# Shooting Mostly Expired Film



## Authentic Southerner (Feb 17, 2015)

Hello all... new to the forums and as I have mentioned elsewhere...sort of a serious amateur...  I shoot digital but also quite a lot of expired film (35mm & 645) and will appreciate some feedback.... I hope to grab a few of my shots and share them here in the galleries for polite critique..

I sometimes develop my own B&W which I understand introduces another layer of variables into the equation....along with the others like old cameras, diminishing eye sight, etc etc...

This one I took on the Big Sur coast last summer Pentax 645n ...as I recall it was expired 220 Kodak txp 320 film.  (this roll was sent out to Dwayne's for development)... I scan with an Epson V700 and generally use Aperture (although I am beginning to wonder about that choice)..

Appreciate your thoughts and comments.


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 17, 2015)

another... I think this was Ilford 3200 @1600 Pentax 645n..on a tripod..... Any thoughts ?


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## 480sparky (Feb 17, 2015)

Classic medium.... classic subjects.... well composed and exposed......*classic*!


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## bribrius (Feb 17, 2015)

These are great.


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 17, 2015)

thanks for the kind words guys.. much appreciated..


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## limr (Feb 17, 2015)

Really like them both, but especially the tones and creamy oof of that second shot. I love me a Pentax lens


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 17, 2015)

Will post a few more from the B&W vault...  and ask some specific questions about each... this one is not a very high resolution file...I know it was shot with a Pentax 645n and I think the film was Ultrafine 400... but Im not 100% sure on that .... My question on this photo in particular is what folks think about the exposure ? as you can see from the background, it was very bright outside the tent these pickers were playing under...  but wondering if the banjo player (main focus) is underexposed... and perhaps leaning towards sepia from the scan edit ?  I really liked that this guy has this old 5 string banjo and that very odd marimbula ... sitting at his feet....  Obviously I wish I could have eliminated the guy upper right but as we know it is not always possible to get perfect framing in real life situations...  Thoughts ? Comments ??


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 17, 2015)

Another low res file but again shot with a Pentax 645n and I seem to recall Ilford 3200.. probably at 1600...I paid $10 just to get in to a local "tattoo festival" and found some interesting subjects there who didn't seem to mind posing for my photographs !!  It wasn't like they could go anywhere...  I don't know whether this photo is technically right or not but I sort of like the image... the colors on the tattoo artist's arms were wild... so the b&w definitely gave it another "look"...  

Thoughts ?


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## kdthomas (Feb 18, 2015)

There's just something about film. The expression on the onlooker's face is what makes the third one. I dig the coastline shot most ... lots of detail keeps me looking at it


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## gsgary (Feb 18, 2015)

Nothing wrong with out of date film ive shot 36 years out of date and it looks great, try that with digital forgot it's not been around that long


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## bribrius (Feb 19, 2015)

Authentic Southerner said:


> Will post a few more from the B&W vault...  and ask some specific questions about each... this one is not a very high resolution file...I know it was shot with a Pentax 645n and I think the film was Ultrafine 400... but Im not 100% sure on that .... My question on this photo in particular is what folks think about the exposure ? as you can see from the background, it was very bright outside the tent these pickers were playing under...  but wondering if the banjo player (main focus) is underexposed... and perhaps leaning towards sepia from the scan edit ?  I really liked that this guy has this old 5 string banjo and that very odd marimbula ... sitting at his feet....  Obviously I wish I could have eliminated the guy upper right but as we know it is not always possible to get perfect framing in real life situations...  Thoughts ? Comments ??View attachment 95548


nominated POTM.


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## LostLensCap (Feb 19, 2015)

These pictures make me want to break out my SRT 201 and go buy some HP5 and some developing tanks. (almost)  Maybe next summer when I retire and have more time.


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## bribrius (Feb 19, 2015)

LostLensCap said:


> These pictures make me want to break out my SRT 201 and go buy some HP5 and some developing tanks. (almost)  Maybe next summer when I retire and have more time.


i liked the one i just nominated as i enjoy photos that can capture a culture in that moment in time.  I see it as a cultural photo. It is also very well done considering the circumstances.





da da da.. dooo... da da da...


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## LostLensCap (Feb 19, 2015)

Authentic Southerner said:


> Another low res file but again shot with a Pentax 645n and I seem to recall Ilford 3200.. probably at 1600...I paid $10 just to get in to a local "tattoo festival" and found some interesting subjects there who didn't seem to mind posing for my photographs !!  It wasn't like they could go anywhere...  I don't know whether this photo is technically right or not but I sort of like the image... the colors on the tattoo artist's arms were wild... so the b&w definitely gave it another "look"...
> 
> Thoughts ?View attachment 95549


Years ago I had a Mamiya C330 TLR.  This shot reminds me of the look it produced.


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 19, 2015)

thanks for the nomination !  I have always liked that photo...also more for the story it tells... to fill in some context that photo was taken at Merlefest (nothing to do with Merle Haggard although he did perform that year)...an annual Americana/Bluegrass festival in North Carolina...great festival by the way... most folks camp, lots of campfires and picking... the festival sets up "picker's tents" near the entrances with different themes...and folks (often well known performers) stop by and play, sometimes for hours.... I have seen Hippie New Grass guys sitting next to Old Time Mountain Men in overalls and work boots jamming together... it is truly a great scene...  I hope this is not offensive.. but as a native Alabamian... those Alabama boys, although very *popular* are known around these parts as more a Holiday Inn Lounge Act than *real* ..... I hope I can embed this video from Merlefest... this is the sort of thing one sees everywhere at Merlefest... 
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="Peter Rowan Yungchen Lhamo Mandolin Orange - I m Calling You - YouTube" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

well damn... I don't think I have the skills to post an embedded youtube video...


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## bribrius (Feb 19, 2015)

Authentic Southerner said:


> thanks for the nomination !  I have always liked that photo...also more for the story it tells... to fill in some context that photo was taken at Merlefest (nothing to do with Merle Haggard although he did perform that year)...an annual Americana/Bluegrass festival in North Carolina...great festival by the way... most folks camp, lots of campfires and picking... the festival sets up "picker's tents" near the entrances with different themes...and folks (often well known performers) stop by and play, sometimes for hours.... I have seen Hippie New Grass guys sitting next to Old Time Mountain Men in overalls and work boots jamming together... it is truly a great scene...  I hope this is not offensive.. but as a native Alabamian... those Alabama boys, although very *popular* are known around these parts as more a Holiday Inn Lounge Act than *real* ..... I hope I can embed this video from Merlefest... this is the sort of thing one sees everywhere at Merlefest...
> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="Peter Rowan Yungchen Lhamo Mandolin Orange - I m Calling You - YouTube" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
> 
> well damn... I don't think I have the skills to post an embedded youtube video...


i started watching it. But i actually didn't like it.  Has nothing to do with your photo. Your photo is simple, but represents a lot of people and their story. Which is why it caught my attention.


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 19, 2015)

Yes I can see your point of view.... I suspect that unless you have been to Merlefest, or are the sort of person who would enjoy Merlefest, that it is difficult to understand what I am trying to say.... Peter Rowan, the big old goofy guy playing with the others in the video... is sort of legendary in the Americana/Bluegrass world... his presence harkens back to the folk/bluegrass revival of the 60s...the first wave of young activist hippies, Foxfire books and a return to roots of Appalachia... He was sitting and playing directly across from the guy in my photo (out of view of course).... It is just that sort of juxtaposition (admittedly not portrayed by my photo) that defines the essence of Merlefest....  As to Alabama the band vs any of the many talented musicians *many would argue that musicians and performers are very different* who play at Merlefest,,,,well the band Alabama sold millions and millions of albums...and their songs are blasted loudly at Bryant-Denny Stadium to 100,000+ Crimson Tide fans almost every fall weekend.....so they are undeniably more popular and more widely recognized as associated with the South...  an analogy among painters might be Thomas Kinkade vs Gustave Courbet....


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## bribrius (Feb 19, 2015)

Authentic Southerner said:


> Yes I can see your point of view.... I suspect that unless you have been to Merlefest, or are the sort of person who would enjoy Merlefest, that it is difficult to understand what I am trying to say.... Peter Rowan, the big old goofy guy playing with the others in the video... is sort of legendary in the Americana/Bluegrass world... his presence harkens back to the folk/bluegrass revival of the 60s...the first wave of young activist hippies, Foxfire books and a return to roots of Appalachia... He was sitting and playing directly across from the guy in my photo (out of view of course).... It is just that sort of juxtaposition (admittedly not portrayed by my photo) that defines the essence of Merlefest....  As to Alabama the band vs any of the many talented musicians *many would argue that musicians and performers are very different* who play at Merlefest,,,,well the band Alabama sold millions and millions of albums...and their songs are blasted loudly at Bryant-Denny Stadium to 100,000+ Crimson Tide fans almost every fall weekend.....so they are undeniably more popular and more widely recognized as associated with the South...  an analogy among painters might be Thomas Kinkade vs Gustave Courbet....


I like the band Alabama (to a extent). I am from the north east though. what do i know about the south? other than a little time in miss and southern georgia. I have no southern culture.  If i named off some blues bands people actually into blues would probably tell me they suck. If it makes you feel better, i have a confederate flag in one of my closets i picked up years back. No idea why.  I was going to put it up outside for chits and giggles i think (to get a laugh), but my wife told me it wouldn't go over well.


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 19, 2015)

no worries I think in retrospect my response was a little harsh or rude..so I apologize for that...  you unknowingly hit one of my triggers... the band Alabama..hahah...  Just like any region, the South is a complicated place, full of many different sub-sets of people, many of whom don't get along very well... I suspect I have more in common with a particular kind of person from Maine than I do other kinds of people who live in Alabama...  

the truth is (upon Lenten reflection) that the story a photo tells is the story "heard" by the person viewing it... and sometimes that story matches the story the photographer hoped to tell and sometimes it doesn't.... doesn't make the photograph itself any less or more meaningful.... 

I graduated from ....as they call it down here... THE University of Alabama... and it is in many ways a great school.... I have a BA in History....but I absolutely CRINGE when I hear U of A referred to as "BAMA" AND when they play that damn Alabama song "Dixieland Delight" at the home football games...  of course I am among a small minority of people in this State who feel that way... but hey it is what it is...  I have spent some time in the North East and I observed quite a few folks up there that reminded me of folks from back home ...Hahhhh


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## limr (Feb 19, 2015)

Authentic Southerner said:


> I graduated from ....as they call it down here... THE University of Alabama... and it is in many ways a great school.... I have a BA in History....but I absolutely CRINGE when I hear U of A referred to as "BAMA" AND when they play that damn Alabama song "Dixieland Delight" at the home football games...  of course I am among a small minority of people in this State who feel that way... but hey it is what it is...  I have spent some time in the North East and I observed quite a few folks up there that reminded me of folks from back home ...Hahhhh



Uh-oh. First Sharon and her Tennessee Vols, and now an Alabama Red? I'm a northern girl through and through, but I went to college at the University of Florida, so there's still plenty of orange and blue that flows through these veins. We're all going to have a problem come next football season. And I liked you, too. A fellow filmie!

(I kid  )


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 19, 2015)

Here is another B&W film photo I shot on the great summer trip... a wind farm somewhere in rural Montana...  I think this was Kodak PXP 125 and it was definitely 35mm in a Nikon F5...


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 19, 2015)

and another more recent.... an old 19th century post office in the small town of Mooresville Alabama... shot this with the Minolta CLE and I believe expired bulk loaded TMax 400... a very photogenic spot for sure...I wish I had framed it a little more carefully... but it has been there for almost 200 years ... maybe I can get back by there sometime soon....


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## Authentic Southerner (Feb 19, 2015)

I wonder what people have to say about this one ?  Expired Kodak 120 - 

 TMax400  shot in a Pentax 645n camera... Jackson County Alabama cemetery..stacked stone graves


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