xpan

The main library in Wellington was closed for ages due to needing earthquake strengthening… It reopened to the public earlier this year, on 14 March 2026, but its taken me until now to visit it… I love libraries, they would be my favourite ‘third place’ closely followed by art gallery or cinema.

XPAN II with 30mm lens and Kodak TriX400

 

 

Sunday morning light
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra 400

 

 

10am on a Sunday Here
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra400

 

 

Mt Hutt
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

Funny with this photo. The road up Mt Hutt usually requires chains as it rapidly becomes alpine leading up to a great ski field. But in Summer, its a dirt road which is easy enough to drive up (pending weather of course) There is a network of mountainbike tracks on the lower levels but maybe two thirds of the way to the skifield there is this avalanche control area, with huge poles. As I drove up I passed these two people, really working hard training for alpine hiking. I got to the avalanche control area and shot a few rolls of film and saw them coming… I framed & focused the shot, and 20 seconds before the guy walked out into the open I shouted ‘ok to take a photo?’ silence… then ‘yep!’ puff puff…. i shoot a few frames… they disappear out of shot left… and then… ‘thanks for asking…’

Mt Hutt Road is a fantastic scenic drive in Canterbury – lots of MTB tracks… During winter it often requires chains but whether its winter or summer, the view out to the Canterbury Plains is spectacular! Some vertigo may also be involved…

Mt Hutt google maps link
Mt Hutt Road topomaps link

 

 

Aoraki – Mt Cook
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Porta400

 

 

One tree, two colours of blossom! Must have been grafted at some point…

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra400

 

 

Bemore – Ohau hydro feeder canal
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra400

 

 

Very old abandoned concrete building wedged between the road and the sea
Motukiekie
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra400

 

 

West Coast prevailing wind
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra400

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

With an ND10 filter this shot was a 60 second exposure,
but with SFX200 reciprocity it became a 5 minute exposure!
Funny how it looks kinda blown out/overexposed from so much wave action over 5 minutes
but the rocks etc still have details…

Same location as the dawn long exposure I shot with my 5D3 + 400mm lens

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

SFX200 with 720nm IR filter:

 

 

SFX200 with red filter:

 

 

SFX200 with no filter:

 

 

useful comparison of infrared use of Rollei infrared versus JCH Streetpan

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

PekaPeka Beach, Kapiti, Aotearoa New Zealand
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Acros100

 

 

Shot some Portra at a company I am working with developing a musical instrument/sound FX device… Excellent old school skills!
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Portra400

 

 

 

Between Pukerua Bay & Paekakariki
Imagine how much that tree weighs! Then think about the size of waves that would carry it & deposit it there…
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

Pauatahanui Inlet – Aotearoa New Zealand
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

I took a few photos from this position & then walked out that narrow S path… I took a few photos standing right out at the end of it.. & when I turned around that S-shaped path was completely gone & underwater!! Tide was coming in & I’ve read about how the last surge in fills a lot of area fast. It was still so shallow I barely got my shoes wet, but for a second I went OMG!!

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

 

White-faced heron | Matuku moana
Pauatahanui Inlet, Aotearoa New Zealand
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 + 90mm lens x Fuji Acros100 #believeinfilm

 

 

Got 2 rolls of film back from the lab, and its always exciting to see how shots turned out. Very happy with this one, straight scan with no post processing!

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Acros100 and Lee Big Stopper
Stopped down to 1/15 + ND10 = 60second exposure
With Fuji Acros there is no reciprocity compensation at 60 seconds
(but eg a 120 exposures > 180 with reciprocity)

 

 

 

An attempted xpan macro fail
trying to shoot as close as possible with xpan 90mm lens wide open for maximum bokeh,
but focus is off…. I would have been too close to the flowers to focus.
The XPAN 90mm lens has “Close focus limit of 0.9m from object to front of lens”
So it doesn’t really function as a macro lens…
For comparison my Canon EF macro lens has close focus limit of 0.3m

Will try more next Spring!

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

I took the wrong road when revisiting this old wharf, and got out to the beach but there was no wharf there! But there was this big driftwood shack:

The light inside there was so beautiful!
I shot a few frames inside there, will post them…

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

How’s this for an interesting glimpse into history…

While I was in Takaka before Xmas, I took this photo of whats left of the old wharf at Puponga…
The tide was fairly low and the water was luke warm…

I didn’t think too much more about it, but when I got the film developed and scanned I thought I’d do a search and see what the old wharf looked like back in the day… And I found this photo, with a steam engine on the wharf!! photo credit here

Based on the remnants of the wharf I wouldn’t have thought it was big enough for a steam train, which weigh a lot!! So I did some more searches and sure enough there was a railway line out on the wharf! photo credit here

Wow!
So it turns out there was a coal mine inland from Puponga, and they used a train to take the coal to ships… But how big was this train? This big:

Ahar! That explains it – it was some small gauge train. Turns out the trains name is DONALD (no not that Donald – its not orange!) and it has been fully restored and now is in a steam train museum in Blenheim. More info here

“Donald’s rolling stock consisted of two types, side tipping wagons each with a one ton capacity for use on the main line between mine and wharf, and tippler discharge wagons or mine tubs each with a half ton capacity, which brought coal from the working face to screens in the mine itself.”

 

 

low tide, Motueka
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

 

 

Monday at dawn, after driving for an hour in the dark
& clambering down a sketchy track, based solely on ‘internet commenter’ directions

Fujifilm TX2 with Acros100

 

 

 

Karehana Bay, Plimmerton Boat Club & Mana Island
5 minutes walk from my house

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

SARDA fishing boat, Westport Heads
current position

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Ektar100

 

 

 

 

Crossing the alps
Otira Viaduct, Arthurs Pass
New Zealand Aotearoa

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

It was dreamy,
driving on deserted rural roads..
No tourists,
apart from me.

Karamea
West Coast, New Zealand Aotearoa

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

Shooting into the morning light,
from a lookout North of Punakaiki
West Coast, New Zealand Aotearoa

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

Trains arrive ‘infrequently…’
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

PekaPeka Beach
Modular Synth Bokeh
Akatawera Road
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Venus 800

 

 

 

Halfway between Pukerua Bay and Pakakriki
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100 and Lee Filters Big Stopper
Kinda fun, trying to time each shot for waves & imagining the outcome…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kāpiti Island, morning after the storm
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros100
Lee Filters ND10 Big Stopper

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 x Fuji Acros 100

just got 7 rolls back from lab!
three versions of the same shot:
Kapiti Island with a favourite tree & bird trio

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 x Fuji Venus 800
(changing rolls at an interesting location is useful!)

Kapiti Island – different day, after NW storm, with a favourite tree & 1/3 bird trio?
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 x Kodak TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe a year ago a local area had a brilliant new walking path installed. Te Ara Piko Pathway follows around the edge of Pauatahanuiahanui Inlet, a large tidal estuary. It is a huge asset to everyone, as it is a safe cycle and walking path for people of every age, and Pauatahanui Inlet is home to many species of wildlife…

There is a PDF map for the walk here

This is the route:

Part of building of the path involved bridging swamp, and when it was being constructed I was intrigued to see how it as done… Turned out there was a machine specifically designed for this purpose:

I came across this photo from 2017, shot on XPAN2/TX2 with Fuji Acros 100… But for some reason I took two photos of it, slightly offset which means I can make a stereoscopic twitch gif!

Sorry its so crushed, I was trying to get filesize down…
Weird the embed seems a bit random…

I love twitchy stereoscopic gifs – here are some I made from archival photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2 #xpan with Kodak Ektar100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2 with Kodak Ektar100 #xpan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

This road in Christchurch was wrecked by the quakes and only recently was re-opened… and is better than ever!

 

 

DJI Mavic 34 photo panorama stitched in APG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
Was lucky with time of day & that shadow!
They are currently raising funds to restore the wharf,
as it needs repair for safety and is closed to any access
This photo was on a sign nearby:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Waikaremoana
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
on a very still day the inlet was like a mill pond!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was editing a bunch of XPAN shots in Photoshop, and while attempting to get some sort of overview of all the photos I accidentally displayed them in this useless but intriguing view… So odd that Photoshop can’t display them in a more useful arrangement, but I guess it is simply the wrong tool for this use…
I am sure if I asked Adobe they would answer: “Use BRIDGE!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did a little trespassing shooting this – will be interesting to see the XPAN versions as I messed around for a while shooting different perspectives with all three lenses…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Ektachrome E100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 and Lee Filters

 

 

 

 

 

The road trip I just did was a circuit, up to East Cape and then back via Lake Waikaremoana…

 

And just dropped off film to the lab…

 

6 x Tmax100
1 x Superia 1600
1 x Natura reloaded with HP5

 

The older I get the more interesting I find it to revisit locations around New Zealand… As I get more experience shooting with xpan I see each location in a different way, and explore it with a different motivation….

Regardless of vaccines I can’t see how international travel will be viable or safe for at least another 12 months, so for 2021 I have a couple of big local trips planned, to the far ends of each island:

– Northland, right up to Cape Reinga but also exploring around Kaipara

– Fjordland, the deep South, the most remote part of NZ.

Tricky to work out a schedule as Northland gets unbearably hot in summer, and Fjordland gets over 8 metres of rain per year… COVID messed up my winter plans this year so a South trip mid winter specifically to shoot in snow is also on my agenda!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

I think it might have been Kit Clayton who talked about mixing music and thinking of effected/altered sounds as being like shadows… the delayed, offset, altered version that shadows the foreground…

 

 

1999 – wow! Seems a lifetime ago
I have thrashed the vinyl copy I have, such a great album

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Lee Filters
shooting Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

This ghost ketch has seen some things…

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
4 minute long exposure in the rain!

 

 

 

 

 

Decided it was better to go on a road trip than to doom scroll through the US election results… First stop Three Sisters!

 

 

You can only reach the Three Sisters at low tide…

 

 

 

 

Shot 2 rolls with XPAN, as I suspected I wouldn’t be able to revisit it on this trip as weather forecast wasn’t looking so good… And sure enough, different vibe today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great to see some of the scans from film I shot when i went on the Mailboat Trip, leaving from Havelock.

 

 

 

I was amazed to how close to the shore we stuck, as we headed out… Must be deep water!

 

 

Mussel Farm – Graphic Score prototype?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This house is on Forsynth Island, right out by the heads…
The cottages on the right can be rented… noted for next time

 

The most amazing part of the trip for me was near here… It was quite windy out here and after dropping off mail & goods to
the house above, we headed further into what looked like a huge empty bay… And the wind was blowing a gale out here!! I wasn’t quite sure why we were heading into here, but only as got right in close a hidden bay was revealed, with a brilliant ramshackle house with a jetty where a couple of fishing boats were tied up. The house and jetty etc was totally invisible until we close to it, and behind an outcrop it was quite sheltered. But on the rocky beaches surrounding the area were a whole bunch of ship wrecks! I had read of a company back in the 1900s that operated in this area, and would buy old ships and take them off somewhere to scavange them… And this was the place! I shot a bunch of XPAN & will post it…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some archival photos of the ‘ship breaking’ yard at Whakatahuri here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First visit ever & loved exploring here!
Topomap: Napenape Beach

Fujifilm 35mm Natura Black 24mm/F1.9 lens with Fujifilm Natura 1600
Shot some great XPAN here too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

Every time I go for a drive over to the Wairarapa & beyond, I pass this bend in the Upper Hutt River and notice the strange rocks… and think to myself, I must come here for a shoot. Not passing by, not rushing. Just some time, when allowed.

So… freshly out of lockdown, I did! And I think it is a location worth revisiting, the ‘turbulent flow’ must be a torrent some days… Equally its known as a great swimming hole in Summer.
(park on Michigan Ave, Ngati Tama Park)

 

 

 

 

I fully subscribe to the #lazymetadata modus operandi
I have consciously made it a habit to shoot an iPhone photo of every xpan long exposure I shoot. Inevitably I am using my iphone for reciprocity timer app, and if i quickly snap a few photos i get GPS and date and time stamp. One day I’ll work out some sign language to document F stop & exposure time, without looking like I am throwing shapes at tik tok or something…

 

 

raw scan RGB:

 

 

 

 

monchrome_xpan_crop_final_altfinal_version 7 (click img for full screen)

 

 

 

 

print worthy? maybe
let me revisit a few seasons…

heres iphone pan version – lots of scope for exploration!

 

 

 

 

Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River
#wellington
#nz

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
#xpan
#kodaktmax100
#landscape
#panoramic
#monochrome
#blackandwhitephotography
#analogphotography
#believeinfilm
#35mm
#filmisnotdead
#filmphotography
#ishootfilm
#filmphotography
#longexposure
#monochromephotography
#fineartphotography
#blackandwhitephotography
#blackandwhitelongexposure
#minimalphotography
#minimalismphotography
#monochromephotography
#ndphotography
#bigstopper
#leefilters

 

#hashtagvomit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE TO SELF ie for the archive:

Dropped off to SPLENDID LAB on Friday:
13 rolls x Kodak TMax 100 x XPAN
6 rolls x Kodak TriX 400 x Contax T2 and Canon 1V SLR
2 rolls x Kodak Ektar 100 x XPAN
3 rolls x Fuji Natura 1600 x NATURA S

24 rolls!?!
To shoot 24 rolls of film (half is xpan, other half between three other cameras) plus drone & DSLR footage… plus all the multitrack recordings? Best road trip ever!

Having been stuck at home for 8+ months this was the most productive road trip I have ever done. Stuck at home, with fibre, means LOTS of time to research…

Apart from that, all the Ektachrome stock I shot is currently put aside, as I have a shoot this week (Ektachrome 35mm stills & Super 8 film) before sending all the Ektachrome to REVERSAL.

I feel blessed that the process of my primary work mediums requires social distancing. Landscape photography, field recording, aerial photography via drone all are better as far away from other people as possible!

The worst aspect of COVID is that the pain is not evenly distributed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Petone wharf, Wellington, NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with 30mm lens and Lee Filters
4 minute exposure with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopped to shoot xpan longexposure here, at this insanely luminous rock! There are road works all along this coast as they are still rebuilding from the earthquake, and while shooting a Maori road worker came walking past…
Me: OMG You have the best office in the country!
Him: True! And it is a privilege to be working here
Me: Damn right!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First time visit to this location, Nape Nape Beach, which is about 90min drive north of Christchurch. Somehow my trip had a recurring theme of limestone and this beach and the surrounding area had beautiful limestone structures… While messing around shooting some xpan long exposures I came up with a whole new photo project, and shot some prototype versions. Cannot wait to see the results & shoot more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

very calm ferry crossing, thanks to a Northerly that was fading out and Southerly hadn’t arrived in time to create its infamous swell..

 

 

Tirimoana Jetty, Anakiwa
Southerly had arrived & a light drizzle meant I had to use my brolly when shooting…

 

 

The Marlborough Sounds in the rain almost look more like Fjordland!
Loved this old tree – will shoot more of it, but can’t wait to see xpan shots!

 

 

Yr.no forecast looks perfect for next two days!
Also had a recording session in Oamaru confirmed with a very unique prop!

 

 

 

 

 

 

handy bit of XPAN manual for 30mm lens owners

 

 

 

 

 

 

#longexposure potential at Petone #NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 & Lee Filters Big Stopper

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great to get out shooting some film today!
First visit to the Totora Park swimming hole Upper Hutt river…
#longexposure #believeinfilm
#xpan #kodaktmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning to use stacking software via NASA timelapse footage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Natura1600

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Natura1600

 

 

 

 

 

Before lockdown I went for a walk through the city and blew a roll of Natura 1600, a film stock which is now discontinued and only available via auction of crazy prices.. I usually shoot Natura 1600 in my little Natura S camera as they were built for each other, but as I near the end of access to Natura 1600 I thought I’d have some fun & shoot with my XPAN in colour for a change!

First, the iconic Wellington Library is currently closed due to EQC assessment and fears it would not survive an earthquake… There is a walkway that passes underneath the entrance steps to the library and it is often an interesting area for light & architecture, so a few frames shot there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I drove out to Lower Hutt, visited Dowse Art Gallery & then shot a few frames of the iconic Lower Hutt City Council Buildings. It was a foggy grey day and I love how this shot came out – overexposed diffuse light!

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fujifilm Natura 1600

 

Note to self: bracket some monochrome shots & overexpose some!

 

 

The raw scans look great with the full frame scanned:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
Seems a long time ago… 3 months!

 

 

 

 

 

I had a little revelation this morning… I suspect like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook – the good aspects are very good (eg being a member of a 60k+ group of local vege gardeners is the best place for advice) but so much of the rest I just find relentlessly annoying – dumb comments, relentless ads (which were never relevant, but became completely irrelevant once I stopped FB tracking me offsite)

 

Due to work etc I also get ‘friended’ a lot by people I do not know. I do not know why they friend me – if they want to see what I post they can follow, but some of those people seem to assume because you agreed to be friended (& for me, usually instantly unfollowed) then its ok if they FB message me.
It happens so often I made TextExpander shortcut: “Sorry I do not use FB Messenger, it is an insecure form of communication which FB scrapes for advertising, email me if you want to get in touch”
But that wasn’t the revelation – humans I can handle…

 

What I realised is this: all those companies, brands, websites & platforms that I absent mindedly LIKED on FB, and accordingly who then appear erratically in my FB timeline (depending on opaque advertising-based algorithms) are better served by RSS!
That’s it, that is my revelation!
HUZZAH!

 

So an hour of my Sunday morning was spent unfollowing almost everything, leaving almost every group I had joined. So now the FB algorithm only has a few sources to draw from – a small bunch of people that I actually know and a couple of groups that I still follow.

So what’s the big difference?

I choose what RSS I subscribe to.
I choose when I skim read the RSS.
I choose when I follow an RSS link to visit an actual website.
And all of those websites are far better designed experiences than FB.
And most of them are personal – the personal work of lovely human beings.

Thankfully I kept all of my old RSS subscriptions, having moved from Google Reader (fck you too Google!) to NetNewsWire…

And NetNewsWire (OSX app) still works, and while writing this I discovered it has reverted ownership to its original owner, and a new version 5 was released without me even realising…
Updating now, thank you!

So thank you to RSS and no thank you to FaceBook!

 

 

And a funny side effect: as I unfollowed each website etc from FB, I checked to see I was subscribed to their RSS, and in the process discovered LOTS of great articles & content that I had missed, simply because FB was choosing what to show me in the hope of selling me advertising, and creating the illusion I was subscribed to their feeds when I was not.

 

 

 

 

On the way home from the supermarket (Moore Wilsons, Porirua for fish+vege+bread) I stopped & did some quick exercise, walking up the steps of the overbridge that you can see in the traffic webcam below. I used it, along with google streetview to do a virtual recce for filming locations…
I am the red dot:

 

 

Here is the iPhone snap from that position today:

 

 

There was plenty of light, so I was shooting XPAN handheld… blew a few frames, at different positions on the bridge – definitely need the tripod for a night mission…. On my first lockdown supermarket excursion I shot some film on the stretch of motorway SH1 from Plimmerton up to Pukerua Bay, and came home via the semi-secret back road, pass the Urupah. Shooting film both times it has been quick grabs… Really feel a strong communal spirit to self isolate, for the greater good.

 

 

Kia kaha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lockdown day 2
Garden appreciated the bit of rain…

 

 

 

an ‘aerial digital XPAN’ version = shot with Mavic Pro, 21 photos stitched in APG, tweaked in Photoshop, processed with Silver EFX, cropped to XPAN framing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

I am slowly teaching myself to shoot with the 90mm lens
These are all shot wide open for shallow DOF – F4 on 90mm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 and Lee Filters

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 and Lee Filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

These came out a little different than how I thought they might…. but I love how such turbulent chaos is averaged via longexposure to display the actual shape of the flow…

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 and Lee Filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 and Lee Filters
(note to self: shoot a night longexxposure from here!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My & my XPAN climbed up to the top of that peak… About half way up there is a sign warning multiple hazards and that he track is not maintained by DOC above that point… Got to the top and I could not even stand up – there was a bit of wind and it felt very scary! Total vertigo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canon 5D3 + Zeiss 50mm lens
I did shoot this on XPAN but didnt have a wide lens with me (for digital)
so thats 5 x 50mm vertical shots stitched and cropped…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still learning to use my Benro geared head

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whanganui Inlet, Takaka
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puponga, Takaka
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wharariki, Takaka
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

The wind was so strong the only place it felt safe to get my XPAN out was in these two caves!
Sand blasted!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westport
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

If you ever want to watch some scary boat bizo: “crossing bar greymouth youtube”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cape Foulwind, Westport #NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kahurangi National Park, Karamea, #NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kaihoka Lakes, Takaka #NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whanganui Inlet, Takaka
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paturau, Takaka #NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

a deserted Totaranui Beach, Takaka, NZ on a Monday morning
me in my happy place = shooting #XPAN photos while #fieldrecording
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mangarakau Wharf, Whanganui Inlet, Takaka, #NZ
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

Dagnamit! While I was on my road trip down South I managed to lose a cable, and not just any cable but a very rare cable. Yes thats right, cables can be rare! Unfortunately it was the cable for my XPAN2, which can take a normal old school physical cable release, but one of the improvements made to the XPAN 2 was longer bulb exposures (max 9 minutes compared with 1 minute on XPAN 1) and XPAN2 also enabled use of an electrical release cable. I started off with the former but doing long exposures I found it unreliable, blowing two or three photos per roll due to misfires, and/or shorter than intended long exposures… The problem is that the specific cable, Hasselblad model #C10579621 are as rare as hens teeth. I bought my first one off a Japanese website and the last time I saw it was up near the top of Mt Cheeseman… So even if I could go back there to search for it, that area gets so much rain, wind & snow a search would be futile.

Finding a replacement has proven to be difficult. There are currently exactly none for sale anywhere on the planet. But soon after I realised I had lost it I managed to find one on a website in Brazil, MERCADO LIVRE. Could I buy it? Nope. The site does not allow non-locals to register, due to requiring identity verification via SMS to a local phone. I tried asking a few locals that I knew of to help, but none seemed able or interested… But then I found this site: 4Repack

They provided a quote for the purchase (asking price + a small fee) and two quotes for shipping via DHL from Brazil to New Zealand (fast and slow). I chose the fast option, paid the two invoices and waited. After a few days the cable disappeared from the Mercado Livre, and a few days after the 4Repack site updated to say they had received the cable and would inspect it and prepare it for export. Great! But then nothing for a while, so after enquiring with no response I eventually started emailing daily asking why it hadn’t been shipped onwards to me. After almost two weeks they eventually shipped it and its now on its way (nevermind that I paid extra for fast DHL, kinda futile after a 2 week wait) But look at the path my cable has taken:

Thursday, November 14, 2019 – Departed Facility in SAO PAULO NORTH – BRAZIL
Friday, November 15, 2019 – Departed Facility in MADRID – SPAIN
Sunday, November 17, 2019 – Departed Facility in LEIPZIG – GERMANY
Monday, November 18, 2019 – Departed Facility in FRANKFURT – GERMANY
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 – Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG – HONG KONG

Its on some kind of round the world tour and is now visiting the riots in Hong Kong!

That little cable is going to get cable tied to the strap on my XPAN so it can’t go getting lost ever again!

 

 

Update: ordered October 24th and huzzah!! it arrived to NZ yesterday, November 21st!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 and Lee Filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first view of Takaka you get just as you come over Takaka Hill and start to descend down into the valley… And as per the uncropped version, this photo is made up of two XPAN exposures!

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
Shakespeare Bay Lookout

 

 

 

 

 

When I did my road trip down South a month or so ago, I caught the Bluebridge ferry and have discovered the joys of renting a cabin for the crossing… The trip takes about 3.5 hours and usually it is a bit of a scramble to find a good seat… But the issue is also that a public seat is not secure i.e. you cant leave your laptop etc and go up top to shoot some photos… And there may not be any power to charge devices etc…
So when booking a ticket a few trips ago I noticed the additional cost of a cabin was very little (eg travelling one way with my 4WD and me the cheapest fare is $170, and to add a single cabin costs $30) The cabin has a bed, shower and toilet, a desk and chair and power outlets, so for me it is a no-brainer. I can have a snooze, use my laptop etc… And keep an eye on google maps to see when it is worthwhile going to the upper deck to shoot some film… And thats exactly what I did: snooze for an hour & then me & my XPAN went up top just as we approached the South Island….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

In the endless search for the ideal tech gear bags I have recently done a couple of upgrades…
First was via Hide Aoki who tipped me off to the Peak Design Travel Duffelpack as being a great bag for mics, stands etc… I ordered one and when it arrived at first I thought it was too small for my usual mic collection, especially my pair of MKH70s… but after actually playing with it a bit more I realised it expands, and is perfect for me!

 

 

 

‘Fully loaded’ in my case means the bag contains:
MKH8040 x2 with stereo bar
MKH8020 x2
MKH70 x2 (bigger than 3 Murphys!)
Manfrotto 5001B Nano stand x2
Manfrotto 156BLB Black Mini Kit Stand x4
Manfrotto tripod
plus a camera or three…
plus maybe MKH8050 & boom

 

 

When I went & recorded the beach at Totoranui recently (as above) it was painless to carry all that gear wearing it as a backpack, with my Sound Devices 788T in its Petrel Bag around my neck.

 

 

 

 

 

The other bag I recently acquired is a contender to be my new primary camera backpack:
CineBags CB25B Revolution Backpack

Unfortunately due to US public holidays which BHPhoto didn’t bother to mention, it arrived a day too late to take on my recent road trip…. So I only picked it up today and haven’t had much more than a quick look at it, but first impressions were very positive! Best of all, it will fit as carry-on when flying, although with the number of pockets and storage areas the weight would soon become the limiting factor. Local airlines are becoming more strict with their 7kg limits…

 

 

The Cinebag CB25 Pack has quite a large internal cavity if you remove all the dividers…
I measured max size as being 400mm x 270mm x 170mm

 

 

Monday morning at Totaranui!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am usually a little too paranoid to leave my car in a remote carpark for 2-4 hours… especially when it has everything I travel with in it… But this time I have emptied my car into my Air BnB, so I will get to do a couple of walks that I have always wanted to do..

OPARARA ARCH Walk = 1km = easy = “Spectacular Limestone Arch 43m high” = GREAT!
MORIA GATE, MIRROR TARN Walk = 4.1km = easy = “Rainforest, Limestone Arch, Tranquil Forest Tarn’ = WAHOO!

I think they are both effectively the same walk… I’ve been into this same area many times before, Kahurangi National Park is my favourite in NZ, and the week I spent in Takaka was on the North edge of the Park… I am now on the West side of the park…

 

What a lovely word ‘Tarn’ is, instinctively it sounds Scottish – let me check…

 

 

mmmmmmm (in homer simpson voice) mirror tarn…. gahhhhh….

 

 

How much gear can I carry on an ‘easy’ 4km walk?

XPAN + lenses
Tripod
5D3 + lens
Natura S camera
Contax T2 camera
Sound Devices 722 + Sennhesier MKH8020 pair + stands
lunch

And that is probably about it….

I’ll be doing some recording and other shooting while in Kahurangi National Park… it IS such an amazing place, and there is a shipweck along the way, so my drone & other lenses etc will get their chance, but will also just have to stay in the car & hope for the best!

 

ps FCK ‘going to the gym’
ps LOVE ‘going for a walk in a National Park with a pack full of dreams’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny how life evolves – shooting longexposures with my Canon 5D3 DSLR used to be my goal, now it is more like previz for shooting on film with my XPAN! Can’t wait to see how they come out

 

 

 

 

 

 

XPAN with the 90mm lens meant I could tightly frame that tree out on the point, and with a 4minute longexposure it should work as a minimalist composition… proofs in the pudding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought this small brolly with clamp many years ago, when I was more into shooting timelapse but never used it much… I put it in one of my bags for this trip and was glad to have it this morning, as the stormy light was beautiful but the drizzle turned to rain… I got wet but my XPAN didnt…

FWIW: Velbon Umbrella and Clamp UC6

Main advantage is that you can put the brolly in the clamp while composing, focusing and then put on filters (all of which requires two hands) and then when ready to shoot long exposure, take the brolly out of its holder and hand hold it, so any wind buffets on the brolly don’t get transmitted to the tripod & camera… I didn’t have it with me when in Taupo last time, and found it frustrating trying to juggle a normal brolly while also carefully trying to frame the shot, wrangle filters etc…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100 + Lee Filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
30mm lens, 45mm lens, 90mm lens

 

FWIW I was shooting on Miramar Peninsula, and weather was misty – rain at times, but then clear…
I noticed this rain cloud moving in from the NW ie the left of frame in these photos…
So I started to think with that strong backlighting, if I wait around for a bit
it might create a silhouette of Somes Island….
And sure enough, the 30mm shot is just as the rain cloud overlaps
the 45mm soon after & the 90mm is fully behind the island.
huzzah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 + 30mm lens + Lee Filters + Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm Natura S 35mm camera with Natura 1600
while XPAN2 shoots Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

love this twisted old tree!
shot it with XPAN & then got my drone out

 

 

 

 

 

Got home from a road trip up North yesterday, following the red line:

 

I did a ton of research before I left home, of photo & field recording locations…
And that research really paid off!!

Before I left home I created a PDF for each day, with google map links embedded in it.
And this method worked really well

 

shots fired on the way North = Kodak Tmax100 x4, TriX400 x2 and Fuji Acros x1

 

Fuji Natura 1600 x4

 

And on the way home: Kodak TriX400 x4 + Tmax100 x7

 

All has been sent off to the lab/s now…

 

On arriving home and backing up all my digital photos, video and field recordings I noticed one thing:
my iPhone has become my previz and location documenter…

The built in iPhone camera is ok, but I also use Camera1 which is a monochrome camera iOS app with direct access to focus, exposure and best of all: it supports 2.35 aspect ratio (still not as wide as my XPAN but better)

 

 

The iPhone photos become like a proof sheet, for everything I shot in much higher resolution with my TX2/XPAN2, Contact T2, Natura S, 5D3, or a6300… and the occasional stashed meme!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

▶ first time visit to this location, knew it would be low tide and wasn’t 100% sure how that would affect what I wanted to shoot… Donned my gumboots & walked out amongst it, and maybe shot some great long exposures… a little nervy as every step had variable squishyness… a few times got stuck and had to be VERY careful getting free as the mud creates a vacuum and did not fancy doing a face plant with my XPAN around my neck… Finished shooting here and noticed a weird structure out in the firth of Thames, and also noticed a rocky breakwater leading out to it…

 

 

▶ shot this with all three XPAN lenses – 30, 45 and 90mm… will be interesting to see what works best… It was quite weird to be way out in the sea, but still in the muddy shallows… Here is a wide shot from the shore, for perspective…

 

 

As with the Taupo tree, this is another location I will revisit…
in different tides, weather, and states of mind..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

▶ after spending a lot of time on google maps and google earth, triangulating distant objects today I managed to find the infamous Taupo tree! Cannot wait to see my XPAN longexposure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100
actually this is a double exposure… sky was a normal shot, lake and foreground is a long exposure
(I am not always a fan of #longexposure skies as they can end up just looking blurry with no definition)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

The wharf has always been a popular fishing spot,
but is currently closed due to needing major repairs…
Shooting this reminded me of another photo I took ages ago,
when they were shooting KONG and the boat was parked there…
Shot one foggy morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Acros 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eastbourne, Wellington
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

raw scan

 

 

 

“sure, use the aircon as much as you like…”

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak TMax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with (1,2) Ilford SFX200 (3) Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

from XPAN Catalog PDF
intriguing to wonder if the designer for the Trainspotting poster ever saw this, and vice versa

 

 

..be an engine of change..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

blew a roll of film with my XPAN here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nice to be outside today!
Shot some #xpan #longexposures at Wairaka Point, round from Pukerua Bay

 

 

NZ Topomap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The brilliant & deeply inspiring magazine ON LANDSCAPE published a little 4×4 portfolio of some of my XPAN photos: Wanders with my XPAN

Discovering On Landscape magazine was a breath of fresh air for me, mainly due to it being clearly focused on creative process and the ideas behind landscape photography & creating art rather than gear obsession and the ‘content as advertising’ which seems to have infected so many magazines & platforms… I am thoroughly enjoying exploring their archive. Highly reccomended!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is where I park my invisible jetboat…
Pauatahanui Inlet #Wellington
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Rocks – Sinclair Head, South Coast from Wellington
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100
will be revisiting this location, as it’s only 5 min from my house
and would love to capture it at high tide, in low light….

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 + Kodak TMax100 + Lee Seven5 filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 + Kodak TMax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

The Pin Group – Low Rider (War Cover)

 

 

 

 

 

 

▶ Jean “Moebius” Giraud: 18 Tips for (Comic Book) Artists

 

 

▶ For future reference: handy mansplaining flowchart

 

 

▶ “How many people does it take to write a No. 1 hit? In the case of Travis Scott’s smash “Sicko Mode,” which came out Aug. 3, 2018, and has been on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart every week since, 30 different songwriters are credited.” – worth scrolling around for a james blake i/v in same vein too…

 

 

▶ How to learn bird language in 5 steps

 

 

 

▶ View/download an archive of Delia Derbyshire’s papers, scores, tracklists, dope sheets, notes here! Fascinating window into the work & mind of a true genius…

 

 

 

▶ I contributed some words & some XPAN photos to the latest edition of INSPIRE magazine,
via Wellington Photographic Society, PDF here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

me & my XPAN are doing a trip over to Mana Island tomorrow…
its the main view from my lounge, be great to see it close up!
via Friends of Mana Island

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tangimoana
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Rock
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Cinestill 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shot with Hasselblad XPAN2/Fujifilm TX2
(fullscreen your browser & then click on photo)

 

 

beautiful new public library in Christchurch – great photos & details of the design by Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just got some film back from lab, this was taken at Plimmerton Boating Club on New Years day
Fujifuilm TX2/XPAN2 with Velvia 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wasn’t quite sure what I had stumbled into here…
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

First stop on the Hankyu line from Osaka to Kobe
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

Interesting to read/see this review of Cinestill 800T: “There have been reports that in older Cinestill 800T rolls, the beginning few frames of a roll can exhibit weird streaks and light leaks. I can confirm personally that this is true. Best to stick to newer rolls as I’ve hadn’t run into this problem since.”

While I was in Japan I shot six rolls of Cinestill 800T, mainly due to wanting to experiment shooting handheld in low light with the XPAN. I bought a few 10 packs of Natura 1600 (now discontinued & rapidly escalating in price secondhand) but there really aren’t any other options for fast colour film now, so I was interested to see how Cinestill 800 performed, knowing that it is repurposed Kodak Tungsten film.

I am used to the issue that the first photo on the roll may be flashed, due to loading the XPAN in non-darkness…. but with the XPAN in use, that means it is not the first photo you shoot but the last one (as the XPAN fully extracts your film from the get go, and then shot by shot rewinds it) So I always repeat the last shot on each roll again on the next roll, knowing that end of roll shot will likely have a light leak… But… they are often beautiful! I shot six rolls of Cinestill 800 (some pushed to 3200) while in Japan (some as you have seen here) and it was only on four of the rolls that I got an interesting flash frame… These:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with @cinestillfilm 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Cinestill 800T

Vast cities like Tokyo can be exhausting – physically & pschologically – so it is a pleasure to discover a rooftop garden & just chill out for a bit… & shoot some film!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awaji Yumebutai by Tadao Ando
Awajishima, Japan
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Temple, Awajishima by Tadao Ando
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200 except the longexposure which was shot with Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 Kodak E100 #ektachrome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tokyo, Japan
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak E100 #ektachrome

 

 

 

When I bought my house in Karehana Bay, Plimmerton I was very surprised to discover there was no vegetable garden. While the whole garden & surrounding trees were overgrown due to the house being empty for a year or more, I also knew it was the family home of the person I bought it from and his parents had lived here their whole life. I guess they just weren’t into gardening, but one of the attractions was the amount of garden area that came with the house especially the rear of the section which had a series of terraces… So I slowly started building raised garden planters for them.

My vege garden 2015:

At the back left you can see the raspberry plant that I obtained from my parents. It is an heirloom raspberry, which my parents had all their life on their farm, and when they retired they brought a cutting from it and replanted at their new house in Ashburton. Years later I asked my Dad for a cutting and over the next three years it established itself and has grown into a healthy big plant, producing lots of delicious raspberries… I slowly built an enclosure around it, both to shelter it and to make netting easier to manage, as birds would eat all of my raspberries if I didn’t!

Between the raspberry enclosure and the bush/edge of my section there was always an unused area – it was clay underfoot, and I had thought of building more raised garden beds there, but kept seeing interesting photos of peoples gardens on NZ Vege gardeners group on FB where they had incorporated a glass house… next step was joining the NZ Greenhouse gardeners FB group and that was that, I was hooked! The transition from idea to minor obsession was fairly rapid: a green house glass thingy?
hmmm too expensive, but what about a tunnel house?

(After lots of research I decided on a Redpath tunnel house so all comments are relative to it, and full disclosure: I have no other incentive than sharing my own good experience, but if anyone actually does want to send me an NFR greenhouse, please do!)

I began quietly working hard to prepare the site (not coincidentally, the same location I recorded the DIG sound FX library and again recorded clay squelchy footsteps for LIQUIDS library but my motive for this development is twofold:

1. extend the growing season in Wellington, so I can grow salads etc through winter
2. create a micro climate so I can grow some exotic flowers, plants etc & photograph them!

Being an optimist I measured the maximum length that I could possibly fit in the available space: from [raspberry enclosure to end of garden] = 4.5 metres and ordered based on that spec… Delivery time was 2+ weeks so I started preparing the site, aiming to be ready for when it arrived.

The day finally came for delivery:

But even after doing a lot of preparation on the site, when the tunnel house kit was placed roughly in position I soon realised I had a lot more excavation work to do! Oh great, more clay to dig out!

 

 

Once I had the site properly cleared there was a light rain and at first i cursed it as I wanted to start assembling the tunnel house… But I noticed how the clay surface turned to mush… so after some research I decided to dig a drain around the back of the eventual tunnel house, dropping down to fill a water tank on level 2. The drain was left open at the top, so it can be flushed with a normal garden hose. A lot more digging, and carrying gravel up to the site:

Drainage will be re-assessed in winter, and potentially a second drain could be added, parallel to the main NS path, out to the same collection tank.

After assembling the basic frame of the tunnel house I next spoke to a local landscaping supplies company, and they advised a layer of gravel to stop the clay getting mushy… So the next few days were spent lugging gravel up to the site:

 

 

 

 

 

 

overhead drone shot to check alignment!

 

 

I did a rough layout, with the two full length planters I ordered at the same time as my tunnel house & deck chair…

After installing (anti) weed cloth

At this point I made the decision to only install one of the raised garden planters. Having done more research some people prefer to grow in containers as it makes it easier to replace or rejuvenate the soil. It also means plants can grow from ground level, and I was also a little concerned that two big raised gardens would consume a lot of the space in the tunnel house… So I changed tack, and removed one of the raised gardens (which has since been repurposed into other raised planters in my outdoors garden)

 

 

 

 

The next stage I was a little nervous about. Putting together all the hardware was fun, but putting the roof on was an all or nothing mission. I had read the instructions many times, and watched a few youtube videos and while I knew what to do I was not confident I wouldn’t mess it up. But I knew I had to wait for a windless day, as wrangling the large pieces of plastic would be impossible in even a light wind…

A day or two later was perfectly calm so I set to:

OK I had the main roof on without ripping or tearing any parts of it. The Redpath tunnel house uses a clever system of plastic clips which fit tightly into cavities on the aluminium frame, so it then became a process of locking down one end or side and tensioning the plastic, while adding clips. The sliding door uses the same plastic and clips, so it was a good small section to do first, indoors.

Once the roof was on I would need to put bolts through the frame into ground pegs, so the whole thing didn’t fly away. But I found it easier to work on clipping the plastic by raising one side of the whole structure.

Above is before tensioning, below after:

You might notice I have installed the roof vent too, after cutting a hole for it and clipping the edges. A seperate piece of plastic has been fitted to each end of the tunnel house, with a hole for the window and a hole of the sliding door.

 

 

Now I could bolt the whole structure down, both into the ground pegs I had already hammered into the ground and also to the planter, which when full of soil I figured would weigh quite a lot too…

 

 

How much soil would I need to fill the raised garden? A lot! I had been spending my spare time ordering a collection of compost, potting mix, peat moss, fertiliser, Zoo Doo etc… and lugging it up to the site!

Slowly filling the planter, dampening it down and wearing an air mask to avoid risk of Legionaires disease!

 

I also made three DIY Olla to help sustain the watering (watch this video to see how they are made & used)

 

 

 

 

One crucial aspect of a tunnel house and/or green house is that you provide and control the water. Since no rain can get in you have to monitor and water the plants or… everything will die! The same applies to temperature – I put a thermometer in there & on a sunny day with door & window closed it was reaching over 40 degrees Celcius. So the first thing I did was order an auto vent opener. It is basically a mechanism with a wax cylinder which starts expanding once it reaches 15 degrees C. So the vent will fully open as the temperature rises…

I had a month long trip to Japan planned for the start of their winter, which equates to our spring… So I needed to set up an automated watering system and test it for a few weeks to insure it would be reliable, as I didnt want to arrive home to a dry tunnel house full of dead plants.

For my main outdoors garden I have an inexpensive timer, this one $89 via Mitre 10 so I used it for my greenhouse, with the timer installed at the tap, then maybe 40m of hose to the greenhouse, then a Y junction splitting off to feed two sprinklers. I just used normal lawn sprinklers, hanging upside down from the ceiling using cable ties… While people have mentioned it is better to feed the roots directly and keel the humidity lower I figured the upside down sprinklers act more like rain…

I set it to water for 3 minutes at 7am, and again at 7pm… but after a few days I thought that was too much so I changed to 3 minutes at 7am and 3 minutes every third day at 7pm. Two weeks later it had delivered every day perfectly… So I was reasonably confident everything would be ok… I took a photo and off to Japan I went…

And one month later:

 

It looks like two totally different photos, but its the same photo taken from the same position – standing just outside the door. I literally could not get into my greenhouse, it was like a jungle in there!!

The biggest tomato plant at the back left had grown like crazy, and taken over about a quarter of the greenhouse!! And all the other tomato plants that I had growing in buckets on the right hand side had grown across the tiles/path…

I spent a few hours in there tidying everything up, removing laterals and some branches from the big tomato plant, and training the bucket tomatos up strings… So this is how it currently looks:

The big tomato has a lot of fruit on it, which is just starting to ripen. I had three cucumber plants in buckets but they were out of control, so I have moved them out into my main garden…

I love the huge variety of delicious food in Japan, but it was a pleasure to return home and get back to eating salad, fresh from the garden. This year I am consciously trying to garden with more planning for succession, ie staged replanting salad items like lettuce, radish etc so I always have another lot of young plants coming up as the older plants start to die back.

So thats about it for my tunnel house. I look forward to using it throughout winter, and already have plans to get another one next year. It is the most intensive way to utilise a small area of land, and has been a great long term project.

 

 

UPDATE: A few months before covid arrived I ordered a second tunnel house, slightly bigger/longer than the first one. When the first lockdown was announced I realised I had no excuse for procrastinating, so I set to and built it… Will update this with a few photos

UPDATE 2023: I have just finished removing the raised bed in the tunnelhouse 1, as the macrocarpa had rotted over the last six or seven years, and the soil needed replenishing. I now use grow bags in both tunnelhouses, with no raised beds and find them much better, as can move plants etc… I first got Evergrow grow bags and then some from TradeTested.

 

 

While I was in Japan I had a great idea for a xmas present for my parents – this year after a steady slow decline due to Alzheimers my Mum has moved into a care home, and one thing she still enjoys doing is going through family photo albums. Relatedly I remember a photo project called ‘I photograph to remember’ and that exactly applies to my Mum – the photos serve as her memory now…
So my great idea? A digital photo album!

I did some searching while in Japan but found the best option seems to be the NIX digital frames, which I then ordered ex Amazon. Nix make two types of digital picture frames: normal frames which display photos stored on USB thumb drive, and cloud frames which display photos stored in the cloud and accessed via wifi.

As I wanted my Mums frame to be fairly bullet proof, I ordered the 15D which is USB only and is a 15″ frame in 4×3 aspect ratio, natively 1024×768… I started loading photos on it today and it looks great!

 

 

I decided to try out a larger landscape format one, so I ordered the 17B for myself. It is 17″ size and natively displays 1920×1080 and is also just USB based. XPAN photos look great on it!

So far they seem easy to use – you can choose the orientation, manually browse & display photos or set a slide show going, with settings for the time each photo is displayed and the transition between photos. Resolution seems pretty good, although of course you get what you pay for… pay more and you can get similar rez to the mac retina screens.

One aspect of the settings that will be useful in my Mums case is that you can set it to auto start at a set time, and switch off at a set time. Another option is that it will switch on when it detects movement.

Seems a well thought out device, and eg for family who are living in a different city or country the wifi/cloud models would be a great way to update from a distance.

I set my parents Mac up so that any photos attached to emails get stored in the same directory as used by the OSX screensaver, which I set to display photos. So my Dad can still enjoy that at home, but this self contained picture frame is going to be great for my Mum.

 

ps if you or anyone you know is going through the process of a friend or family member with dementia of any kind, I can not reccomend this book highly enough: CONTENTED DEMENTIA – I came across mention of it on reddit, ordered a copy and read it, then ordered a copy for every member of my family. There are no easy answers but having a better idea of priorities and tactics for helping has been invaluable!

 

 

 

The first time visiting a temple is always such a fantastic moment, but unfortunately my first stop at Rurikoin was crowded with tourists, all taking the exact same photo… Thankfully Kyoto has so many temples that as long as you do some research you can find a beautiful quiet temple to find some peace so my visit to Rurikoin was fairly rapid & I then walked half an hour through the light rain to Enkouji, where thankfully there were only a few people and I got to explore and discover it at my own pace, undisturbed…

 

 

 

 

 

(methink some time in the last thousand years this tree dropped the bass!)

 

 

 

 

This last photo took a bit more effort… unfortunately some Chinese tourists had arrived by the time I got back around to this gorgeous tatami room, one of whom was happily sitting in the doorway munching on sandwiches and effectively ruining the view for everyone else… and her friend was sitting inside trying to take selfys… I stood behind her a few metres with my XPAN in hand and waited… and waited… After a while she realised I was waiting on her, so what did she do? She asked me to take a photo with her cellphone of her sitting in the freaking doorway!?!
So I responded: OK, but only if you & your friend get out of the way, as you are ruining it for everyone. She agreed and thrust her cellphone at me, telling me to take the photo in vertical mode. So I took her phone, muttered something about knowing how to take photos & turned it sideways, counted down 3,2,1 and took her lame photo… But no that wasn’t enough… she calls her friend over and gets her into position, and asks for some more… OK 3 2 1 done… They eventually exit….

Self awareness: zero, lame photos: 2

Goodbye!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

can’t wait to see XPAN shots from here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

family photo (aka why my bag is a little heavy):
Fuji TX2/XPAN2, Fuji Natura S, Contax T2, Sony a6300

 

 

 

 

 

 

stumbled into this beautiful space while taking a short cut (aka getting lost) and the angle of light was so gorgeous – can’t wait to see XPAN shots from here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 Ilford HP5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 Ilford HP5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 Ilford HP5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Natura 1600

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Natura 1600

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Natura 1600

 

 

 

 

 

 

next into the XPAN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiddlers Flat Road, St Bathans

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 Velvia100 x processed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with 30mm lens
first and third = Kodak Tmax3200
second = Kodak TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

got home last night from 12 day road trip,
today couriered 16 rolls of film off to the lab, all XPAN!
7 x Ilford SFX200
2 x Kodak Trix400
2 x Kodak Tmax3200
2 x Kodak Tmax100
3 x Velvia100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a magic day shooting!
Spent first few hours around St Bathans lake
Apart from drone & 5D3 I shot a roll of Ilford SFX200 and a roll of Fuji Velvia 100 with my XPAN2…
can’t wait to see them!! Day 8 of my road trip & 11 rolls shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2 XPAN2
Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2 XPAN2
Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Wairarapa
#Fujifilm #TX2 #Hasselblad #XPAN2
#Ilford #SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Wairarapa
#Fujifilm #TX2 #Hasselblad #XPAN2
#Ilford #SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

a unique angle on Kapiti island
Fujifilm TX2 XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

These first two were shot using red #25 filter with Rollei RPX 400 infra red film,
the third shot was taken with a 720nm filter…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2 XPAN2 with Rollei RPX400 infra red film

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2 XPAN2 with Ilford SFX200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kapiti Island shrouded in cloud
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whitireia Park, Porirua
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paekakariki Train Station
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with TriX400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think I’ve found my favourite film stock – Ilford SFX200! Blown away with the shot above (make your browser full screen & then click on the photo) which was taken in really difficult light. I flew my drone a bit and shot some video but with such contrasty side light a lot of the video is either underexposed or blown out… But the detail and totanlity of the photo above is gorgeous to my eyes…
I just got scans of four rolls of SFX200 back from the lab, a lot of the shots I took three version of: first as above shot with a red #25 filter, then with an infra red 720nm filter with normal focus and then a second infra red shot focused as per the infra red focus marks on the xpan lens. I’ll post some comparisons once I’ve gone through it all, SFX200 is not an infra red per se but is sensitive to infra red. I also shot a roll of Rollei infra red 400 film so will be interesting to see how it compares…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I had visited all of the gun emplacements & bunkers in Wellington… but this one was new to me! These are crappy iPhone photos, can’t wait to see XPAN shots from here!

 

 

 

Have to wonder if these gun emplacements ever actually fired a shot in anger? Testing and range finding, sure… but thankfully our remote location made it a bit of a wasted mission in previous world wars ie could NZ be a potential staging post to invade… um… Antartica?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ex XPAN2:
1 x Velvia 100
1 x Ferrania P30
2 x Kodak TriX400
4 x Ilford SFX200
1 x Rollei IR 400

ex Nizo Super 8
1 x Kodak TriX Super 8

 

 

#hell_YEAH!
#delayed_gratification

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Onoke, Wairarapa yesterday
Canon 5D3 + EF100-400L (first two) + Zeiss ZE18mm long exposure (last one)
Can’t wait to see xpan shots from here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just finished first roll of Rollei Infrared 400 film, using a 720nm filter…

 

 

Next step: Ilford SFX200 with deep red Heliopan #25 filter

 

 

 

#monochrome
#xpan2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

view from Cape Palliser lighthouse,
above looking to the East
below looking to the West

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that is my kind of entrance!
Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haast, to Jackson Bay
Fujifilm TX2/Hasselblad XPAN 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/Hasselblad XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/Hasselblad XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/Hasselblad XPAN2

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + Velvia100

 

 

Having recently got a lot of rolls of film back from the lab its been interesting revisiting shots I took, in some cases months ago… And the differences in approach, to the same shot, at this location I especially found interesting, so I thought I would share the details…

Note: all photos have had no post production work done at all – these are all displayed as they came out of the camera…

The location is the river mouth at the South Coast from Wainuiomata – it was a sunny day & I arrived mid afternoon… & I lugged a fair amount of gear along the beach to the river mouth: my Canon 5D3 and lenses, Lee filters & tripod… plus my Fuji TX2/XPAN2 and lenses & Lee filters… and my field recording gear…

I shot a bunch of test shots as I walked alongside the river but it was the final curve of the river as it approached the sea that caught my eye so I dropped all my gear, set up my tripod & started shooting…

So those first two photos above, were shot with my iPhone 6s, auto-exposure auto-focus so essentially a snapshot and in such bright light the EXIF data says the exposure was 1/1522! As snapshots they capture that it was a sunny day with blue sky but as far as the water goes they are to my eyes ugly photos. Fine for documenting my setup but harsh to the eyes….

Next camera: Canon 5D3 with Zeiss 21mm lens fitted with Lee Super Stopper. Now when using such dark ND filters the sensible method would be to check your exposure without the filter and then either calculate the exposure time, or refer to the handy card of typical exposure times included with the Super Stopper (eg 1/1000 = 30 seconds, 1/500 = 1 minute) or refer to the handy app that Lee Filters make freely available…

But I quite like taking a more experimental approach that doesn’t require anything other than shooting test photos, as I sometimes capture happy accidents this way…. So after composing & focusing my shot and setting f stop and iso for typical non-ND conditions, I then crank the iso and fit the Super Stopper ND15 filter and simply start shooting bulb exposures, increasing the exposure time with each shot until I am in the zone of what I imagined/pre-visualized (nothing is more boring than shooting a 3 minute exposure and finding it is way under exposed!)

exposure time = 1/5 second iso 1250

 

 

exposure time = 3.1 seconds iso 1250

 

 

exposure time = 7 seconds iso 1250

OK so by now I have quickly shot 4 photos within a minute and am now in the ballpark of what I am after in terms of approach… So now it is time to decrease iso which allows me to extend the exposure time…

 

 

exposure time = 33 seconds iso 400
better but I want the water to be like glass

 

 

exposure time = 180 seconds iso 100
this is it, I could stop now & be happy with this result from a 3 minute exposure… but as they say, you can never know if you went far enough unless you also go too far, so…

 

 

exposure time = 248 seconds iso 100
Checking the image in the LCD display I think I am into the territory of diminishing returns, so I call this shot done, put away my 5D3 and get out the XPAN…

 

 

Now I tend to keep my XPAN2 loaded with either Fuji Velvia 100 or Kodak TMax 100, mainly due to the issue of reciprocity failure, which varies with every film stock but I know from basic research & testing that these two stocks cope well with long exposures…
This day I was loaded with Velvia 100 as I figured there might be potential for a beautiful sunset, so first as with my 5D3 I set the XPAN2 on my tripod and framed/composed and focused the shot and for reference took a shot on auto exposure:

 

 

And having shot on iso 100 with my 5D3 I know if I put the Super Stopper on my XPAN a 3 minute exposure is going to be approximately right, but to allow for some reciprocity I will leave the shutter open a bit longer…

exposure time = approx 210 seconds Velvia iso 100

 

 

Interesting huh?

You can draw your own conclusions about which shot you prefer… Velvia 100 does tend to get a slight purple cast with extended exposure times, so for example a slight tweak in Photoshop balances that out:

 

 

There is a great saying, which applies to sound as much as photography:
The best camera (recorder/mic) is the one you have with you! So while like most people I take a lot of snapshots with my iPhone I dont really consider that photography per se, it is just taking snapshots. Why? Well, I consider a photograph requires composition and control of the medium. Composing means more than just framing, composition also occurs through control of focus and exposure, both of which do not tend to occur when using an iPhone. But a photo taken with an iPhone is definitely better than no photo at all.. And if nothing else can be a useful reminder to revisit a location to shoot it ‘properly’ as is evidenced by the ugly iPhone photos at the start of this post, and the gorgeous silky tones of the long exposures…

One of the reasons long exposure photography has such appeal to me is that as with shooting film it slows the process down, so rather than bang bang bang shooting snapshots with little thought or investment in thought, process or feeling.. the photograph becomes more akin to field recording where three minutes is a bare minimum to capture an ambience, and it therefore requires you to be present and quiet for at least that long.

 

Lastly, I love this quote by Ansel Adams and have adapted it for field recording

 

 

 

Rakiura Stewart Island
XPAn2/TX2 with Velvia100

 

 

▶ “The video is by John James Haynie of North Texas State University, he invented it to study & teach trumpet”

 

▶ reading & listening to David Burrastons recent arts fellowship travels has been fascinating! What an excellent initiative.. #soundart

 

▶ fascinating interview with Andre Cymone – Princes bassplayer amongst other things…

 

▶ not enough physical space for a modular synth? think again (but, BUT a noticeable lack of speakers in these small setups, which presumably means monitoring on headphones = a scary prospect for the longevity of your hearing given how dynamic modular experimentation can be!!)

 

▶ Synthesizer Manuals Collection (thanks Nigel)

 

▶ suspect one of these wooden pinhole cameras is in my future… a wooden XPAN?

 

▶ I’d never seen this Making Of for the classic Gondry/Daft Punk music vid… such great ideas & brilliant choreography by Blanca Li

 

▶ If you use facebook & also use bhphoto, open & close this bhphoto page for the Linhof 4×5 Master Technika 3000 Metal Field Camera and see how long it is before bhphoto ads start appearing in your timeline… :/

 

▶ This is what happens when you sneak a hip flask on to your lunar mission…

 

 

near the top of Mt Hutt
XPAN2 + Fuji Superia 800
(click photo to enlarge)

 

 

3 Weeks, 12 Rolls of film:
8 x Fuji Velvia 100 in my Fuji TX2/XPAN2
4 x Kodak TriX 400 in my Canon 1V

Here is where I have been:

 

 

My last photo from Stewart Island (until my XPAN film is processed!)
Stewart Island is really a magic place – having travelled all over New Zealand,
this was my first visit to Stewart Island, and thanks to meeting some great people
I am already planning my next visit (after winter)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cana’t wait to see XPAN shots from here!

I’ll post some more photos from this location when I get home, but Smash Palace is a large scale & historic car recyclers… although what the cars are being recycled to god only knows! Equally for anyone rebuilding a very rare historic car or truck, they are an invaluable contact!

Its been used as film locations a number of times, but nothing can prepare you for how large this site is – I spent a couple of hours shooting mainly 30s-50s car wrecks… but there was another paddock of more recent vehicle wrecks… and really, there are car wrecks as far as you can see…

I started off shooting with my Canon 5D3, Canon 1V with TriX400, Contax T2 with Trix400 and XPAN2 with TMax100… Four cameras slung across me… And after I’d chewed through a few rolls of each film I switched and reloaded the XPAN2 and 1V with Velvia 100, just so I had colour film versions of lots of it…

Regardless it was physically & psychologically exhausting, being out in the bright sun shooting lots & appreciating the lives lived in all of these cars… Also had to think, what of ‘modern’ cars? Most are so crappily built they will likely just dissolve like epson salts within a decade… Not even memories to reflect on, let alone 1950s steel carcasses that will outlive us all…

 

 

 

 

#fascinating!

 

 

 

todays field trip,
first to the National Library

i forgot what an awesome work of brutalist architecture it is
blew half a roll of film & almost forgot my mission…

which was to…
research viewing panoramic photos taken by R P Moore
with a Cirkut 10 camera in New Zealand 1921-1931

 

 

Bear in mind, the negative for each single image was 8+ foot wide
No matter how tall you are, you could lie down on top of one negative & not fill it!
1920s gixapixel tech FTW!

 

 

Staff were super helpful, and it was great to see a group of secondary school/college kids in there, gaining some invaluable research skills…

I’m particularly interested in a few negatives that have inscriptions on them, like this one:

 

 

 

 

Can’t wait for my next visit… to hopefully see the real thing!
& will bring my XPAN to shoot the brutalist exterior

 

 

 

 

via Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + Velvia 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

via Canon 5D3 + EF100-400L lens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

via DJI Mavic Pro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent an hour or so, wading in this estuary
shooting long exposures with digital
then revisiting each shot with the XPAN
Only problem was that the tide was going out
and the clouds were moving…
Less than ten minutes after I left,
it started to rain…

This would be my favourite new location
from all my recent travels

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + Velvia 100

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + Velvia100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + Velvia100

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN + Velvia100

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + 30mm lens + Lee Big Stopper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love lagoons, estuaries and wetlands – they are such interesting environments for wildlife (thankfully there are no alligators etc in NZ) and sonically they are often beautiful and peaceful with the distant roar of the sea in the far background… The amazing aspect of this particular estuary was that the ground was solid and the water was shallow – I could easily walk as far out as I wanted. I tried the same approach in another lagoon and could not get far as there was such a deep layer of mud, even with gumboots on I soon became stuck… and struggling for footing while using an expensive DSLR and filters is a little stressy… Shot a lot of Velvia with my XPAN at this location too, can’t wait to see it!

 

Canon 5D3 + Zeiss 21mm ZE lens + Lee ND15 Super Stopper

 

 

 

These locations are all a short drive from my place,
first the lookout on Paekakariki Hill Road

 

 

Otaki Forks:

 

 

 

 

Waikanae:

 

 

XPAN2/TX2 with TMax100

 

 

 

 

Wellington, as seen from the gun emplacements in Brooklyn
XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia 100 (click to view large)

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Velvia100 (click to view fullscreen)

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Velvia100 (click to view fullscreen)

 

 

 

 

Blue Planet Sky by James Turrell – 21st Century Museum of Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + 30mm lens + Superia 800 (view full screen!)

If you have never experienced a work by James Turrell yourself, then this photo falls on deaf ears. Google “James Turrell” and identify one of his works that is closest to you, and make a plan to go visit it. I can’t describe the experience and I have never tried to photograph one before, but this photo captures only a very tiny essence (like 0.000000001%) of the experience.

 

 

love this building & have shot here many times before…
but never with an XPAN until now

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + 30mm lens + Superia 800 (view full screen!)

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with Fuji Superia 800 film (view full screen!)

Shot after visiting the Tadao Ando restrospective….

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 + 30mm lens + Lee Filters + Velvia100

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with 30mm lens and Fuji Natura 1600 film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with 30mm lens and Fuji Superia 800 film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji TX2/XPAN2 with 30mm lens and Fuji Velvia 100 film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very very happy with these! Some are bracketed exposures, and a couple of duds (set up & metered for long exposure but shot a few without my Lee Big Stopper actually attached – doh!) but a pretty damn good hit ratio… Again will wait for hi rez scans to arrive before tweaking…

And a few are from NZ – I had already shot half a roll of Velvia 100 before when I went to Japan

While staying in Japan I always like to do a road trip, to get away from the cities and explore some of Japans diverse environment… While researching this trip I stumbled across the idea of visiting Noto Peninsula, and thanks to a Reddit comment discovered an incredible ryokan to stay at, right at the tip of Noto Peninsula… After managing to get a booking we headed off, first a 2.5 hour train trip from Osaka to Kanazawa, then picking up a rental car and driving 2.5 hours to the ryokan…

Of course that 2.5 hour drive more like 5 hours due to stopping often for photos, but it was also a reminder of how much I miss being near the ocean, and when the opportunity appeared to drive along the beach, well…. how could we not!

Next stop was Hatago Iwa “The rocks are considered sacred and are connected by a shimenawa, a rope used in Shinto to mark the presence of sacred spirits”

These were difficult to photograph and we ended up spending an hour or so here – I shot a roll of film, trying different angles & exposures with my Fuji TX2/XPAN and Lee Filters, can’t wait to see the results!

Just as dusk fell we arrived at the ryokan Lampnoyado – a 400 year old ryokan, right on the edge of the Japan Sea… The access is so difficult and steep that there is a carpark up top of the hill and a car picks you up to deliver you down to the ryokan….

Our room was literally on the waters edge, opening the doors let the sound of the ocean in

We had also opted for a room with a private onsen/hot pool.. bliss!

One aspect of staying at a traditional ryokan is the fact that dinner and breakfast are usually included, and as this ryokan was expensive (about triple what I would usually spend on a hotel, but YOLO right!?) I was very much looking forward to dinner… And it was simply divine, a multi course experience of local fresh fish and vegetables… beautifully prepared, every element was a subtle explosion of flavour

Bliss!!

▶ “This old guy plays the bass like cutting tofu….” – from an interview with Ryuichci Sakamoto

 

▶ I could live here

 

▶ Ryoji Ikeda – A [For 100 Cars]

 

▶ wow, I did not really appreciate how far you can push TriX – I bought some Ilford Delta 3200 yesterday to try it with XPAN in low light… will try a roll of pushed TriX next time

 

▶ Electronics Typography by Vinicius Araùjo

 

 

Just ordered infrared filters for my Lee Seven Five set to use with my Fuji TX2/XPAN2, and for my Lee 100mm set to use with my Canon 1V… Can’t wait to try it out! Hurry up FedEx!

Catlins
XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia 100

 

 

Ohai Conveni

XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia100

 

 

 

 

Lake Brunner
XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia100

 

Arthurs Pass
Hasselblad XPAN2/TX2 + 30mm lens + Velvia100
(click photo for full screen)

Just got 7 rolls of Velvia 100 back from ReversalCine Lab (thanks Ian!)

This sheep made me laugh… I was in a small town called Nightcaps, shooting a very wide panoramic shot with my XPAN2 of an abandoned convenience store… on each side was an empty paddock, so it felt very bleak… But I suddenly felt I was being watched, and sure enough on the very edge of frame this big woolly sheep was watching me… So I walked over towards it and it ran around like a lamb, hopping & skipping, wanting to be patted… Obviously a loved pet lamb!

Can’t wait to see the film – I handed 14 rolls of film off to Ian at Reversal yesterday – 7 rolls of Velvia 100, 5 of TriX400 and 2 of Tmax100!

Some gems amongst them!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inner city Wellington NZ
XPAN2/TX2 + 30mm lens + FormaPan400
(click image for full size)

 

 

 

Sunday 7am, what are you doing?

Me?
I am getting in the 4WD and driving into Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island
The next three days will be spent in the Marlborough Sounds – this part of NZ:

As an area of land, in the wide shot it doesn’t look that complex but given the size of the three main islands that make up New Zealand, that little area of the “Marlborough Sounds” makes up 1/5th of our entire coast line! If you dive into Google maps, or even better Google Earth in 3D mode and start investigating, you soon start to realise how complex the ‘sounds’ are…

So whats my motive?

1. HMS Sparrow, a shipwreck at St Omer
which is about a 2 hour drive on windy, gravel roads from Picton

I’ve visited & shot it before, by water taxi from Havelock (45min trip each way) and while that was an amazing experience I really want to be able to spend more time at the wreck – different tides, different light, different weather. Its an important shipwreck for my book project, and I can’t wait to revisit it…

2. Shoot the sh+t out of the whole area!
This area & these landscapes are geographically awesome – again in 3D on Google Earth or via Topomaps you soon appreciate how dramatic this landscape is. Last time I was in this area I didn’t have such a purposeful motive…

or the tech I am now travelling with:
– 3 film cameras (Fuji TX2/XPAN2, Contax T2 and Canon 1V)
– 3 digital cameras (Canon 5D, 40D ir & Sony a6300)
– 2 drones (P3P and Mavic Pro)
– 2 recorders (Sound Devices 788T + 722) & 8 mics (MKH8040 ORTF + MKH8020x2 + MKH70x2 + BB Contact Mics)

 

 

3. Record material for HISSandaROAR libraries
I am slowly recording/accumulating specific new material for 3+ HISSandaROAR libraries

 

 

And for all of the above, ditto for the next 3-4 weeks!

 

 

This is my road trip plan:

Needless to say, the best travel (& opportunities) requires being flexible….
So I will travel most of that red line but the order is to be determined!

On a more philosophical level: as much as I LOVE post production & working in my studio, nothing excites me more than doing trips such as this – it is for me, the best mental & physical health boost!

Every day is an adventure & a creative challenge: how best to make the most of the opportunities? And how best to create the best opportunities?

It is part instinct,
part research & local knowledge,
& part passion.

Shooting shipwrecks in Motueka, Lyttelton, Dunedin/Otago Peninsula, Bluff
& catching up with friends & family

Snow further South?
Hoping so…

Batteries charged? YES
Gear prepped & packed? YES
Tide charts captured? YES
iPod loaded with new music & audio books? YES
Good food & drinks loaded? YES
A vague plan? HELL YES!

 

 

 

And a caveat: I will be in & out of cell phone coverage for the next month.
Worst case scenario = 20 hour delay replying to urgent emails…
Sumimasen

Went & did a recce yesterday to a location for a proper shoot when the weather is better, hopefully tomorrow morning if the forecast is right! This was shot with my 5D3 but will be primarily shooting my TX2/XPAN2 with Tmax100 and Contax T2 with TriX400

XPAN2/TX2 with TMax100

XPAN2/TX2 with Fuji400H Pro

expanded my soft attack mallet collection

drum kit surrounded by earthquake detectors

XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia50

XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia50

XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia50

 

 

Plimmerton
XPAN2/TX2 with Velvia50

(click image to view large)

XPAN2/TX2 + 30mm lens with Fuji400Pro

I’ve been to this location a few times before, but had forgotten about it & only revisited as wanted to finish a roll of film before sending it & other rolls off to the lab… Soon as I got there & looked through the viewfinder I realised what a great location it is for wide angle lenses…

I wandered in amongst them, taking photos & pretty much oblivious to anything else.. and slowly found myself at the centre of what was a giant spiral… and for a very brief moment felt trapped – how to get out? Oh… right… same way I got in!

Must revisit this location and set a few timelapses going, it would look so great to see the shadows creeping across surfaces!

XPAN2/TX2 with Fuji 400 Pro
Paremata, NZ

XPAN2/TX2 + 30mm lens with TMax100

XPAN2/TX2 + 30mm lens + Lee Big stopper + TMax100

XPAN2/TX2 + 30mm lens + TMax100

thanks to Ian at ReversalCine

XPAN2/TX2 shooting Fuji Neopan Acros100

Thanks to Ian at Reversal Lab

My agenda
– shooting 5 shipwreck locations
– chilling out at the beach at Mokau
– lots of field recording!
– junk store prop shopping
– attending premiere of One Thousand Ropes
– meeting & testing prototype content for an interactive sound project

 

My excess baggage
7 microphones (8040×2, 8050, 8020×2, 70×2)
2 recorders (788 and 702)
7 mic stands (2 nano, 5 mini nano)
3 digital cameras (5D3, 40Dir, a6300)
3 film cameras (XPAN TX2, Canon 1V, Contax T2)
3 tripods (Manfrotto)
5 full frame EF lenses (Zeiss 18, 21, 50, Canon 100-400, 100 macro)
3 crop sensor lenses (Canon 10-22 Efs, Zeiss 12mm, 16-70mm)
1 drone (DJI P3P)
1 laptop
2 hard drives
21 batteries
8 chargers
1 iPod full of tunes & audiobooks
1 deck chair

35mm film:
TMax100 x 13
TriX400 x 9
Velvia50 x 6
Ektar100 x 3

 

Christchurch is burning 🙁

With the recent news that DJI had acquired a larger holding of Hasselblad it got me thinking of the perfect combination – an aerial XPAN!

Would love to take their A5D & DJI M600 combination for a fly!

But would even more so LOVE to use my XPAN lenses with my drone

Kapiti long exposure
XPAN2/TX2 with Tmax100

As far as test shots go, these two were underexposed – without going back to the neg theres nothing in the under exposed blacks in those two long exposures… but still interesting… Its a bit like being a landscape painter and planning to make XYZ but coming home with some dark slightly gothic versions of it…

pools of light

all shot with XPAN2/TX2 wiht TMax100

Pauatahanui XPAN2/TX2 long exposure Kodak TMax100

XPAN2/TX2 long exposures with Fuji Acros100

XPAN2/TX2 long exposure Kodak Tmax100

 

 

 

Pauatahanui XPAN2/TX2 with Kodak Tmax100

#XPAN2 #TX2 with Fuji Acros100 (click photo for larger view)

Just got hi rez scans of my last lot of rolls of film… more to come…

 

 

This photo made me think of the film ‘Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow”

“A mesmerizing portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer by acclaimed documentarian Sophie Fiennes (THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA), OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW is part tribute and part deconstruction; aided by beautiful widescreen cinematography, Fiennes captures the majesty of Kiefer’s architectonic installations alongside observational footage of his work process.”

Muko River, Amagasaki, Japan
Fuji TX2

click image to see larger version/slideshow…

 

 

 

 

shot with Fuji TX2/XPAN2 in Kansai, Japan 2016

Sugoi!! Super happy to have finally bought a device I’ve been hunting for, for over a year! The VOCU VTE2000 is a tape echo with one special feature that none of the Roland or Korg tape echos have:
a pedal/cv input for echo/tape speed!

Like my Fuji TX2 I have somehow lucked in again, buying a device that is 20+ years old but has hardly been used. The seller said this had been used less than 20 hours total, and looking at the head & roller it would seem to be true!

The parent company are interesting, VOCU now primarily make power supplies for guitar pedals and apparently ceased making tape echos due to access to parts. But the website for this model & the VTE1600 are still online, have a look here for the VTE2000, which lists the new price as ￥59,800 = USD$529. Shame they aren’t still made as there would be plenty of demand for them… Page for VTE1600 here (They did sell the VTE2000 outside Japan as HIWATT Custom Tape Echo CTE2000) There is a link to a PDF of the VTE2000 manual in Japanese here

A few google translations from that site:

– Control of echo time by the expression pedal, such as loop recording function, packed with unique features not found in conventional machines.

– Foot switch: Echo on / off, recording on / off

– The longest echo time about 2000ms.

– Head configuration: Erase × 1, recording × 1, short echo playback × 1, Long echo playback × 1

A side note: if you are into film cameras the you probably know of Japan Camera Hunter who is based in Tokyo & will source film cameras to request.. Current stock is listed here (check the Nikkor fisheye lens!! and the xPan 2 full set)

Wouldn’t it be great if someone did the same service for synths & outboard gear, especially devices like this VOCU tape echo that you very rarely see outside Japan…
Hmmmmmmm….

Heres some (slightly wacky) sounds from one (not my vid)

update: wow – just found a second one from the same source!!

update: put the manual through google translate, english version here

update: english manual for the HiWatt version here

shot with Fuji TX2/XPan2 from Umeda Sky Building, Osaka – click image for larger version

After posting those stats on my data generation during a two month Japan trip (106GB of field recordings, 428Gb of photos & video) a couple of people asked me how I manage my data while travelling, so here is my methodology & associated tech. Warning: there are no great revelations or shortcuts – it is all fairly simple, and boring… but it works!

The basic requirement is to keep your data safe – so that means creating clones in two, preferably three separate places, as soon as possible. And, at crucial times, keeping them separate ie physically separate.

A final caveat, no doubt there are better ways to do this, and if at any point you read this & think ‘WTF, why doesn’t he just get a thing, or do this then comment & help us evolve for the next trip!

Backup for me = [laptop] + [2 x 2TB drives] + [bag of cables]

In a nutshell, I use a 2013 macbook pro laptop to clone data asap – it has 2 x usb, 2 x thunderbolt and a built in SD card reader. I carry two LaCie rugged 2TB hard drives, which power off the bus and have both USB3 and FW800 connectors – available in NZ here

My sources of data:

sound:
sound devices 788T – 8040×2 ORTF + 8020×2 spaced omni = 4 x 24bit 96kHz
sony d100 = 2 x 24bit 96kHz

visual
sony a6300 capturing 4k, 1080p/24fps-120fps + JPG+RAW stills
contax T2 shooting TriX to neg x TIFF hi rez scans
fujinon TX2/xPan2 shooting Velvia50/TriX/400Pro to neg x TIFF hi rez scans

Each of these create different amounts of data, at different rates (especially shooting film) but my aim is at the end of every day, or as soon as the data is available, to transfer on to one of the 2TB drives, and then backup to a clone on the other 2Tb drive.

I have a strict folder naming policy of ‘DATE-DEVICE-DESCRIPTION’
For example the top level folder might be called:

201610 JAPAN TRIP Master

and sub folders labelled
20161107 a6300 Kyoto
20161107 788T Kyoto

The date is generated via a TextExpander shortcut, so the format is consistent.
And I don’t reorganise the contents – this backup is strictly chronological.

On the second 2TB hard drive I have a folder labelled
201610 JAPAN TRIP Clone

And I use a simple OSX app called FoldersSyncronizer to backup from the Master to the Clone.

My Sound Devices 788T has a large enough hard drive in it that I also leave the original data on the device, so for all sound recordings I have three separate copies of the data.

For video & photos, after a week or so I have to clean off the SD cards – it amazes me that as per the photo of the hard drives above, in less space than my business card I have 2 x 128GB and 1 64GB SD cards.

If I was only shooting photos JPG+RAW, I could probably cope leaving the data on the SD cards, but when it comes to shooting 4k video or 120fps 1080, it chews through data… So I tended to let the SD cards fill up, and switch to the next SD card, backing up daily but only then cleaning the SD card after doing an extra check that all data had been transferred.

So thats about it. The only other point to make, and it is an important one, is with regards to the physical location of your backups. While I was in Japan I stayed the first week in Tokyo in one apartment, then six weeks in an apartment in Osaka, then 1 week in a different apartment in Tokyo. So including my international flights there was four times when I was relocating with everything I owned and all data with me. Now it is stating he obvious but, at those times my data is at most risk i.e. if both hard drives were in the same bag as my 788T, and that bag got stolen.. then all of my data is gone.

So my final comment is when travelling/changing locations, place your three copies of data in three different bags. For my international flights, two sets of data went via each of my checked baggage suitcases and one set travelled with my as carry on.

Worst case scenario, travel insurance would replace my recorder & cameras. But there is no such possible insurance to replace data that will never exist in that form ever again.

In an ideal world I would also be uploading my data to a server as/when I had time… But this is rarely possible while travelling eg I rented the fastest 4G LTE wifi modem I could find, with no data cap. But all mobile data is assymetrical and is geared for fast down/slow up. The only other way would be to find a friendly ISP and pay to do a rapid data dump upload, but good luck negotiating that with my sub-primary school Japanese language skills 🙂

Oh, one other thing: those 2 x 2TB drives also contain Carbon Copy Clones of OSX from my laptops internal SSD… so if I had a devestating drive crash or had to replace the SSD in my laptop while travelling, I have a CC OSX copy to reinstall back on to a new drive. That laptop wont be doing many backups if its internal drive died!

KYOTO Ryōgen-in
Fuji TX2 + 30mm lens + PRO400H

KYOTO Taizo-in
Fuji TX2 + 30mm lens + Velvia50

OSAKA Umeda SkyBuilding
Fuji TX2 + 30mm lens + Velvia50

HYOGO MukoRiver
Fuji TX2 + 30mm lens + PRO400H

click photo for larger version

Got 10 rolls of film back from ToyLab – super happy with my first rolls from TX2/xPan but love these snaps from my Contax T2 with TriX

That camera is permanently loaded with TriX now!

After some Google earth vs maps research I headed off this morning to explore industrial parts of Sakai… Managed to find a train station that got me within 4 blocks, on a cute train line that was only 3 stops long – I guess built to deliver workers to & from the same industrial area I wanted to visit… Next step was crossing this bridge, where I found my first ambience to record

Through & under the bridge I could hear some huge loud clanks & bangs, and it soon became apparent a ship was loading itself with a crane & a big set of claws…

I recorded this perspective for 10 minutes but decided it was a sound worth pursuing so tried to get closer to it…. But after walking for 20 minutes it soon became apparent I couldn’t get closer from the factory side, but I did find this weird green compressor thing:

It seemed to be constantly building pressure, and then every 14 seconds would release a blast of air and carry on, ad infinitum… I recorded for 10 minutes and started to think of it as a weird set of lungs, wheezing away…

Any idea what could create these patterns? It was on the footpath, so couldn’t be vehicle wheels…. my only thought was… snails?

My super power = recording through security fences

Eventually I started to get tired – lugging my mics & recorder & camera in 28 degree heat takes its toll, so I wandered back across the bridge and walked along until I found a clear spot away from traffic & directly across the water from that ship! Set up the mics & proceed to lie down in the grass & shade & snooze for 20 minutes while I recorded it = best perspective yet!

Along from where I was set up, there were a few elderly gents fishing & one came wandering along to see what I was doing – without saying anything I gestured the headphones to him….

It is always so nice to see someones face light up when they realise what you are doing! Funnily enough in all of my recording in Japan plenty of people obviously see the mics and I see them glance at me & think WTF? But rarely does anyone approach me, the few previous times were two photographers in Ginza, and a security guard in Shinjuku (who asked me to leave) – the only other was an elderly lady in Amagasaki who was very sweet and I gave her my headphones for a listen but didnt have my camera ready to take a photo of the reaction….

One thing I do love with my little Song a6300 is silent mode – unlike DSLRs that have quiet mode which really is nowhere near silent, the a6300 being mirrorless can be truly silent. This helps if trying to stealthily capture a photo of someone, but also means that while I am recording I can potter around taking photos without having to edit out the shutter sound afterwards… WIN WIN!!

Caught the train back to Namba station & wandered outside and recorded some pedestrian & traffic ambiences…

Its my last week in Kansai so am rapidly making a to do list, and suspect I will come back to this intersection with my XPAN/TX2 and shoot some long exposures of those crazy diagonal pedestrian crossing markings…

10 rolls of film off to the lab tomorrow

CONTAX T2
1. KODAK TriX 400 x 36
2. KODAK TriX 400 x 36
3. KODAK TriX 400 x 36

FUJI TX2 (XPAN)
1. KODAK TriX 400 x 36
2. FUJI Velvia 100 x 36
3. KODAK Ektar 100 x 36
4. FUJI Velvia 100 x 36
5. FUJI Velvia 50 x 36
6. FUJI PRO 400H x 36
7. FUJI PRO 400H x 36

I’ve noticed changes in my behaviour since the TX2 arrived – while my Contax T2 is a ‘snapshot’ camera the TX2 is a camera for more considered, sentient shooting – no one told me to change my behaviour but I have noticed the change when using it, especially with the super wide 30mm lens & viewfinder attached.

Compared with digital I would likely fire off a dozen or more shots, while thinking about framing a location or situation, chimping to verify my doubts or lack of confidence.

With the TX2 I tend to have ideas and check them through the viewfinder, not necessarily thinking about what I am seeing per se but allowing my instincts to dictate whether there is actually a shot there or not.
If not, no photo is taken…. maybe reframe & iterate or move on…

I think this is strengthening my ability to previz a photo, whereas shooting any & everything with digital has allowed me to evolve to a degree but maybe as far as clarity of vision goes it does the opposite…

Of course all judgement reserved until those 10 rolls come back from the lab… I shall have a nice bottle of sake chilled & ready for the moment!

#evolution

Spent yesterday back in Kyoto, visiting temples & mainly shooting dry gardens with my xPan – wow the 30mm lens in panorama mode was first time I’ve (maybe) actually been able to capture some of the gardens, will see when the film comes back from the lab! I revisited a number of temples I had been to before, but was my first time visiting Taizō-in. These are all shots with my Sony a6300

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went up to Umeda sky buildings floating garden this afternoon, mainly to shoot some xPan long exposures, but shot these with my Sony a6300 inbetween times… Funny – I went up about 4pm and there were maybe 20 people up there, but as sunset approached large groups of tourists arrived and weirdly tonight it seemed to be mostly young chinese kids armed with selfy sticks… I had my iPod cranked up but walked past a group of about ten kids shooting a very loud selfy video, reacting as the camera panned across them, until a grumpy gaijin grabbed it from them, snapped the stick in half and threw it off the side of the building! The stunned look on their faces was priceless, had it actually happened…

From the ground:

xPan shots to come!

 

 

Spent a lovely weekend in Kyoto, first visiting two temples (Nanzenji and Konchi-in) – the latter was especially beautiful and peaceful. I find it hard to fully appreciate the feeling of visiting a temple when it is swamped with a lot of people – regardless of whether they are locals or tourists – and weekends and public holidays tend to be busy, but as Konchi-in is a smaller, less well known temple there were only a couple of other people visiting when we were there.. I finished shooting a roll of TriX on my xPan/TX2 and then loaded it with Velvia 100 colour film – soon as that roll is finished will get them all off to the lab….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a spectacularly oishi dinner of exquisite Kyoto delicacies

 

 

 

 

After breakfast yesterday we wandered through back streets…

 

 

Heading towards my favourite incense store: Lisn

 

 

 

 

I bought a few new varieties including one called Smoke Tone (seems like a great song title!) and while I love the interior of this store, this time I noticed how the ceiling had been left exposed but entirely painted out in black

Lastly we had booked in for a beginners lesson in playing Koto, at Soushunan

Our teacher Harumi san, was a lovely woman and patient teacher who comes from a family of Koto players – her 83 year old mother also plays Koto, and she joined us too, helping to teach Satoko and I the very basics of playing Koto by (very) slowly learning to play the traditional music ‘Sakura’

They were very intrigued as to my interest in Koto and were surprised to hear that I own a Koto (after owning a Guzheng for a number of years I bought a Koto just before I left NZ), and they were very helpful in showing me how to set up the moveable bridges and how to tune it to the traditional Koto scale, as well as providing great advice on making the finger picks for my giant gaijin fingers! I was also very interested to learn that these days most Koto players are women, but in early days most Koto players were blind men!

After we had managed to make it all the way through the piece of music, I took a break while Satoko played the piece with a second layer/accompaniment performed by Harumi san. Then we swapped places and I played the piece while Harumis mother accompanied me. It was such a great experience, we left the lesson totally buzzing…

I went on a mission to Akashi yesterday – maybe 20min by train past Kobe, as had read there is a huge fish market there. I was a bit late in the day for the main action but still interesting to wander around such an area… Afterwards I headed out towards the coast, and a few blocks away came across the source of some of the seafood sold at the market – all was quiet in the afternoon but I can only imagine how busy it is here in the very early hours of each day….

I vaguely planned to walk to the next train station and then head back to Kobe, but it was so nice walking along the waterfront that I just kept going & walked half way back to Kobe…..

Thats the bridge across to Awajishima….. I read you can do a guided tour to the top of the bridge, which must have awesome views… but then read the application process and you must apply on the 1st of the month, 2 months prior to your tour… and its weather dependent… so maybe next time!

Catching dinner… or hanging out with fishing buddies?

Eventually some light rain made me find a station and jump on a train… and I headed back towards Kobe, but got off at a random station by the sea when I saw this intriguing building

Figured I’d stay until sun set and shoot some long exposures of it…

Will see how the long exposures turned out, but this mission was also my first day shooting with my TX2/xPanII and the incredible 30mm lens – loving it!

Just got 5 rolls of Tri-X shot with Contax T2 back from ToyLab a great lab based in Kumamoto, with excellent service – I am super happy with the results, can’t wait to send them some xPan rolls!

Well… I am now a very happy new owner of a new old Fujinon TX2 (aka Hasselblad xPan II) – I have been itching to get a medium format film camera and have been checking out Hasselblad 500c options while in Japan.. but I’ve had a nagging doubt about lugging *another* large camera & lenses around with me…

Getting used to shooting with the relatively tiny Sony a6300 has been welcome relief, and every time I pick up my 5D3 it feels like a weighty beast, which is both good & bad…. Good/great if you are in your own country and all the gear is within easy reach of the car.. Bad if the location/s are remote…

One of the definite downsides of the Sony a6300 is that the decent Zeiss lenses are all ‘focus by wire’ ie control of focus is based on software, and for me this is not a ‘feature’ I will ever get used to. I had doubts about ever being able to use manual focus (aka myopia paranoia) but this issue was resolved by using beautifully engineered lenses that were designed to be focused manually. And I don’t necessarily mean expensive lenses eg the old Takumar 50mm lens out performs many spendy Canon L lenses when it comes down to ‘feel’ and subtle tweaking of focus, but my Zeiss ZE full frame lenses are a joy to use. So while I love using my little Sony a6300 and can achieve good results with it, it feels like a toy and a compromise when it comes to manual control of lenses.

But wow this Fuji TX2 – it feels weighty compared with my Contax T2 (which I also love, but it doesnt really encourage my ideal style of shooting ie bulb mode long exposures via cable release) but the TX2 in use in panoramic mode feels a little like an invite to a Sergio Leone movie… You can switch it to ‘normal’ 35mm mode and shoot like a rangefinder, but in panoramic mode it is more than a little bit unreal and is very inspiring to shoot with….

After visiting Yodobashi Umeda to get a few essential bits (CR2 batteries, UV filters for the lenses, a camera strap etc) I jumped on the Chuo line and headed out to Osaka port and blew a roll of Ektar 100, shooting some side by side long exposures between the a6300 and the TX2, using the same settings, and then varying the exposure on the TX2 as a test…

As with any new tool, have got to use it enough to develop intuition… but lets wait until roll #1 is back from the lab!

In the meantime check some of these gorgeous xPan/TX photos: flickriver:xpan

ps: I did the frame count check and this TX2 has only done 250 exposures total since new, which is apparently what you can expect when new as they do a similar number of calibration test shoots… unreal to become best friends with a decade old camera of such extraordinary conception!