It's A Long Road Back...
I was rather alarmed to realise that it's nearly two years since I updated this site in any way.
Lockdown Loopiness stagnated into lockdown boredom and physical inactivity - was it safe to go out or wasn't it? I was allowed to return to face-to-face teaching in May 2021 and I've been rather busy with a major project linked in with that...
The result of staying at home all day, every day, and never venturing further than the supermarket has taken its toll and I find my energy levels have dropped alarmingly. I use a step counter app on my phone to monitor my activity and I can see that days when I'm teaching a practical class, moving around between student desks - one moment giving advice, then rushing over to another screen to rescue something that appeared to be lost - are they days when I clock up the highest number of steps.
However, when Spring 2022 finally decided to show itself I made a trip out to the bluebell wood at Beckenham Place Park armed with pinhole cameras to revive my interest in lensless photography.
Two things startled me. First, I realised the last box of 120 films I bought expired in 2018... Crumbs - I'd clearly been away from serious film photography for a long time... Secondly, I found there were films sitting in cameras that had probably been there since at least 2018 and were well over their expiry dates when I finally got them out for processing.
Expired film used to be considered a great no-no but now colour shifts, along with light leaks, overlapping frames and double exposure, such as the one below, are my idea of a creative result. That doesn't mean I completely reject digital photography - it's essential for the images needed for immediate publication and being able to check results as I go along when I'm experimenting is a godsend. However, it is fun to slow down, shoot some film and do some old fashioned waiting.
Anyway, the bluebells looked - and smelled - beautiful and there some pleasing results from the expired films...
