I thought I would do a review of my year on all things analogue.
This year has been a year of buying cameras, which is a first as I have been happy will my modest collection of cameras.
The first of these new cameras, was the Reto/Kodak H35 half-frame, it was also the first post on this blog. If you read this you know I ended up returning it as I wasn't happy with the build quality.
I was loaned an Olympus Pen EE3 which was a much better camera all round and ended up buying this. I spent the early part of the year shooting with this and shot 5-6 rolls through it.
The next couple are recent purchases and I haven't managed to finish shooting with them yet. Although I like the Ondu multi-format pinhole camera, there are times when I'd like something smaller, so I ended up getting a Reality So Subtle 24mm 6x6 pinhole camera.
The final camera is to replace my Canon Eos 500n which the electronics seem to be on the blink, this camera is a Nikon F80. The reason for this one is that a friend has one and I liked the look of it and the lens from my DSLR fit the camera.
Films shot
Throughout the year I managed to shot 30 rolls of film a combination of 35mm and 120. Of these 30, 10 were colour which surprises me as I'm not really a colour shooter.
I'm pretty conservative with my film choices and stick to the same emulsions, HP5+, Delta, Kentmere and Double X for my B&W. Colour is usually Gold and Ultra max although this year I did try Aerocolour in the form of Reflx Labs, Pro 100. I did like this although I did find the colours, especially the reds to be a bit punchy.
I also shot some Vision3 film in the form of 500t and 250d, I have shot 500t before and find it to be OK.
One can never be sure that you have shot the film correctly but in over 40 years of shooting film I've never had a problem in camera. I sent the two rolls to a Lab up Ipswich way and the returned films were heavily over exposure, so much so the it was nigh on impossible to get scans off them, the couple that I did get were also covered in dust and scratches. Although it's not surprising when that are returned like this!
Photowalks
Photowalks are a strange thing, you never really get to shoot a lot on these and if you do, most times are not that great, especially if you have organised it.
This year I managed to put on 4 walks most of the time it with friends I already know but this year some new people came along and I can now say I have made some new friends. One of the biggest was the Holga week walk in October, this was originally only going to a group of friends but Analogue Wonderland offered to sponsor it and in the end around 30 people turned up. I have to say it wasn't my favourite walk I organised, that many people was to much to look after in centre London and by the end ¾ had gone missing. I can't see myself doing another walk like this.
The best walk was around Clerkenwell and getting to photograph the outdoor Chess players in St. John's Square.
I have also attend walks organised by others and a couple of sponsored walks, I don't know if it's just me but these walks now seem to only really be for anyone under 35, minor celebrities and wannabe influencers. Also if you’re over 50 you seem to become invisible but nevermind, when the influencers move on to the next best thing, us oldies will still be here supporting the people who remember us.
The written word
I get enjoyment out of writing even thought being dyslexic can made it trying at times and spelling mistakes and grammatical error do get missed at times but that is just the way it is.
I started this blog towards the end of January this year and have managed to write 18 pieces for it, which I think is pretty good. Subscription numbers have been steady in their growth, I’m not expected to have thousands reading this.
I've also been lucky to have had 4 articles published over on Kosmo Foto, it nice knowing someone else is happy with what you have written to publish it on their website and Stephen does offer free film for any articles published, which is nice.
Zine collecting and making
I can't really say how many zines I have bought this year but it's definitely over 10, as I’ve had to start on a second shelf for them. A few as usual have come from Cafe Royal Books but most have come from members of the community.
I wasn't expecting to make a zine this year but with all the images I had shot with the half-frame I decided there was enough to make one.
When making zines, it's always difficult to know how many to produce, this time around I think I hit the sweet spot as they all sold out within a week.
I was also involved in a collaborative zine called Lucid, in memory of John Whitmore and the sales of this raised £200 for the Asthma & Lung UK foundation.
Exhibitions
I managed to get along to a few exhibitions this year, the first was at the newly opened, in January, Centre of British Photography. The gallery had some small shows on along with at least one big one. The first of these was called the The British at home and included works by Shirley Baker, Bert Hardy, Roger Mayne and a big selection of Martin Parr & Daniel Meadows, June Street work. I had seen this work in a Cafe Royal Books booklet, I bought years ago but to see it as 3x3ft prints was spectacular.
The second trip was only a couple of months ago and they had a Daniel Meadows show celebrating 50 years of his free photographic omnibus, where he travelled around England in a red double decker bus making portraits.
Also on display was work by Dorothy Bohm entitled London street markets which was shot back in the early 1970s and some of the markets shown don't exist anymore.
All these exhibits were shot in the 70s, and 50 years on it would be interesting if someone was to undertake a similar venture in 2024.
In the last few weeks I have heard that this gallery is closing down, partly to the landlord cutting the two year lease and also not attracting a major funder or patron.
The biggest and best show this year has to have been the Daido Moriyama retrospective at The Photographers Gallery
This show takes over all four floors of the gallery, which has never happened before.
Primarily know as a street photographer but his work covers so much more than this, his harsh high contrast images provoke a chaotic and unreal reality and he can be difficult to place him in one genre.
The show is on until early February and definitely worth a visit.
My images
This year I have been lucky enough to get 3 images shown in 3 different exhibitions.
The first was through Historic England's Picturing high streets a 3 year long project to create a contemporary picture of England’s high streets. My images was chosen as part of the Bus stop stories the images were displayed on digital screens on bus stops around England, the images are now held in the national archives.
The second is an online exhibition run by Analog forever magazine and entitled “Film Friends” and is a triptych/mini me of my daughter Bex.
The third and final one was inspired by going to the Moriyama show and a friend pointing out the call for images and encouraging me to enter.
C41coffeshop in Vancouver, Canada run a monthly analogue film contest and November's theme was inspired by Daido Moriyama, I had a couple of images I though fitted the theme and sent one in. To my surprise it was picked as one of the final twelve. The coffee shop print and hang the images in the shop for a month and the patrons get to vote for the winning image. The winner of each month goes into a grand final at the end of the year.
Each participant also gets sent their own copy of the image after the competition finishes. Votes are counted at the end of the month, I have no idea how mine has done but it's been great seeing a image of mine hung in a real exhibition.
I would love to see something like this done in the UK.
Overall it's turned out to be a good and fun year.
Time to wish you all a happy new year and a great analogue 2024.
Happy new year, George! Love seeing this self review. I really should pick up the photo walks again. I've been missing them a lot.
Nicely done George! Here’s to a very creative 2024
Regards
Dave