photography Archives - Martin W Smith

A Trip to Japan

Martin Smith — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 13:54:29 +0000

By Alexrk2 [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I’m going to Japan!

In November I will be taking a trip to Japan for a week, on my own, to take photos. Earlier this month it was my birthday and my lovely wife paid for the flights as a birthday present for me. She said I could have some money towards a Hasselblad or flights to Japan. I took the flights. I’ve always wanted to go to Japan and as much as I’ve wanted a Hasselblad too, experiences like this beat a new camera every time.

I will be doing the whole thing on the cheap, I’ve booked pod hotels for my stay in Tokyo and Kyoto. Over the next few months I will be making plans for my stay, so that I make the most of this opportunity. I’ve started to learn Japanese already, hopefully by the time I get there I will be able to speak a little bit at least. I’m also going to be working on my photography, I don’t want to get there and take bland generic photos. I want to make the most of my time.

YouTube Channel

I’ve started a YouTube channel where I will be doing a vlog about the trip. I’ve already done three videos, they’re very short. I plan to do a vlog every few weeks until I go, with updates on my plans and then regular vlogs while I’m there.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiMDrtmZeRhUkd_n6Gz8WPg

Instant Photography

Martin Smith — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 18:43:39 +0000

I love instant film! There I said it and it’s true, at the press of a shutter you have in your hands a physical print in seconds or minutes (depending on which instant film it is), that’s amazing isn’t it? As it is now #InstantApril which I believe to be the brain child of @KristenWithACamera over on Twitter, I thought I’d do a little blog post about my experiences with instant photography. My history with instant photography has been relatively short, I bought my first instant camera, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 back in May 2014, I really liked those little instax, but the camera didn’t offer much control and the flash was over powering. I then backed the Kickstarter campaign for the Lomography Lomo Instant and was one of the first people to get one in the UK, I was even featured as a Lomo Amigo.

It wasn’t long before I wanted to try a real Polaroid camera so early in 2015 I purchased a Polaroid 626. To be honest I didn’t like the 626 that much again, it didn’t seem to give you much control and you couldn’t turn off the flash. I wasn’t finished with Polaroid though as I bought a Polaroid Spectra SE, this was much better, it has autofocus and the flash can be turned off. Film for these Polaroid cameras is now only produced by The Impossible Project, I particularly like their Black & White Gen 2.0 film for the Spectra.

Impossible B&W, Polaroid Spectra SE

Impossible Colour, Polaroid Spectra SE

Having read quite a bit about Polaroid cameras I wanted to try out a Land Camera that uses the peel apart film. I found out that my step dad had one that he’d never used. I borrowed his Polaroid Land 100 and attempted to convert it to AAA batteries, but the wiring was too far gone and you needed a special tool to get the grip off and on again, so I gave up. Luckily James Fox Davies whom I had met last year at LNDNWLK had a Polaroid 250 that was already converted and fully working that he was willing to lend me. I tried both FB-3000B (B&W) and FP-100C (colour) and loved them both the quality of these films is amazing. After shooting a few packs of film I bought my own Polaroid 350, which I’ve successfully converted to use AAA batteries. Unfortunately recently not long after buying the camera Fujifilm announced they were discontinuing production of FP-100C, the only film that was still being produced for these cameras, FP-3000B had already been discontinued some time ago. Both types of film can still be found, but at a steep price and mostly expired. I still have a few packs of film in the fridge, but I’m going to have to ration its usage. There are people out there trying to save this film, I don’t know if it’s possible but if there’s any chance it’s worth going to savepackfilm.net and signing the petition anyway.

Fujifilm FP-100C, Polaroid Land 250

Fujifilm FP-3000B, Polaroid Land 250

Fujifilm FP-100C, Polaroid Land 250

A Day In My Life Through Pictures

Martin Smith — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 08:01:06 +0000

While my wife and children were away for a few days visiting my in-laws I wanted to do a short photo project to try something different.

The Project

The project I decided on was a day in my life through pictures, the brief I set myself for this project was to use my Olympus XA loaded with a fresh roll of Superia 400 and take photos through out my day from the time I got up until the time I went to bed. Once developed I would scan and upload all the images unedited.

The Results

Below are the results of the project. I’m not sure what I expected from the little project, but what I think I’ve ended up with is just a collection of random terrible, blurry and out of focus photos. I think a better photographer wouldn’t show them at all, but I want to show them anyway, not all projects are going to be winners.

Here are all 36 frames taken through out Friday 24th July 2015.

A Day In My Life

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