
Already finished with my third roll of the year. That, if you haven’t been following me, is quick fast for me. Normally I shoot two rolls or so a month if I’ve nothing special to shoot.

Why? Well, not super easy to answer that. I think the main reason is my excitement to be committed to shooting film again. This “commitment” came from a realization I had during my regular yearly photo purge.

I should start by explaining the idea of the yearly purge. Every year, during the last week of December I sit down and delete all the photos I took during that year aside from 40. I use the number 40 because to me it is basically like a roll of film. I throw out the other negatives (aside from those on either side of one of the forty) and get rid of the backups of digital files.

I should say this doesn’t really include stuff like iPhone photos or selfies with my wife. That being said, in the forty I choose I have generally become more nostalgic. I am more likely to choose one like the above of my wife playing a board game because of the way the photo makes ME feel.

Getting back to my commitment to film. When I went through last years photos I felt something different about the film photos. They felt more real. It is hipster dumbness, maybe, but I really loved the idea that the actual film negative was there with me at the moment I took the photo.


I also think that for me personally I have a great sense of discipline when I shoot film. I have a terrible habit of looking at my photos the first cafe I get to or break I have on the subway.


I am well aware that this is a mental problem. Something I could easily fix with some discipline. I think I shoot differently when I shoot film. I look for different things and ignore others. I don’t take photos for the sake of taking them.

Same old shit you’ve read on countless blogs or seen in countless YouTube videos I know. I apologize for that. It is just the truth though. It does really make me feel different.


That isn’t even to mention to fact that I have grown to love the developing part. I once hated it. I was too impatient. Now, I really enjoy it. It is the only time I let me cats into my darkroom. They come and play while I drink a glass of wine and listen to an audiobook or podcast.


What about the scanning? Well, scanning also has kind of become a bit of a routine for me. I have grown to enjoy it. I am in fact scanning these while I write this and inserting them while I do. By the time 6 finish I am ready to add the next group. It works for me.

You may be asking why they are bouncing between Seoul and Iksan so much. Basically I bounce between Seoul and Iksan a lot. I don’t take so many photos so you might see a couple days gap in between some of these where the camera was around my neck but I didn’t actually shoot anything.


Ah, to answer some questions:
What film do you use? I thought you used Tmax?

I also loved Tmax. It was like my first girlfriend in film. I never liked TriX at all. The grain was too much. The contrast was too much. The tones between black and white were too abrupt. Tmax was a lot better for me. The feeling was more nostalgic. More akin to my mind’s eye.

Now I shoot HP5. There are some simple reasons for this.. but the most important one is price. HP5 costs about 15% less a roll here than Tmax. The second reason I shoot HP5 is somehow I feel like Ilford cares more about us (film photographers). I could be wrong, but I do feel that. HP5 at 3200 still has a nice look for me. It is somewhere between Tmax and Trix. Sometimes the tones can be a bit abrupt, but not so much as Trix. Ugh, I hate Trix.

What developer do you use?
This I am more strict about than with film, strangely. Tmax developer is the only developer in my book. I don’t know about others and care not to know, ha.

Forgot the scan the above first time around. Not sure how that happened.

It’s a big holiday here in Korea. I think we are exhausted. Good to have a day to do nothing but develop some film and write a blog post. I’m counting down the minutes until 2:00PM when I think it seems late enough to have a beer.

What about this YouTube?
Coming soon ๐ I already made my first couple of videos and have them on my Instagram. Tomorrow I’m going to the nearby historic city of Jeonju with a videographer and her assistant. Also have my vlogging setup nearly complete. I received the 11-22mm lens from Canon for my M50 right before the holiday and it seems to make things a whole lot easier when filming myself. Smallish tripod also on the way.

Anyway, that is about it for this roll. Catch you all on the flip side ๐

I was wondering if you ever tried the Agfa apx.it looks good on a Flickr search I made and I find it cheaper here than ilford or Kodak. I’ll try it out..
Iโve tried it a couple of times. At box speed it looks okay but pushed any bit and it falls apart pretty quick. Since I shoot everything at 1600 / 3200 it isnโt really an option for me. Kentimere actually even does better when pushed.
Really liking the new and more regular postings, especially with each film roll as a unifying theme! A quick question: do you use a ND filter when youโre rating HP5 at 3200? Thanks.
A great question, and no I don’t. I haven’t put a battery in my camera in years. I kinda go with how the roll went. I start most out thinking they will be 1600. Sometimes if I end up going to 3200 (in my brain) I’ll develop somewhere in-between. Luckily with monochrome film there is so much latitude in this regard. For this roll anything outside was generally shot at f11, 500/1000. I don’t shoot much on super Sunny days.
Purging out all images but 40? Sounds very challenging to me, even more as I tend to reevaluate my images years later very differently and I wouldn’t like to risk loosing images to an too agressive purge… but I like the concept ๐
For me, it stops me from living in the past. It stops me from relying on old photos. I have a similar rule about processing digital photos. For the longest time I’d time myself and if a photo took more than 45 seconds to process I must have fucked it up in the first place so I just delete it. No matter how much I like it. This really helped me to not be careless. Not to mention the fact that I don’t much care for that part of the process. I like to make one preset and just use the same one over and over. If I’ve done a good job taking the photo it should be just fine ๐ Anyway, not saying my style is for everyone but it certainly helps me with my own mindset.
I’d love to see a video about your blogging workflow (with mobile)! Unless of course, you have already made a post about this which i have looked over
Minimalist shooting, maximalist annual editing…
I’m not sure about the latter. Contact prints teach a lot even long after the roll was shot. If anything, they will show your shooting approach, which is already minimalist indeed… ๐
As you press the shutter so relatively infrequently, your success ratio is unbelievable. I’m not talking technical success, I’m talking ‘memorable image’ success. Josh-Josh images, let’s say. In this roll, I can count nine that are you-you and highly evocative. Out of 36, that’s 25%, hey not bad!
Which ones? Well, my personal edit runs like 3-4-8-9-11-14-18-19-25….
Looking forward to roll #4!
Take care
Giovanni