Author: Paul Newbery

I’ve been to Valencia and photographed the city countless times — so many times that I’ve honestly lost count. Over time my pictures had started to feel a little samey, so on this trip I decided to approach it differently.

Instead of my usual digital setup, I brought a Voigtländer Bessa R paired with a Jupiter-8 lens and several rolls of black and white film. I chose Ilford HP5 as it seemed like a good film to start with, particularly as I knew I’d be shooting in the midday sun. Black and white felt like the right choice for recording the strong contrast and deep shadows that the Valencian light produces.

I also used a yellow filter to add a little extra contrast to the sky.

Shooting film slowed the whole process down. With only a limited number of frames, I found myself looking more carefully at the light, the shapes, and the shadows before pressing the shutter.

When the scans finally arrived, I was very happy with the results. There’s always something special about that anticipation — the images living in your head for days or weeks before you actually see them.

What stood out to me most was how the shadows rendered, particularly around the City of Arts and Sciences. The highlights seemed to glow gently rather than blow out — something I rarely see in quite the same way with digital.

I gave a brief review of the Nikon F501 about two years ago. Since then, I have done nothing with the camera; it has just sat in a drawer. I also bought a roll of Kodak Portra 400 film which has sat in my camera for the best part of the year. It was about time I used it. The weather has been a bit shit down here recently — 40 days of rain — but there was a small break in the weather, so I went out with the camera. I didn’t go far, just along a lane near my house where I walk our dog. Occasionally, the sun broke through the clouds. There were some amazing snowdrops, but for the most part the conditions were drab. I sent the film off to be developed at Analog Wonderland, who also scanned the images for me. I was actually very happy with the results, considering it has been 20 or so years since my last roll of film. What I didn’t enjoy was the shooting experience; I found the F501 very noisy, particularly the motor drive, and also the annoying beep which was easily knocked on. I am very much looking forward to trying out the Voigtländer Bessa R, which is a totally manual rangefinder camera. It will be my first rangefinder experience.

Load More