Friends came up from Seattle for a too short, three-day visit. Neil and I decided to go discover and photograph the famous “Hole in the Wall”; we parked across from Coombs Country Candy and set out on the only path available.
Half an hour later we came across a couple from Ontario that were as lost as we were. The instructions that they were given at the hotel were “just follow the path, it will lead you to the Hole in the Wall”. No one at the hotel told them that the path branches off again and again.
They set off on another path hoping to find it and we just finally gave up without finding the hole or the wall.
Presently I am shooting with black and white film, Ilford Delta 100ASA; our freezer is full of 35mm and 120 film that I bought in 2001. Once again I am using my Hasselblad with the incredibly sharp 80mm f2.8 lens ( I could live in that viewfinder it is so incredible) and the Nikon F90 with a 28 ~ 200mm f3.8 lens.
I immediately noticed the richness of the film, the degrees of black, white, as well as the degrees of grey that are not available in a digital device.
I did think that one of the Hasselblad backs had a slight light leak on one side, enough to reduce the contrast and make the image useless. Les said to me “why don’t you load two Hasselblad backs with black and white film, shoot, and then compare the negatives”?
Of course, she was right and upon developing the negatives the difference between the two rolls was immediately noticeable.
Rather than shipping the exposed film to Vancouver or Edmonton for processing I started developing my own black and white film in 120 (2 ¼-inch) or 35 mm. I use Ilfosol 3 for fine grain and good contrast.
So…if you are shooting black and white film and don’t know where to have the film processed, you can come to me: the film will be developed, scanned in either low res or high res depending on how much money that you want to spend, and put on a DVD or a USB/flash drive. Ask me about printing options.
Any questions? E-mail me at nsilverstone@telus.net or see me online at www.silverstonephotos.com.
