The pandemic has made it quite challenging to go out and about. Over the course of the past few months I have been reviewing and reorganising my film images and I came across a roll of Ektar 100 which I had shot over a course of a month. Pleasantly surprised by the discovering of these images, I decided to put together this short video of the ones I took across central London. 

The first few images are a series of shots in the video I took at King’s Cross Eurostar Terminal. Being a 100 ISO film, the images have a strong push towards the purple end of the spectrum in very low light conditions. I suspect I had my aperture set to 2.0 on the Nikon FA to do as well as possible handheld! 

The images of the wider Eurostar entrance areas fared a little less well but the hint of light coming from the canopy helped throw a dusting of light, enough to get an idea of scale of the place but also the little details with the lights and the glisten of the staircase give some detail and depth to this otherwise dimly set scene. 

The image of the person standing in the intersection of the underground platform originally came out very dark, an image I could have just thrown out. However, to the wonders of Lightroom and playing with a wide range of settings I did manage to salvage this very cool looking image. Almost a Lomography film sort of feel to it! 

Shooting underground platforms with a digital camera always gives a clean crisp look which takes away from the sense of the place. In my experience, with film, the grain and type of film create real emotion and depth in these scenarios. Take for example, the image in the video, knowing that there are limited number of shots you can take forces you to move and construct an image carefully. The lines of light, which are reflected off the rails lead the viewer in to a distance which almost results in this idea of a never ending platform. 

The images of these palatial mansions were taken in quite cloudy conditions. The colours have rendered a slight damp, muddy sort of look. In my very brief experience with Kodak Ektar 100, it appears the more muted colours don’t pop as well in comparison to reds and greens. Further research in to the physics of the film would help in determining how to use it more appropriately... or just use it with colours which are bright! 

The first portrait in the video is a fellow photography enthusiast and street/fashion photographer. We went for a walk together, also recently intrigued by film photography, he brought along a disposable camera for fun to see how the images may come out! I wonder how they came out? 

On one of my other many wanderings in London, I came across this incredibly small boutique headphones shop. Less than a metre in diameter and a few metres in length, the shop with its (incredibly)expensive state of the art headphones was manned by an incredibly generous and welcoming host! We spent some time chatting as he introduced me to the wonderful world of sound. Not too dissimilar to the world of the film photography, the nuances and technicalities I was totally unaware of. I walked away enriched by the experience and with a great little portrait too! 

Over the next series of photos, the cloudy English experience continues. However, the subdued colours of the buildings and overcast weather helped to create a feel of days gone by as a well as a reflection of the mood of London at the time.

The penultimate image of the ‘Soho Grind’ came out surprisingly well. Probably because of the strong blue and particularly the reds in and outside the the shop. Is it worth exploring further? Sounds like a good idea to me!