MASTIN LABS

My summer journal 2021

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Inspired by those of you that manage to do an entire 365, meaning one photo a day for a year, I’m now doing a similar project over the summer. I have done this once before. That time it was one camera, one lens, one film (Leica M7, 50 summicron, Tri-X). This time it’s a mix of both film and digital but still in black & white. It’s something poetic about that with suits my style for this project. What do I photograph? It could be just a certain light, a detail in my surroundings or something else that summons up the day I had.

The gear I’m using this summer is still the Leica M7, 50mm summicron V4, Tri-X metered for the shadows and pushed one stop in development. Scanned by Carmencita Film Lab on the Fuji Frontier 3000. On the digital side I’m using the Fujifilm X-pro2. A camera I just got and that really helps me in getting the imagery I want. It’s almost as simple to use as the M7. I turn off the LCD screen and focus manually. Initially I used the X-pro1. A lighter camera, which I like, but with inferior evf. So that made me upgrade. But still the pro1 is a great camera in many ways. The lens is the phenomenal Mitakon speedmaster 35mm 0.95. About a 50 1.4 in 35mm terms and has a really nice micro contrast and 3D separation. Bokeh? Melting :)

For post processing I use Mastin Labs Kodak Everyday Original and the Tri-X preset. Just two clicks, one for the preset and one for “All soft”. Then maybe adjust the exposure a bit. That’s it. Another favourite among presets are Rebecca Lily presets. I use her SET V for b&w.

Working like this gets me the consistency I’m after with my photography. I can work seamless between film and digital and enjoy both worlds. I will do the entire post after the summer when all is developed. But I will update images to this post as we go along.