Category: France

Monochrome Monday… A hole in the roof

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A hole in the roof, January 2017A hole in the roof, January 2017
Kershaw 450, Otar Anastigmat 80mm f/4.5 – 1/50s, f8.5, – Ilford HP5+

A folder of scans from a roll of Ilford HP5+ that I shot last January turned up this afternoon (when I was looking for something else entirely!) so I thought I might as well post an image from it…

Luckily this hole is in the roof of one of the two disused piggeries at a friend’s house in the Nièvre department of France. It was shot on Ilford HP5+ using a Kershaw 450 folding camera that I’m planning on writing about in an upcoming post… watch this space as they say…

Scan by Peak Imaging with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom CC.

Classic vehicle – Renault 1000Kg light van

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Like fellow blogger Jim Grey I photograph old cars whenever I spot one and although a beautifully restored example is wonderful to see, I do prefer those that have been allowed to age gracefully…

Renault 1000Kg light vanRenault 1000Kg light van
Pentax MZ-M, SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2 – 1/90s, f8 – JCH Street Pan 400 rated at ISO 320

The Renault 1000Kg light van was introduced in 1947 but the 1400kg version introduced two years later soon became the more popular model.

This particular example was spotted in a small commune in the Nièvre department of France and is an example of the 1000Kg Voltigeur model manufactured between 1956 and 1963. As a diesel engine was only offered as an option from 1961 I’m assuming that this one has the 1996cc petrol engine.

Renault 1000Kg light van-20170801Renault 1000Kg light van
Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon XF 18-135mm f3.5~5.6 R LM OIS WR at 93mm, 1/60s, f8, ISO 400

I’m not certain that those tiny wheels (that don’t even remotely fill out the wheel arches) are the originals and sadly the van doesn’t appear to have moved in quite a while even though the ’89’ part of the registration indicates that this vehicle is registered in the neighbouring Yonne department.

Single frame…

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Summer Shadows, July 2016Summer Shadows, July 2016
Pentax MZ-M, SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2, 1/350s, f8 – Agfa HDC 200 rated at ISO 100

Autumn has well and truly arrived, there’s a nip in the air and this evening the smell of bonfires was everywhere… I’m already longing for days like this…

A few (more) frames from… Paris

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On the Nikon F90X Pro…

As I was scanning the negatives for my last ‘A few frames from…’ post it dawned on me that most of my honeymoon images have never been more than contact printed! One thing is for certain, it’s far easier to showcase photos in the internet age than it was 17 years ago…

So here are a few more…

Metro sign, Paris, September 2000Metro sign, Paris, September 2000
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

I love these art nouveau signs, designed by French architect Hector Guimard. The curved lamp posts are designed to resemble plant stems but to me always look alien, almost as if they’re going to suddenly bow down and bite an unsuspecting tourist!

Papa? c'est Nicole! Paris, September 2000‘Papa? c’est Nicole!’ Paris, September 2000
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

This scene reminded me of the characters created to advertise the Renault Clio car in the UK during the 1990s (search YouTube for the videos) and was taken during one of our many ‘beer in a pavement café’ interludes.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica, September 2000Sacré-Cœur Basilica, September 2000
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

The bust of Gustave Eiffel 1832-1923Gustave Eiffel 1832-1923
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

Scanning these images is bringing back some very happy memories so expect some more in the next few days…

A few frames from… Paris

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On the Nikon F90X Pro…

As a couple of my recent posts have mentioned our wedding anniversary I thought I’d dig out some of the shots I took 17 years ago while on honeymoon in Paris.

I took two cameras with me, a Nikon F90X Pro fitted with a borrowed Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro zoom lens, and a Yashica T4, most of the black & white films were shot on the Nikon.

Flower Power Peugeot, Paris, September 2000Flower Power Peugeot, Paris, September 2000
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

I have to admit that it took me a couple of days to ‘get’ Paris… I’m not normally a city person and at first I really didn’t like the noise, or the number of people but the more we wandered around, the more photos I took, the more I fell in love with ‘La Ville Lumière’ (The City of Light).

Cimetière de Montmartre, September 2000Cimetière de Montmartre, September 2000
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

Lunch in Montmartre Cemetery consisted of nothing more than bread, cheese and red wine… red wine that we ended up drinking straight from the bottle as we’d forgotten to bring anything to drink out of!

La tour Eiffel, September 2000La tour Eiffel, September 2000
Nikon F90X Pro, Sigma 28~200mm f/3.8-5.6 DL Macro – Ilford Delta 400 rated at ISO 320

The films were developed at home (something I really need to start doing again) but have no recollection of the chemistry used, I probably picked whatever was the cheapest available at the time… The Sigma 28~200mm lens was chosen for convenience rather than quality and as a result I steered clear of ‘super zooms’ until last year when I bought the Fujinon XF 18-135mm f3.5~5.6 R LM OIS WR lens to go with my Fujifilm X-T1.

I wish I’d never parted with the Nikon F90X though…

Monochrome Monday… JCH Street Pan 400

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Route de Bouhy, Alligny-Cosne, France, August 2017Route de Bouhy, Alligny-Cosne, France, August 2017
Pentax MZ-M, SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2, 1/180s, f8 – JCH Street Pan 400 rated at ISO 320

Scans by Peak Imaging with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom CC.

An image from my second roll of Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan film (the first was shot in what turned out to be a faulty Olympus μ[mju:] II Zoom 80).

So far I definitely prefer this film to the Fuji Neopan 400CN that I have been using recently. The grain isn’t obtrusive and the images are nice and ‘contrasty’ which surprises me given the very flat light the afternoon I wandered around Alligny-Cosne, snapping away while waiting for the boulangerie to open at 4pm…

I’ve got one more roll in stock, I think I’ll shoot it this weekend.