Today I went for a wander around Ripley. As I sat in the car, ready to set off, I looked at my windowscreen and there were specks of snow…SNOW! It was very cold and windy but I didn’t expect that. I wondered if I should set off or go back to bed where it was nice and warm, but it was the first day of the spring holiday. Start as you mean to go on.

As I drove I thought about my friend Emma. The last time I saw her it was the hottest day of last year. I was staying at her house in London for the Cinestill walk. Boy, it was hot, but it was worth the drive. The walk was fun and the next day she persuaded me to record an episode for her “Grainsplaining” podcast. She complained my voice was very quiet, which will make my students laugh.

You can listen to the podcast here.

And here are some of the photos I took with the roll of cinestill 400D I loaded into my yashica FX-D. Interestingly, that was the last time I used the camera successfully. The next time I tried to use it, the infinity seemed to be out of alignment and sure enough all the shots were out of focus.

When I left Emma, I had a couple of cameras and some film that she would not be taking to Australia with her.

I decided to use the film in Ripley. _{(That link gives me a few more places I can visit this year)} Though it was cold, it was very bright and the film was an unknown one, but a 25asa. I put it in my Lomo LCA as it had a manual setting for that speed. It seemed like the first time in months I might actually be able to shoot it, it has been so dark and miserable for ages. The film was a rerolled one so apart from a sticker saying 25asa, it had no other information. The film base looked yellow, so it remined me of some kodak orthograph film I had tried but that was 3asa. Maybe it wasn’t orthograph?? Once developed in caffenol, I could see it really was. In future if I have a film with a yellow base, I am going to assume it is orthograph and shoot it accordingly. Not like today…

Once developed I looked for a rebate to give me some clue about the film. There was one. I think it means the film was produced in 2007, but that might be jumping to easy conclusions. Either way it was an orthograph.

Well, that was fun, thanks Emma.