Given that I am still on a pretty steep learning curve with my Bronica, the gold in the title definitely refers to the film stock for these rolls rather than the quality of the images.

Normally I would refer to a set based on location, however the third roll was spread over several locations. This was partly down to bad weather and rain at Mount Grace making me want to put the camera away early, as well as good weather at Beamish making it far too busy for me to want to shoot whilst there. The resulting collection is a bit eclectic, especially after removing family portraits…

Roll 4 was taken at Cragside, but I have posted them together here as a pair as there isn’t enough in the third one to stand alone.

When I introduced the Bronica and showed my first images I didn’t really use the format I had with instax of showing the worst images, then OK and finally the ones I actually think are good, but today let’s go back to that format. Find my worst images below, but hopefully you’ll find they get better as you scroll down…

Worst Things First

The first image here is from Mount Grace. It’s in my worst section because it’s a bit snapshot-esque. The weather was starting to turn and the main ruins pictured were busy so I was struggling to compose a clean image. The result is something rushed and not thought through, which is going against the grain (no pun intended) of why I started to want to shoot film.

The other two images are from inside Cragside, and there was simply not enough light for a 200 speed film, resulting in a pair of burry messes. The bathroom image is one I’ve taken on instax and that version is way better than this one…

OK Images

As with the bathroom above, the first window image below was trying to replicate an instax image, but on actual film. As above I think it worked better on instax, though I don’t think it bombed as much as the other interior images from Cragside. It is still slightly soft, but it is by no means as bad as the ones above.

The step image I took with the Mrs walking up the steps, I should have got her to turn around as if she was walking down them so that is a mistake on my part.

The lily and the interior greenhouse image are both decent enough for me, but just aren’t quite there. I do like both, but especially with the lily, I got a better image that I prefer.

The exterior greenhouse I should have shot with that as the subject rather than trying to bring in a person. I don’t think I include people often enough, but in this instance I should have stuck to my guns and not had the Mrs in the picture.

The trio of the lake below are from Cawfield. This was the first time I tried to lock the Bronica down on a tripod. I took four images. These three are one on my wide angle (45mm) and then two on my standard lens (75mm) with one using an ND for a long exposure, and one with a dog in the lake. My prefered image was the fourth one, which I took first, although the wife likes the long exposure best. She is wrong.

The last image below is from a day out in Beamish. As seems to be a theme with todays post, this was me trying to replicate one of my favourite instax images but on real film. As with the ones above, it is softer than I’d like, but isn’t too far aware. I think if I’d even had a 400 speed film I’d have gotten away with it…

My Favourites

In the section above I discussed a fourth Cawfields image, et voilà.

I think the reflection looks cleaner in this image, even compared to the long exposure version I tried with my 10 stop. I like the slightly wider inclusion of the rock and reeds in the bottom right, whilst not being too wide, which I think the 45 image was.

The English Heritage attendant in Mount Grace was giving me strange looks when I was lining up this image as if to say “why are you taking a medium format image of a broken old bathtub” but this is by far my favourite image of that day. I love the light and lines caused by the window and the attic beams that surround it. This would probably make a great room for a portrait shoot, though I doubt English Heritage would appreciate having someone model in their freestanding bath as it may upset the visitors…

The selection below are my favourites from Cragside. I have grouped them together because I have either already mentioned them (such as the lily) or they are a bit cliche (such as the house image). I think that the selection shows that I am finding Kodak Gold 120 needs a lot of light, and that I am struggling to hand hold it inside. It is a slightly different story with Lomography CN800, which I’ve also been shooting again. Images to follow very soon….

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