Copyright © 2017- José Kilbride
film
Here are some (self-scanned) images from the Bronnie. I am actually fairly happy with both the picture quality and the scans. Very little processing, other than a little tweaking of exposure, contrast and sharpness.
Roadside tree, Cotswolds, HP5 Plus, Bronica ETRSi 75mm E II
Gatehouse, Cotswolds, HP5 Plus, Bronica ETRSi 75mm E II
Roadside verge, Cotswolds, HP5 Plus, Bronica ETRSi 75mm E II
Just a tree, Westonbirt Arboretum, HP5 Plus, Bronica ETRSi 75mm E II
Many years ago (half a lifetime away?) I spent a month in Nepal, exploring both the Kathmandu and Langtang regions, hiking the latter up to Kyanjin Gompa and a failed attempt to reach the Gosaikunda lakes. It was glorious.
On that trip I took with me in excess of 50 rolls of 35mm slide film, my trusty Nikon FM2n and Nikon F801. We carried our own packs, had a guide and ended up having an adventure.
For the most part of the last twenty-something years those slides have lived in folders and slide boxes, and this week I finally took steps to digitise them. At least I attempted to.
My set up is simple; a large Huion light tablet, a Benbo tripod, my Fujifilm X-H1 and a Canon FD 50mm 3.5 Macro lens with extension tubes and adaptor.
The images turned out… okay. These were just test shots, with some being sharp and others being mushy as hell. I need to work out what the weak points are in my process, both in the taking of the scans and the subsequent processing. Anyway, efforts below. Hopefully they will appear again, but at a much higher quality, once I resolve my process.
One of the aspects of image making that has always fascinated me, and more so in the last few years, has been that of film making. This year, in amongst the other challenges I have set myself, has been that of making a film about Bristol, treating the city as a character and the film as a portrait.
Like all things of such nature, and with my barely fledgling skills, the challenge is a large one, beyond the bounds of my capabilities. But in such situations we learn.
The other day I bimbled out at 5.15am to catch sunrise over Bristol docks. It was cloudier than expected (or the sky above my flat had led me to believe) but I was still able to get some nice footage. I took a bunch of other video throughout the morning, experimenting with exposure, camera settings and composition, just trying to get a feel for it.
Today I spent some time playing with iMovie and audio, trying to build a narrative-free video of the morning (and sunset), just to see if I could put something together that communicates what I want. I am not entirely sure I have managed that, and I know I will look back on this with some horror in future months, but as of now I am content with it. Much learnt, and that is the important thing...
I am very much a beginner at this (as if you can't tell). Messing around with time-lapse, audio and iMovie, as well as trying to figure out the best settings on the cameras I was using. No narrative, just the results of my early morning jaunt to Bristol Harbour and that evening's time-lapse.