What makes photography fun is that it can bring a challenge. It is my belief that challenges can make us better at what we do. We don’t need the prettiest or the most expensive camera to capture moments in life. I joined the Frugal Film Project for 2020 with my not so clean CiroFlex Model D TLR and I am on a mission.
Now the camera is limited with the shutter speeds but that will make it even better right? That is part of the challenge for me, to produce cool photos on this old film camera that is limiting. With the cold winter already here, I had to find the right time to shoot. So I grabbed my TLR with a 35mm adapter kit and loaded it up with a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus.
Now I am not a fan of HP5 at box speed, looks great at 800 IMO, so I wasn’t really sure if I would like the results from the roll. Heck, I wasn’t even sure how many shots I would end up with. Now the CiroFlex has a max shutter speed of 1/200th of a second. So I knew I had to be careful shooting, but with the overcast and snow on the way I felt it would be fine. Now, I have never attempted 35mm film in a TLR, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised.
The day I shot the roll I was racing against time, a snow storm was headed my way. After work, I had about one hour to shoot the roll so I headed to an area with industrial buildings and old fences. I felt the old buildings would supply the texture I needed for this project, and I was right. Unfortunately the snow storm hit early so I was up against time. I got snowed on, the camera got snowed on, and I lost feeling in my hands….. but we all survived. The camera held up just fine and produced some beautiful images. It was a challenge, I enjoyed it.
The Frugal Film Project 