Last time I photographed Blackheath Fair I think I had a Nikon D200 coupled with the Nikkor 85/1.4 AFD. I used absurdly high shutter speeds to keep the aperture as wide open as possible because I really like the quality of the out-of-focus areas areas produced by this lens  (ie bokeh, a qualitative term that doesn’t just reference the areas not in focus, but has more to do with how they are rendered). Used wide open the Nikkor 85/1.4 has absurdly smooth and creamy bokeh. The depth of field is only millimetres wide at f/1.4 and demands accurate focusing. At the time I left it to the D200′s autofocus and motordrive and wasn’t unhappy with the results. Lazy lazy… Looking back, the photos were a bit gimmicky and not a little cliched. The usual kind of shots that you take because you can with that superb lens. It is after all one of its main reasons for being in existence.

So this year we went along to the fair at dusk with the M6, the CV 35/1.2 and a roll of T-Max P3200 pulled to 1600. No autofocus, no colour, no motordrive and an even faster lens than the 85/1.4, the CV 35/1.2 Nokton with an even shallower depth of field. Looking back, I was asking for problems.

The T-Max P3200 film is new to me. Silverprint, my film shop of choice reckons Neopan 1600, my fast film of choice, is no longer being produced. Which is a shame ‘cos I was just beginning to learn how to get to grips with it. Time to move on. I’ve got 5 rolls of Neopan in the fridge which I’ll use while I get my head around the T-Max.

I had great expectations anyway. I love fairgrounds. Particularly the lights and movement and this is what I set out to capture. It didn’t happen though, for a variety reasons. The rides I wanted to photograph move very fast so I had to prefocus the M6 on the point I anticipated that I wanted to shoot. Since the rides seemed to be flying past at about 100kph, pressing the shutter at the right moment (ie before the subject arrived in the viewfinder) is kind of critical with such narrow depths of field. I know now that I really need to practice this… which is one positive.

The ‘defining moment’ flew past too fast each and every time… having an 8fps motordrive on the SLR has spoiled my technique badly. It is just so easy with the D300 to gobble 100 frames very quickly and track the subject. The shot above isn’t even anywhere near wide open either, I found it too difficult

Ho hum, back to skool.

I wasn’t the only one taking photos. Look at the background in the photo above and you can see another fairground ‘attraction’. Yes, the boys from the Met had a gigantic mobile CCTV rig and a large presence. How reassuring. Not.

Another ‘problem’ was that despite (or because of) following Kodak’s development instructions I overdeveloped the film. The recommendations for T-Max P3200 @ EI1600 is 8.5 mins at 20C with 5-7 agitations for 5 seconds every 30 seconds. Seemed like a lot of agitation to me and I seriously think it was too much in this case. My initial feeling was right. I’ll reduce the agitation next time and hopefully the results will be less muddy. It also looks like the optimum results could be gained by developing at 24C rather than 20C with a shorter dev time. 24C is what The Massive Dev Chart recommends.

This one was a bit easier because they weren’t flying past me so fast… Likewise the chef

So all in all, a bit of a learning experience. For the dog too. I was expecting some problems because I’d expect a fairground to cause some confusion for a dog. Looks like Gizmo is fairly bombproof though.

Greenwich Park

The day before, we’d been walking the dog in the park (he loves it, we love it, win win). The magnolia trees are flowering and they are simply gorgeous. The M6 was loaded with Tri-X and souped in T-Max.

I like the bokeh from the Summarit 35/2.5

The petals are falling and covering the ground

This photo of the Rangers House at the top of the park shows (to me) some of the old school qualities of the Summarit. I like the slightly ‘timeless’ feel of this shot as well as the textures and lines.

The weather

Well you have to laugh really. After two weeks of really great weather, the Easter weekend (so far) has been pretty crap. Murky, cloudy, warm and wet (in London anyway). I don’t think it has even been warm on the coast. In recession Britain The Guardian newspaper has been extolling the value of a traditional English seaside break including caravans, camping, canvas etc to save the pennies. Presumably the previous two weeks have lulled the sunseekers into a false sense of security because now the chattering classes are probably shivering in their campsites wondering why the fuck they didn’t go to Morocco after all. I can’t remember an Easter weekend that has had good weather to be honest although I’m sure that isn’t true. It just seems that way.

How English.