Trying new films - Dubblefilm Jelly!

Hi all! Its been a while since I’ve been around as I decided to take the Summer off after a crazy grueling couple of months finishing off my first year of University (I got a 1st woop). Luckily I have been beavering away in the back ground, slowly updating all my old blog posts with Flickr links to Squarespace uploads (all film photo posts from 2011-2015 - I’ve done a year and a half so far) and sorting out the photos that I’ve taken this year ready to share with you when I was ready. And today is that day.

I can’t quite believe my luck at being contacted by amazing people at the moment and recently Analogue Wonderland contacted me about trying some new films. I said ‘yes please…’ followed of course by ‘thank you so much’ (being that I’m terribly British) and as well as being so generous, Paul at Analogue Wonderland has been incredibly patient with me knowing all the work I’ve had to do and also forgiving to the fact that I nearly broke one of the films that I was sent (I’m pretty sure its ok, we’ll see - its all part of the fun!)

As I’ve been going through my blog archives (I personally think I peaked in 2011/2012, so thanks for hanging around lol) I realised that I haven’t been that adventurous with film lately - and the first film I chose is so far beyond my current comfort zone that I’m surprised by the extent of how much I LOVE the results! So lets have a look at Dubblefilms Jelly.

Oh my, are you swooning? I’m swooooning at these. Those colours! Just wow! I tried to take a variety of photos to really test this film thoroughly and I love them all - the close details, the further away landscapes, the sneaky photo of a painter. Just LOVE them - I will 100% be buying this film at some point because its just so fun. The film stock has also been upgraded from 24 exposures to 36 which I’m very excited about.

I will also add that this film was super easy to scan too with very consistent results, I barely tweaked them at all. And that folks, is a winner for me. Colour film can be an absolute pain to scan, so brownie points all round for an easy experience.

Before being contacted by Analogue Wonderland I was looking at their store with interest as not only do they have such fun films to try, they also have really reasonable postage prices (both in the UK and around the world, I checked for you) and I also see them actively engaging with the #believeinfilm community on Twitter which is wonderful too.

So, are you usually a fan of such colourful and quirky films now? I will confess that I originally thought they were a bit gimmicky - but now that I’ve tried them, I’m totally converted and with 6 Dubblefilm films to chose from, you can’t go wrong!

Camera: Canon EOS 750
Film: Dubblefilm Jelly (generously gifted to me by Analogue Wonderland - do check them out, they’re fab!)
Location: Various places around Yorkshire (I love living here)

Yorkshire Dales: Signposts

As with the Kodak TMax 400 that Kodak Alaris sent me, I tested the Kodak Tri-X 400 in a similar way by taking photos of my favourite subject - the litte details. Again I’m reminded that I could easily change my blog title to ‘lovely light and little details’ and it would pretty much sum up what I do here haha.

I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to taking photos of these style signposts but I had to keep catching Thomas up on our walks haha. Perhaps to remember where I’ve been?

Either way I’m quite taken with the results of these photos. The first photo especially has a rather luscious grain I think. Its not quite as smooth as the romantic TMax 400 but I think I prefer it. My eye sight is pretty shocking (I won’t tell you my prescription lol) and one of the reasons I’ve continued using film for so long is that I find it so perfectly represents how I see the world.

Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 - sent to me by Kodak Alaris and developed by The Latent Image (not for free, I would just highly recommend them)

Location: Around Reeth, The Yorkshire Dales
Camera: Canon EOS 750

Sheeep Part II

There were so many sheep in the Dales and as we went on various walks around Reeth, I got to take all the photos of them. I was definitely in my element during our few days away.

Can you spot the second sheep in the last photo? Its looking straight at the camera if you can find it. I liked that it was sassy.

As with the other photos that I shared of this film earlier this week - I didn’t have to edit them after I scanned them using Epsons B&W setting and again, I am swooning over the way that its captured light.

Film: Kodak Tri-X 400- sent to me by Kodak Alaris and developed by The Latent Image (not for free, I would just highly recommend them)

Location: Reeth, The Yorkshire Dales
Camera: Canon EOS 750

Lovely light in the Yorkshire Dales

After sharing Kodak’s TMax 400 film last week, today is the turn of Kodaks Tri-X 400 - and my initial thoughts from this first film are WOW! Look at the way its captured the light in these photos. And unlike the TMax 400 - I didn’t need to edit these photos after scanning them, I didn’t even tweak the contrast… which I am amazed about because I’m a confessed contrast tweaker when | scan films.

Compared to the TMax 400, the Tri-X 400 has a stronger contrast, which is definitely helping with the gorgeous light here and I find the contrast really pleasing. After doing a bit of research and looking at other peoples photos with these two films, I thought I would prefer the TMax - as it does have a lovely grain and I love the mid tone greys as I mentioned last week.

However, now that I’ve used it myself, I’m finding that this film perhaps reflects my eye and vision more than the TMax 400. As much as I would love to be a fine grain photographer and someone with a sharper style, my true love is capturing light and these photos have such a lovely quality of light to them that makes my heart skip a beat.

On one hand the views like the ones above in Keld - are an easy sight to take glorious photos of, but on the other, if I’d used a different film then perhaps it wouldn’t have been captured as wonderfully. I definitely prefer these to the ones taken on my phone (which I guess isn’t really a surprise to anyone lol).

I’m looking forward to trying more of both films to see if my initial thoughts are reflected in different situations and in different places.

Film: Kodak Tri-X 400- sent to me by Kodak Alaris and developed by The Latent Image (not for free, I would just highly recommend them)

Location: Around the Yorkshire Dales, take me back!
Camera: Canon EOS 750.

p.s. its very bizarre to be sharing photos of snow on the hills after the glorious weather we’ve been having lately!