Despite the failure of Roll #04, or rather because of it, I had to try with the RB67 again and see what could be done with it. This journey into film is not only a journey about gear, lenses & bodies. It is about the magic paper I put into these devices to capture light. And there are many options when it comes to choosing one. Continuing this exploratory path, I inserted a new type of roll into one of the Mamiya’s back, decided to understand once and for all how different could Ilford HP5+ and Ilford Delta 400 really be. Bear with me…
Capturing daily life is a very delicate balance between candidness and a bit of staging. Let me develop. You want to capture the moment as it happens, but you also need to make sure that the surroundings are compatible with a proper composition. If your model is in front or in the middle of the daily mess that a family home can be with young kids, properly highlighting the subject can get tricky. So we play games, set up a castle and get the princess in for a quiet time… Everyone is happy :)
Inès is not what most people would call a quiet child. Full of life and energy like only kids can be, she is sparse with still moments, especially when a camera is involved. “Enjoying” a piece of tranquility while she was tired or maybe not one hundred percent awaken, I captured this moment of calm before the storm… The Ilford film works really well for this type of indoor portraits. I shall use it more! And I did…
This is the other model. I was trying to capture as much interactions between them both in these early days of being a family of four. The picture is a bit ruined by the light leak but I sure hope it captures the tender moment between the brand new siblings.
As I explained earlier, my favourite models are at home, (almost) always ready for a photo session with dad. Most of the time, the light conditions will not drive how I shoot my daughter. It probably should, but in order to work with a 3yo, you have to do what you have to do. This one was taken in our St Kilda apartment master bedroom and I was lucky enough to have plenty of indirect light coming from the window during what looks like a quiet end of morning. The dynamic range of film, that is the amount of details that can be captured in the darkest and the brightest part of a same picture is quite impressive when compared to what most digital cameras can do. Despite the dramatic back lighting conditions, her face and hair have plenty of details. I hope she remembers this room when she is older. I sure will.