Darkness | Light - a photo on Flickriver

Darkness | Light

            When this was taken, this orchid was in its fifth month of blooming; it bloomed last year, also. I bought in a supermarket for £3.50, reduced because it was damaged - even damaged it flowered for a further two months that year.

I enjoy photographing orchids, the way the petals show differently in different lights. It is more exciting again on film, where the results are uncertain until you process - though, perhaps that is simply my lack of good technique. Here, the orchid is side-lit from a window. On the right, the flowers catch the even, natural light; on the left, the surfaces are in shade, with surprisingly little of their transparency captured. The whole creates an almost negative mirror effect.

Having used more forgiving films over the years, and more recently spent a lot of time with DSLR before returning, with fresh eyes and more determined interest, to film, I've been really struggling with my results from Retropan 320 Soft. To me, with all my inexperience, it feels like a film that distils many of the challenges of black & white film photography: the needs for astute light metering (I'm terrible at it, too reliant on the in-camera meter), previsualisation (I used to be fractionally better at this, but I too often forget and simply snap), a scene selection and perspective are all intensified. Perhaps it is simply that I am becoming more demanding of myself and my images and half-blaming the film; perhaps as I work with it more, I will get better results. I am going to test against another film or two, also, to see if they suit me better.

Whatever all of that, some shots still catch me by surprise with their unexpected success. Did I have this outcome precisely in mind when I took the photograph? Absolutely not. Is it what i wanted? Not quite. Am I pleased with it? Yes, moderately so.

Orchid, September 2020. Pentax ME Super, Pentax-M 50mm, unsure of aperture setting. Possibly with a yellow filter (can you tell why I'm so bad at technique?). Foma Retropan 320 Soft @320, processed for around 5 minutes in Foma Retro Special. Crop and some contrast adjustments (nothing fancy) in Photoshop.

Taken on: September 28, 2020

Tags:

Pentax ME Super

50mm

Orchid

flower

petals

Monochrome

Black

white

Retropan Soft 320

Retropan chemicals

home

processed

diy « less

Sets appears in: • Orchids • Studies more » • Retropan • Film • Flowers • Pentax ME Super « less

Groups appears in: • FLOWERS • Orchids more » • Grain is Good • Black and White Film • Black and White Film Photography (bwfp) • National Geographic Your Shot ALUMNI « less

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