Saturday 5 March 2011

New Website

You may be pleased to know that I have gotten over the shock of my recent processing disaster at my local photo lab! The experience has, however, prompted me to make the decision to purchase a home developing kit for use with black & white films. I have never actually tried this myself, but I have researched the subject a lot and know a number of people with first-hand experience of doing so, and apparently it is not an overly difficult process once you have practised it a few times. I am more of a fan of black & white images anyway, and have been considering purchasing a developing kit for some time. I have now decided to take the plunge, and upon receipt of my next pay-cheque, I shall be doing just that. I am sure there will be a few disasters to be had, initially, but then at least I only have myself to blame and can take far more time and care over my negatives than a lab would (an inexpensive one, anyway).


So today, with the weather yet again overcast and the shooting conditions less than preferable, I decided to set about getting to work on my personal photography website. It's a very basic design, with a couple of galleries (black & white and colour), a biography and links to my blog and Flickr accounts, etc. I have not uploaded it to the domain yet, but will obviously let you know when I do. It's looking quite good and will possibly be beneficial to have my own ".com" site. We shall see.

Having recently discovered the quality of prints that can be obtained through using my inkjet printer (as mentioned in a previous post), I purchased some Ilford Galerie Smooth Glossy paper, and have this evening run a few test prints on it. The results are stunning. Far superior to the cheaper photo paper I purchased last week. It is quite astonishing how advanced these printers actually are. If you do not own one, and are a keen photographer and would be interested in making your own digital prints, I really would suggest buying a dedicated inkjet photo printer. My particular model is a Canon ip1800 and can be picked up for around £40. Cartridges are not cheap (this, I must admit) but at around 40p a sheet for high-grade photo paper such as the Ilford paper mentioned above, the cost of creating an 8x10" print really is not much different to an inexpensive, consumer-level photo lab. Also there is the added satisfaction of creating the image yourself. If you haven't already, then give it a go. It's a very rewarding process.


Thanks for reading.


Tom Parkes
London, UK 

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Slight Disappointment...

So this afternoon (having finished work early) I decided to go for a quick shoot to try out my new Olympus Zuiko 135mm f/3.5 lens for the first time. I have just returned from the photo lab and started scanning the negatives (I shot a whole roll of film). The lens itself seems to produce some fantastic results, but the negatives have not been cleaned properly and have a line of specks right through the middle of the film, which are showing up as large white specks on the scanned images. I shall be returning tomorrow to see if they can be cleaned again. I suppose this is one of the perils of shooting film as opposed to digital, but this is the first time this particular lab have failed to do a fantastic job. At least the lens seems to be free of any issues...I'll try again tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Tom Parkes
London, UK