“Real Photographers Shoot B&W Film” – This quote is from my dear friend Ted Grant
Ted had an irreverent sense of humour intended to stir animated conversation, and he was successful in spades! His message was to encourage photographers not to shoot trivial snap shots. Film shooters in general tended to be grounded, loving to engage in the physical and tactile techniques of making silver based images. He, like myself, believe in using intellect rather than programmed computer chips.
Heck, now there’s artificial intelligence to further muddy the credibility of photography. Whereas b&w film negatives are virtually impossible to alter so my prints can be authenticated as being truthful. Don’t know about you but I like to be associated with a niche group of film shooters…my ego is well served. lol
It is, for me, an intimate process which only begins by tripping the shutter release, then the suspense of processing the film, anxious to see the if I got the technical excellence I strive for… love it! Next in the wet process is making prints with glowing orange safe-lights and gurgling water… pure relaxed quality time. Often, I scan the negatives to make digital prints which is very different experience which I like a ton.
How about the cost of a premier 35 SLR camera? I recently bought a mint condition Nikon F4 body for $375 and I’m currently thinking about buying another Hasselblad with one kit being offered online for $1,500. This kit includes a 150mm lens with hand grip and 2 prisms. Thankfully you’ll not need a second mortgage.
Talking about the ‘film experience’ is one thing but giving it a go is where it’s at. So give some serious thought to purchasing a Harman-Ilford EZ-35 Camera* which comes with a 36exp roll of HP5 Plus film which happens to be my go to Ilford film. Go all in and get yourself an Ilford simplicity starter pack which has all the chemistry to process your film and a Paterson processing tank with reels included. All these items in stock for immediate delivery. I promise you’ll find this a fun and rewarding experience which will alter, in a positive way, your perspective of photography.
Great b&w shooting my friends and there’s time like now to get out shooting award winning b&w images.
*Check out my review of the marvellous EZ-35 camera in last month’s edition of PHOTONews Flash.
Items Discussed
About the Author – Crombie McNeill
PHOTONews Flash is honoured to see our contributing editor Crombie McNeill featured in CTV News Ottawa. Tune in to hear Crombie’s story and his mission to help those experiencing homelessness.
Crombie McNeill is a unique artist. He’s a world travelled photographer with numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the best editorial photographers in North America. His credits include Time, Newsweek, ELLE, Life, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Chatelaine, Paris Match, McLean’s, En Route to name but a few.
His Odyssey lead him from the Arctic to high fashion magazine shoots to Olympic Games, World Cup events, the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the altitude with the Snow Birds, interwoven with civil war in Africa, Royalty, presidents to paupers world wide. Not to mention frozen toes at the North Pole.
His photography has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and Europe and has three books to his credit.
Not one to leave behind the uniqueness of traditional film he’s evolved a blending of photography with both hand applied and computer processing to produce truly unique images.
“The art of photography for me” says Crombie “is to convey a timeless essence with a hint of mystery”.
The National Archives predicts he will be credited as one of Canada’s most significant photographers and is on the list for The Order of Canada. The National Art Gallery of Canada has some of his fine art B&W prints included in their permanent collection.
Crombie is now happily retired, in that he no longer accepts editorial or commercial assignments He now lives in Aylmer, with his wife Sue. “This retirement”, he’s delighted to says, “allows me the freedom to search for those magical B&W images, and to determine the ideal technique by which it should be captured and presented.
Crombie often returns to the peaceful amber glow of his wet darkroom as a respite from his extensive digital lab and art board.
Please enjoy!
A wonderful display of images. Curious, are all of the above images from a wet darkroom silver print or are they processed from scans? I find I am a much better “printer” from film scans than I ever was in the wet darkroom.