Images shot on Ilford Delta 100 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN Roche Abbey is one of many ruined medieval abbeys scattered around the lands of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Formerly thriving centres of work, prayer and study, they were consigned to their current states of dilapidation during Henry VIII’s 1536 – 1541 … Read more
This Yashica Electro 35 GSN review has been a very long time coming. Perhaps it’s a testament to my powers of procrastination, or perhaps I’ve just been too busy shooting and producing all of this work with it. I’ll go with the latter there personally, but it’s still no excuse. … Read more
Images shot on Fujicolor Industrial 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN Nothing ever lasts forever, as Echo and The Bunnymen sang back in 1997. Which is an unbelievable 24 years ago as I write this. It’s a timeless sentiment though, as Fuji continue to demonstrate with every film stock they discontinue. Like … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN One of the previous film photo essays I published here on My Favourite Lens was called Nothing New Under the Sun. It talked about how a lot of photographs taken on CineStill 800T share common subjects. That post probably … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few short breaks in London in recent years. Just two or three days at a time, and usually because I’m in town anyway having just arrived from Shanghai or before flying … Read more
Images shot on Shanghai GP3 100 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I’m not going to do the actual maths here, but I’d say over 99% of my Shanghai film photography while I lived there was done on 35mm. The only exceptions were some 120 I put through a borrowed Holga, a … Read more
Images shot on Fujicolor Industrial 100 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I try to mix things up with the film photo essays I write on here. Some, like this one from Yangshuo, are travelogues. Others, like this one about shooting in low light, are more about the film and the process of … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Ektachrome E100 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN When Kodak announced in 2017 that their previously discontinued Ektachrome was coming back, many an experienced head in the film photography world rejoiced. For me though, as a not very experienced head, it was a time to learn. To learn what … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Gold 200 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN We’re roughly 20% of the way through the 21st century as I write this – in 2020 – and we’re still lucky enough to be getting new films coming onto the market. In relatively recent times, CineStill started modifying … Read more
Images shot on Ilford Delta 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN One thing I’ve hardly ever wondered about until now is what it actually means when some product or other has the word professional plastered across it and how much difference it makes to the average consumer. I guess higher grade engine … Read more
Images shot on Ilford XP2 Super 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN A lot of the film photography I’ve published on this site was shot in and around the Qibao area of Shanghai. Like the shots on this post, for example. The reason for that is pretty simple. It’s because that’s … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Portra 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN There’s something about living in a place that makes you get lazy about seeing all of what it has to offer. Just think about all the things your hometown has to offer and then think how many of them you’ve … Read more
I wrote a post before about whether success was – or could be – scarier than failure. I genuinely believed it was. And then I heard a statement that instantly turned that opinion on its head. It killed my belief in it.
Having a perceived fear of success could be holding you back, and it’s going to be harder to get over it if that’s not even what the real problem is.
Come read to learn what I now believe a ‘fear of success’ actually is and see whether this can help you if it’s holding you back creatively. What have you got to lose?
Images shot on Kodak Portra 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN It took me a while but I finally did it. After shooting such household names as Oriental Seagull and Fujicolor Industrial, I managed to get hold of that obscure film known as Kodak Portra 400 and give it whirl in … Read more
Images shot on Fujicolor C200 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN If you’re a photographer, there’s an argument that says you should show as much of your work as you can. You might not agree with it. I’m not saying it’s right for everyone. But I do think it could help you to … Read more
Images shot on Kodak ColorPlus 200 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I guess it’s funny what different people do and don’t feel comfortable doing. For me, as most of my photography on this site shows, I was okay walking around Shanghai taking photographs of strangers. UrbEx in Shanghai, though. Urban exploration. Going … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Dental Photographic Slide Film in Yashica Electro 35 GSN One thing I’ve been lucky with so far while shooting film is a very low number of times a roll has gone catastrophically wrong. Massively underexposing some Shanghai GP3 100 in a borrowed Holga springs to mind but apart … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Ektar 100 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN Shooting inanimate objects isn’t something I’ve done much of since I started with my vintage lens and film photography. I just always found shots with people in them more interesting. Perhaps this was influenced by my location, as spending most of … Read more
Images shot on Ilford HP5 Plus 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I still remember my process for choosing which films to shoot back when I first got into this whole analogue photography thing. It was a complex equation that involved price, what boxes I liked the look of, and … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Ektar 100 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN As much as I enjoy shooting film, seeing the results, and writing about it on here, there’s a side to this blogging thing that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before. And that is learning all about the different films I … Read more
Images shot on Fujicolor C200 in the Yashica Electro 35 GSN Before I lived in Shanghai, a place I’ve shot more photographs of and written about more than any other on this website, I lived in a small town in southern China called Yangshuo. As you can see from this picture of … Read more
Images shot on CineStill 800T in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I talk a lot on here about the importance of creating and making things. About getting out there and shooting as much as we can. About how doing it is always better than not doing it, whatever the results you come back … Read more
Images shot on CineStill 800T in Yashica Electro 35 GSN I’ve never really thought about this before, but it seems one way you could categorise film stocks is by whether they have an inherent influence on what gets shot on them or not. There are plenty of general purpose ones that … Read more
Images shot on Oriental Seagull 100 in the Yashica Electro 35 GSN If there’s one thing I like doing when I shoot a roll of film, it’s squeezing as many photographs out of it as I can. It’s not unusual to get multiple essays on here from the 36 exposures. When I … Read more
Images shot on Oriental Seagull 100 in the Yashica Electro 35 GSN The Shanghai marriage market is something I’d heard mentioned a few times during my time in the city but, for some reason, I’d never had any real interest in knowing when or where it was. That apathy continued … Read more
Images shot on Fujicolor C200 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN When people look at a list of things to do in China’s largest city, the beach never features very highly. Trust me, I do some research before writing these things and ‘best beach in Shanghai’ doesn’t get typed into Google … Read more
Images shot on Kodak Ultramax 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN Quite a while ago, before I got into film photography and was still shooting with vintage lenses on a digital body, I did a photo essay from Wuxi’s Nanchan temple. It was shot in monochrome with the lovely old … Read more
Images shot on Fujicolor Industrial 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN If you’re into painting scenery and landscapes, I imagine the canals and bridges around Wuxi’s Nanchang Street would be a prime spot to get some done. I really can only imagine this because I’m pretty terrible at painting of any … Read more
Kentmere 400 isn’t my favourite film in the world, but I could only learn that for myself and know it for sure by shooting some. Part of the roll was shot in a park – hence the title.
Come see how it turned out and why I’m very happy I tried Kentmere 400, even though I generally prefer the results I’ve gotten from other films so far.
Catching colour on Kodak Ultramax 400 in a Yashica Electro in sunny Wuxi, China? That’s what I did. Come have a look how the shots turned out here.
Wherever you are with your photography, there will always be people who can learn something from you. There will also always be people who can teach you something new.
The two simple tips in this article might not be new to you, especially if you’re further along than me. But they can be useful if you’re just starting out and want to make your monochrome work better.
Whichever camp you’re in, there’s also some shots taken with the lovely JCH Street Pan 400 to look at here. So come and do that, if nothing else.
For a city so built up, you’re never short of a park to spend some time at in Shanghai, and these parks are never short of people using them for recreation.
That makes them decent places to shoot some film photography, as I did and then wrote about here in this little blog post. Their recreation became a subject for mine.
Kodak Gold 200’s bright colours make it a good film for sunny days like this, as these shots from the Yashica Electro 35 give a glimpse of. Come see.
You’re never short of places to visit in a country as big as China, as towns like Shitang are constantly proving. To me, anyway.
Most people have probably never heard of the place but I can tell you it’s near the city of Wenling, which is also a place most people have probably never heard of.
Regardless, I went there and shot some JCH Street Pan 400 in a couple of the fishing villages. Come see how that turned out.
Jing’an Sculpture Park offers nice respite from the city outside its boundaries and good artwork to check out once inside them. It’s artwork that’s constantly changing too as new pieces regularly replace existing ones.
I loaded the Yashica Electro 35 with some Oriental Seagull 100 and went to make some photographs of the sculptures there when I was, along with some shots of the people who were too.
This is the write-up of those shots, and it features a sculpture that’s actually kinda famous in certain circles. European sculpture circles, I think. Come see what that is and everything more in this piece on the Jing’an Sculpture Park.
Sometimes you have to get away from the sprawling metropolis and head for the small city. Especially when it’s Chinese New Year and you have people to visit.
While you’re there you may as well get in some street photography. That’s what I did, and on Kentmere 400 film no less. A stock I hadn’t shot before now.
Want to see how it turned out? Because you can. Come see the small city street photography, the thoughts surrounding it, and one simple way some of the shots could have been better IMO.
The Cotwolds aren’t the kind of place you’d typically rush around, and I wouldn’t recommend you do so. Not when you have all that scenery to stop and take in.
It’s scenery that deserves your best photography, which is something I didn’t give it. For me it was more of a testing ground for a roll of Silberra Pan 200 – a Russian film I got as a crowdfunding campaign reward.
That explains the daft pun in the title, but it doesn’t tell you how the shots came out. To know that, you’re going to have to click inside and come see for yourself.
Sometimes you sit down with a bunch of photographs to share and no idea of what to write about to go with them. It’s not often I do that, but this piece is one of those occasions.
That title comes from a Soft Cell song. It was later covered by David Gray. It also covers a few themes detailed in this post. The passage of time is one. As is a discontinued film. Also a new way to even write stuff for this website.
Come see what we’re saying hello and waving goodbye to, why, and whether these are good or bad things. Hint: I think they’re mainly good.
Longhua Martyrs’ Memorial Park offers a few things the rest of Shanghai doesn’t. Soviet-style communist sculptures and peace and quiet being the main ones.
It makes for a decent trip out of the city centre – especially when you consider Longhua temple is right next door too. Take your camera and perhaps even a picnic.
These are some shots I got from Longhua on Agfa Vista Plus 200 in the Yashica Electro 35. Come take a look and come learn more about the place before you visit.
After about a decade away, I returned to one of my very favourite cities in the UK. So of course I had to take the Yashica Electro 35 GSN and a roll of film with me.
That film was Silberra Pan 400 – a Russian stock that ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2017. This roll was one of the rewards I got for backing that.
The last time I went to Scotland’s capital, I wasn’t really into photography that much. So it was nice to go there and come back with some shots of some landmarks and, of course, some Edinburgh street photography.
Not the clearest article title there, is it? But it does describe what you’re about to read pretty well if you give it a chance. And that is a 3-step process for shooting the kind of images I like to shoot.
It’s not a hard thing to get your head around and you don’t need to do street photography for it to help you. It can be useful whatever you shoot.
Want to know what the process is? Then come take a read as we go through it from its logical beginning to end, and all illustrated with a bunch of street photographs shot on film using it.
Rangefinder film cameras aren’t always the easiest to get to grips with when you’ve never used one before. As you can see from the title, I’d never used one before I shot this roll in my Yashica Electro.
If you’re wondering how it went, you’re not too far away from what I was thinking while shooting. I had no idea how it was going either.
The short version is it finished better than it began, which is understandable as you get used to a camera. The long version is inside. Come read it.