August | 2017 | Film Photography London

So following on from my last post shooting the Lomochrome purple in Malta, today’s update is how I got on with Washi S film.

If you have not come across this film before it is a film provided by Washi, a French outfit, best known for their film papers. I have shot this film twice before. One time in London where I was very happy with the results and once in Brighton where I got a few images but I wasn’t respectful to the film properties so not so great.

Washi S is a sound recording film used in the motion picture industry. Shot in a 35mm camera it acts as a very high contrast ISO50 Black & White film. What I have learnt in the few times I have now tried it, is that you have to be very respectful to the highlights and also the areas where the sun is reflected.

This roll was shot in my OM1n, metered at ISO50 using the Lumu iPhone app and an orange filter on the camera. A little note, I found it better to meter the whole scene and then also spot meter certain areas of the frame to try and gauge between the bright and the dark to aim to keep the light under control. This again maybe my own blind leading the blind theory but seems to have worked out.

I shot this roll in the city of Valletta, which is Malta’s capital and also a UNESCO World Heritage sight. The conditions were bright sunlight, mainly clear skies and shadows from the buildings.

Here are the results, I don’t normally say things like this, but I am very very pleased with the results and looking forward to using and understanding this film more and more.

An idea what a difference one stop makes below

and another example below of one stop difference

The Parliament area of Valletta

Near the main gate to the city

The lift to the Upper Gardens

The Architecture

Valletta is also going to be European City of Culture in 2018 and they are building up installations, artwork and sculputure to add to the fantastic historical sights they already have.

And finally, my favourite (non-family) photograph of the whole trip. We were sitting in a typical Valletta outdoor cafe, great food and drink when I took this, it is also the first shot of the roll. It has come out exactly as I visualised with the film and I love it.

I hope you enjoyed this, still to come from my holidays rolls: Oriental Seagull 100, Kodak E100VS, Fuji Velvia 50, Kodak Vision 50D, Kodak Vision 250D and Kodak Double x

I recently spent two weeks in Malta for our family holiday. I originally wasn’t going to take any film cameras with me just my trusty Fuji XT1 as it was a family holiday and not a photography trip.

This thought process didn’t last very long and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t have my Olympus OM1n with me. The next decision was what film stock to take. I ultimately decided to take a mixture of films to try different things. I also challenged myself to shoot 10 rolls in those two weeks. Considering it was a family holiday which would mostly be spent sitting next to a swimming pool it was quite a challenge to set myself. The following films were chosen.

10 rolls, 360 exposures, 8 emulsions and 4 different developing processes

For each emulsion I will do a separate blog post. Today’s post is the 10th and last film I shot on my holiday (I’m not writing about them in order so yes this is the first blog).

Lomography Lomochrome purple, their new version.

For context it is important I mention that very early in the holiday the meter broke on my OM1n so I was metering with a combination of an iPhone app and instinct. I also bracketed more than I normally would.

My first challenge was how to rate the film. The film suggests anything from 100-400. I went with rating it at around 250iso. My thought process was that it was too bright where I was for 400 and I did not want to go as slow as 100. I guess in my head I looked at it like redscale and thought the longer the exposure the less purple there would be. This is a pure assumption of mine based on nothing I read or scientific and almost certainly incorrect.

The first set of shots were taken in and around where we were staying and the end of the roll at the airport on the way home. So how did I get on, well take a look.

The tiles around the pool are white in normal colours

To give you an idea on colour the towels are actually bright yellow

Palm trees

The Hotel

Now for the next three I bracketed the shot. This is the point where I should be really helpful, tell you all the camera settings so you can see how each exposure setting has changed the look of the result. Yeah, it was my last day, it was hot, I was by the pool, wearing pool attire, therefore I did not write anything down. At a guess the middle image was the one around 250iso and the other two, one stop either side. Sorry.