Nostalgia

I ran a roll of colour negative film through the F100 mainly to check if it was leaving tramlines on the film as this camera has sometimes done. It passed the test so I’m loading up the queen of all colour films, Fujichrome Velvia 50 which, know it or not, you saw splashed across magazines throughout the 90s. I found this precious roll in the fridge (expired 2009) and, since I’ve discovered there’s a place processing slide film in Cape Town, wanted to shoot it on the F100. The F100 came out in 1999 and can use Nikon’s most recent F-mount lenses, including those with image stabilisation for maximum sharpness - especially with a very slow, 50ISO film like this. A lot of young people may only think of film for producing images with character. But Velvia can theoretically out-resolve the highest resolution full-frame digital cameras and produce wild colour. ...

A 1979 printing of The Hobbit at a local coffee place. I used to buy all sorts of copies of this book when I was a kid. My fave is still a reproduction of the original print with the Tolkien designed dust jacket and the colour plates. I was reflecting on how the fandom is so intense that I don’t consider myself a fan - despite having read The Silmarilion twice! You can put that down to the movies having created ultra fans. ...

This struck me as the most South African weekend scene I can imagine - from the end of World War II to today, kids hanging out getting treats on the weekend.

While I’m going through some ancient pics, this is one I’ve always been fond of. Scanned a bit small. I used a clunky old Takumar 400mm lens and my old Pentax MX with Tri-X film. I’m still interested in making wildlife pics with B&W, though it’s not as original an idea as it was back in 2002 or whenever.