Around when I decided to sign up for time class last February, I decided I was going to try to shoot some lower ISO film. By this, I mean, film that is less sensitive to light, or, film that requires slower shutter speeds in order to get a similar final exposure.

I actually purchased a few rolls, which I will gradually get around to shooting. This one is Svema 64, which is actually one of the faster (and probably more sensible) slow rolls that I picked up.

Svema was a large film producer for the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union, their Ukraine-based equipment was picked up by another company, Astrum. Their films seem to be in short supply these days, and I wish them the best considering the ongoing war. Mine was a roll of 24, cut from a bulk roll by the Film Photography Project.

I loaded it in the Ricoh 35 ZF, a fixed lens viewfinder camera. Mine has a broken meter, so exposure is done fully manually.

My main goal was to try getting some longer exposures by the Puget Sound, but I started out with a few snaps in Capitol Hill, starting on 15th Ave. I used a cable release and a mini tripod.

(Some of these scans are a bit half-assed. Please, forgive me. 😆)

I booked a “two bedroom suite” off Airbnb near Mt. St. Helens for a visit with my parents in June.

Then, I got sick with mononucleosis.

The booking was non-refundable, so I rescheduled it for September. (The months in between had minimum stays of > 1 night, and I was not about to potentially double my loss.)

By the time September was rolling in, things seemed bright. My friend Jim from Milwaukee was planning to visit. The three of us could hit up the volcano, and the extra bed wouldn’t go to waste.

Our final plans were a bit tumultuous, but the trip was fun, and the volcano, of course, is amazing.

Lassen Volcanic National Park is (per the brochures) home to the largest geothermal activity west of Yellowstone in North America. Some of these spots are unfortunately in an area of the park that was heavily damaged by wildfires two years ago, and are currently closed to visitors. However, Bumpass Hell, the park’s most famous geothermal area is open, accessible, and well worth a visit.

×

Exif Data For The Selected Image
Film Stock	Fujifilm Velvia 100
Camera Make	Rollei
Camera Model	Rolleiflex K4A

One might think that after moving out of my apartment, I might take a breath, relax for a minute, and get situated.

Of course, if one thought that, they probably don’t know me very well. And, they probably don’t know my proclivity for running around like a chicken with my head cut off.😉

×

Exif Data For The Selected Image
Film Stock	Rollei Paul & Reinhold 640
Camera Make	Ricoh
Camera Model	35 ZF
Focal Length	40mm
ISO	640

×

Exif Data For The Selected Image
Film Stock	Rollei Paul & Reinhold 640
Camera Make	Ricoh
Camera Model	35 ZF
Focal Length	40mm
ISO	640

In short: September was a good, hectic month marred by a few unfortunate events.

I’ve been shooting film for about a year now. Along the way, I’ve had a lot of fun, and I’ve learned a lot. The rulebook is very different compared to shooting digital cameras, and I’ll probably write more about this in some other posts.

For today’s posts, I want to share the results I got from shooting a very strange and slow film stock, Film Washi A. It’s described as follows:

Film “A” is a black & white film, used as a leader or protection tail during the reproduction process for movies. It was originally sensitized to record technical data (and subtitles and main titles) and offers a very fine grain and a very high contrast.

I’ll tell you right now that I found myself surprised and delighted by the results.

Whenever I talked to someone, the refrain was the same.

“You’ve got plenty of time. What are you worrying about?”

But I’ve moved apartments enough times. I know that you can never start packing early enough. That it is always, always a long and painful process, and that I will be scrambling to get things done by the deadline…

×

Exif Data For The Selected Image
Film Stock	Rollei RPX 100
Camera Make	Minolta
Camera Model	Maxxum 5
ISO	100

…but, besides hauling sofa sections in the back of my station wagon, going to work, and saying goodbye to my old neighborhood, I had a lot of other things going on in August. I was reading, kayaking, celebrating pride, visiting an art installation at the last minute, and yes, travelling out of the country and state.

So, let’s unpack some of it. 😁

When it came to Seattle neighborhoods, there was no question in my mind of which one I wanted to move to. Capitol Hill is well-connected, fun, queer, political, energetic, home to lots of great restaurants and shops and nightlife. And, alas, rapidly becoming increasingly expensive and out of reach for the people who made it cool due to its proximity to Amazon’s South Lake Union headquarters and the Puget Sound’s general influx of affluent tech workers over the last decade.

That second point is part of what led me to my basement apartment, a place that has been a good home to me for the last two years (except for when an electrical outlet caught fire.) But strangely, basement life in light-starved winters turns out to be a bad recipe for happiness. And so, with my lease up at the end of August, it is time for me to move on.

The images in this post were taken throughout the month of August, as I went on long walks across different neighborhood nooks and crannies. These are my last photos of Capitol Hill, as a resident.