Tag Archives: Kiev 4am

{Retrochrome}

This summer, I was given a couple of rolls of FPP Retrochrome by a Twitter friend. I couldn’t wait to try it out!

What is Retrochrome? From the Film Photography Project website:

RetroChrome is government surplus Eastman Ektachrome. Made for industrial and governmental applications…

It is meant to be shot as positive film (slide film,) but of course I had my Retrochrome cross-processed! As you can see, the results were largely yellow and green. I like it though! A lot. Besides, most of this roll was shot on a night I would call “one enchanted evening,” when I had a girls’ night out in Midtown Memphis, so I loved the feel the Retrochrome gave those photos.

My mother made an appointment for her THIRD tattoo…

Photos from a girls’ night out

One of my niece’s photo shoots

One of my recurring photo test subjects…

One of the photos I took to docuaiment my friend Kayla’s wedding invitations. I have more shots of the invites taken on film that WASN’T yellow! 

Kiev 4AM • Helios 53mm f/1.8 • FPP Retrochrome 320, cross-processed 

{Redscale Zoo}

I recently made some DIY redscale film with Fuji Superia 400 that expired in 2007 (thrift shop film!) The majority of that roll was shot at the Memphis Zoo this summer, and I honestly am in love with the results. I like to shoot my redscale film at a much lower film speed than is indicated on the film box so I get more muted tones than deep reds and oranges. I guess the age of this roll of film meant it was harder to get enough exposure to keep the shots from going red and orange, but I feel it really worked in this scenario.

My new favorite redscale photo

Kiev 4AM • Helios-103 53mm f/1.8

{Short and Sweet}

This was a roll that was fraught with problems. Not problems with the film itself, but with the camera. My beloved (and sometimes cantankerous) Kiev 4AM was having some issues with its shutter again while this roll was in it. On various occasions, I had to let part of this roll get fogged by light so I could tinker with the shutter, therefore a lot of the frames of film weren’t usable. However, the images that DID work out are kind of wonderful. The Helios lens for the Kiev is truly a gem!

Impala

I think this is the first time I have photographed the often-featured Luv Bots in black and white

Back door view

Hi

Stormy day

My niece visiting my mom in the hospital a few months ago

Hospital clock

Kiev 4AM • Helios-103 53mm f/1.8 • Ilford FP4+

{Testing the batch} Expired Fuji Sensia 400

Once in awhile, I’ll buy a batch of expired film. Late last year, I got a bunch of old Fuji Sensia 400 and Sensia 200, which are two slide films that haven’t been produced in at least six years. I got five rolls of the Sensia 400 and five of the Sensia 200 in this batch. I’ve written in the past about what it can be like to shoot expired film, and what factors might come into play. One of those factors is how the film was stored throughout the years since it expired. If the film has been kept in a cool, dry place, the film may suffer less from color shifts and prominent grain. In the case of this batch of expired film, the seller on eBay from whom I bought it didn’t have any information on its expiration date or how it had been stored. That’s why it was important for me to test the batch of film, so I’d know if it “worked” at all. I loaded one of the Sensia 400 rolls in my Kiev 4AM and shot it at 200 ISO to try to compensate for any loss of light sensitivity that the film might have suffered due to age/conditions of storage. Oh, and I bought the film with the intention of having it cross-processed, so that’s what I had the lab do with this roll.

Listening to my prized possession Otis Redding and Carla Thomas duet record <3

Flashback vintage store in Midtown Memphis

Mallory’s apartment

Some shots around the square in Coldwater, Mississippi

(that last one is my FAVORITE shot from this roll!

Kiev 4AM • Helios-103 53mm f/1.8 • Fuji Sensia 400, expiration date unknown, cross-processed

Conclusion?

Look, if you are shooting expired slide film and having it cross-processed, you have to expect some potentially zany results. And the Sensia 400 did not disappoint! I’m glad I’ve got a few more rolls of it to play with!

I didn’t want to put this in the “Forgotten Frames” series, because it wasn’t a roll of film that I forgot about and found years after the fact without knowing what was on the film before having it developed, but it’d been so many months between when I finished the roll and when I had it processed, I really didn’t have a clue as to what I’d shot on it! I kind of felt that the contents of the roll turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

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