) would make this industry better and renaissance more stable and beautiful.
This film has purple and bluish shades of color. But also beautifully saturated. I have a film recipe with the same name Velvia on my digital Fujifilm camera and now I can tell that it is definitely close. Of course with less purpleness, but same great colors.
It was Netherlands again that day. We went to Venlo – small town on the border with Germany to which we have hourly trains coming. Usually supermarkets and other shops are closed in Germany on Sundays.
But in Netherlands they don’t so this town really fills up on those days by people who came to buy something and didn’t hesitate to sacrifice an hour in train one way to come there. Otherwise, Venlo is cozy and cute little town with friendly smiling people on streets and many tasty things to try.
I wondered if it was worth splitting this note into three separate ones. Don’t know. These 3 films are united by the same idea – to try different films and see which type works better in different situations. And I don’t want to come to a point when I’m going to shoot something because I have to post something. And being honest, listening only to yourself probably is the key to keeping on this journey. The conclusion for 3 films is simple: each roll is a journey. Embarking on it gives that push to think and create that makes photography an exciting and worth a trouble hobby.
Echo 