A short set of images from the independence backing encampment in Plaça Universidad, which was recently disbanded after more than three weeks of blocking traffic and a key public transport interchange in the centre of the city.
Barcelona’s weeks of fire: after sentences were issued against the Catalan political leaders responsible for the events around the constitutionally illegal 2017 independence referendum and the subsequent unilateral declaration of independence, the region has been rocked by both peaceful and (as shown here) rather less peaceful nationalist protests. This is a set of images shot around the upmarket central streets of Passeig de Gràcia and Via Laietana in the centre of Barcelona.
Continuing the series of night-time street photographs in Barcelona. This time I have tried using a 28mm lens, which has proven very difficult. You might expect that the wider angle would mean needing a lower shutter speed, but in practise if you try to get closer to the subject to compensate for the wider field-of-view there is no real advantage. Add to this the practical limitation that my 28mm is a stop slower than my usual lenses, and it is very hard to catch images successfully. With the typical light […]
Four more night-time street images shot on film, with a focus on tourism and commercialism.
A short set of new images in the Barcelona Dark series. I am gradually managing to tame the processing and also gradually migrating away from 50mm to 35mm for the shots – largely because the 35mm is noticeably easier to focus and hand-hold. Some of this might just be psychological, but fear of failing to get rapid and accurate focus with a 50mm means that I seem to have more close-up images of subjects with the wider lens. These are also somewhat more randomly framed than usual. Not sure if […]
More night-time photographs from Barcelona, again shot on Tri-X (400TX) and processed in ID-11 with the M7 and 35mm f1.4. The 35mm does make it easier to deal with focus, but it is very difficult to get close to or isolate subjects except in the narrowest of streets.
Now that the camera, film-stock and developer issues are resolved it is finally time to get around to starting the project that was originally meant to start in January – night photography in Barcelona.
A new set of night shots on film from Barcelona – this time using pushed Tri-X (400TX) developed in ID-11.
After six months away, the M7 is back and seems to be working. These are the last of the test images used to check that the camera was working correctly. All the images were shot here using Delta 400 rated at EI1600 and push-processed in DD-X 1+4. Everything was shot with either a 50mm C-Sonnar or Summilux lens with manual exposure and manual focusing.
The M7 is now back from its latest repair attempt in Leica, and I have shot a couple of test films to re-check the focus calibration and metering. So far, it looks promising. The metering is now usable at ISO 400, and ISO 1600 looks ok down to about 1/8th second (a huge improvement from before, where it was failing at 1/125th). But…
I have not shot much film this year because my main 35mm film camera, the M7, has been at Leica for a shutter curtain replacement. The camera came back at the start of March, but to my dismay the first films showed a substantial front-focus that was obvious even with subjects many meters away. Rather than endure the six week round trip to Wetlar again, I opted to recalibrate the focus myself. Three test films later and with everything seemingly ok, I then set out to run some tests for […]
A set of colour film images, shot on Kodak Gold 200 and processed at home using the Tetenal ColorTek C41 kit. These were intended to clear the pipeline for a future project, checking both the characteristics of the film and developer, and also the scanning and subsequent colour correction.
A set of five images shot on film at night in Barcelona. These were shot with 400TX and Delta 400, pushed two stops in DD-X 1+4 as part of a test to get a feel for how the films compare in low light. Overall, the results are very similar (can you tell them apart?) – the Tri-X appears to have slightly better exposure latitude, while the Delta looks finer grained. On balance I prefer the slightly grittier Tri-X, and will try to shoot a series using this next year.
A mix of images shot on Delta 400 film in Barcelona. These are the “in-between” shots – images taken in between more deliberate work and which lack any deliberate attempt at narrative.
A set of film images from Barcelona, taken around the period of the Diada (the National Day of Catalunya, a focus for nationalism in the region) and the anniversary of the failed 1st October referendum.
The fifth and final week of street photography experiments, this week shot with the Leica M7 and 50mm lens(es) on Ilford Delta 400 and processed in DD-X 1+4. Next week a write up on the different techniques that were used over the five weeks and the conclusions…
Transient Eye 