It is interesting how unpredictable outdated film can be when it comes to the results a photographer may get. It can be very unique, but at times, very disappointing. I surmise that in the early days of photography, and in the heyday of the Pictorialist movement, this technical unpredictability was a common problem.

This is an image from a test roll I shot in a wide-angle medium format, focus-free camera that I built with an old Polaroid MP4 lens/shutter and some old camera parts, held together with a few screws and some of that liquid electrical tape to light-seal the inside.

The image above was shot on a 10 year old roll of Ilford Pan F Exposed at ISO 32 and developed in D-76 1:1 for 8.5 Minutes. I think the beam of light is another leak that needs filling, but it only appeared on one frame of the roll….weird.

I love this image, and may print it for sale or some show some time. It’s cool…. but not repeatable with any real predictability. The texture is from the paper backing on the roll of 120 film, reacting with the film base…something to do with the coating or something with ilford film of that vintage.

I am about through all of the old film that I had laying around and I plan to go back to using fresh film stock going forward from here, just so I can have a better idea of what I am getting before I go into a session with an expensive figure model.

This is the home-built camera I was testing when I shot the above image….I really like it and I will be doing more work with this camera…. stay tuned.

There are more new outdoor figure studies in the new work section of the site, and more work is forthcoming. I hope to have prints available for shows and purchase very soon.

Also, My mind is exploding with new ideas for imagery, so come back soon to see what I have come up with.