At the end of February, I saw this walk in Liverpool advertised on a few online places. It was a photowalk for those people identifying as women or non-binary. I looked at the train prices and decided it would be worth the trip. The train times meant I got there a little early and I was frozen!! Seriously. The day before I thought a lot about which camera I would take, but I didn’t check the weather. I was fooled by a couple of overly warm days beforehand and dressed for that. Luckily, I walked straight passed a shop selling scarves that had just opened for the morning. I bought the world’s biggest scarf, and I queried as to whether it was in fact a blanket. The point of this little story, I was now comfortable enough to enjoy the rest of the day.

So, which camera did I choose to take? Well, it had to be an empty one as an Ilford rep would be at the meeting place and we would be provided with film, for free!!! Thanks, Ilford. I decided on two cameras, both favourites. The 35mm choice was the Pentax ESii and a 120 choice of the Brillant S. I really wanted to try the ESii again as I hadn’t since I managed to fix it and test it.

I think I was the first to arrive, the gallery wasn’t even open. When it finally did, I found it was also a second-hand shop that also sold…scarves, for a third of the price I paid for my blanket. Bugger.

Anyway, on with the day. It was awesome!!! I loved it, every second. From the start where the Ilford representative, Michelle @shelby2003.mp gave a presentation on their films, explaining which film was best for which scenario, to my introduction to halloumi cheese at the final restaurant. Halloumi cheese is my new favourite food, I can’t believe I have never tried it before.

There was a selection of Ilford films to choose from, I picked out a roll of HP5 in 35mm and 120 formats. I was familiar with it and knew how to process it. I was intrigued by the SFX, but I didn’t really want to experiment along the walk. After hearing about the SFX, I decided to get some later. So the Ilford presentation certainly worked for me, I am a sucker for advertising. Honestly, if I see a poster saying “thirsty?” on the coke advert, I immediately want one. So I will be testing that film over the Easter Holiday, watch this space.

After loading up, we set off on a casual trundle. One of the other “walkers” wanted to try my Brillant so I decided to use that first as there were only 12 shots. I could shoot those fairly quickly and pass the camera on. It was that kind of walk. People just walking and talking about film, analogue cameras and life. A few people had come alone like me, so it was a great chance to get to know some new friends.

These are some of the shots from the 120 roll.

For the rest of the day, I stuck with the ESii as we wandered around the city. There was a set route and a google map was sent to us to follow if we got lost or separated. I was chatting with one of the walkers so much that we walked on and hadn’t noticed the others had stopped for a group photo. Luckily the high number of cameras being used for that photo/s meant we had time to backtrack and get involved.

Before I share my final photos from the ESii, I want to give a shout out to Analogue Wonderland and Emma @ejlloydart for arranging this walk up “North”. That made it accessible for myself and the others. It turns out I live very close to one of the other walkers and we are going to car share to another event, the Analogue Spotlight inaugural event.

And here are some of my shots from the Pentax ESii shot on Ilford HP5.

I am very pleased with them, which I don’t say too often.

Thank you to Analogue Wonderland and Ilford Photo, I will definitely go to the next event if you return to the Northern lands.