Walkabout with the OM1

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It's hard to believe it's been so long since my last post. I suppose I must have just lost the motivation necessary for regular blogging. Don't know if I've got it back to be honest but, at least, I'm sitting at the computer writing something so that's a start.

The winter was a bleak time in terms of my photography - no motivation again. There's a pattern emerging here. But once February came round and there were tentative signs of growth in the countryside - snowdrops are a lovely sight - I got the urge again to pick up a camera and get out and about.

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Since then I've gone through 14 films with a ratio of about 2:1 in favour of 35mm over 120. Those I developed have all been 35mm, mostly Tmax 100. It's the 120 HP5 I'm looking forward to seeing, though. They were exposed during the snowy conditions a few weeks ago, rated at 200 ISO for development at 1+2 in Perceptol.

My Carse of Gowrie project has occupied me most but I've also been getting in some decent early morning coastal walks in the company of a small Olympus OM1 outfit in a bid to build up a little fitness and shed a few pounds.

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My enthusiasm for photography has completely returned, I'd say. I'm itching to get out to the Carse whenever the opportunity arises. And I'm quite pleased with the variety of images I'm getting, the snow helping no end to freshen up some over-familiar scenes.

I still can't make up my mind whether I'm a 35mm photographer or a medium format man. Does it even matter? Just now I'm using the two formats interchangeably and it's working well. The next tool I'm going to add is a step ladder. The Carse is quite flat and even the ability to raise the camera 10 feet or so above the landscape can make a big difference.

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The days are still quite dark up here in Scotland when the sun's not shining and the Tmax 100 I've had in the OM1 has been borderline in terms of speed for hand-held photography. The standard exposure on a dull day is 1/60th at f4 which doesn't leave much room for manoeuvre. I'll be switching shortly to HP5 for my 35mm stuff in the Carse as well although that'll only give me an extra stop because of the speed loss in Perceptol.

I think I've got another eight films to develop but there will be no printing for a little while. The darkroom is still doing double duty as a bicycle workshop so it's negative scans only for the time-being.

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So that's the up-to-date picture regarding my photography. On to the photographs now. I was going to post a mix of the Carse shots and my walkabout stuff. The latter is good for "keeping the eye in" but never seems to produce many photographs beyond "OK". However, the post would have ended up a right guddle so I'll keep the Carse shots for another day.

The pics in this post were all taken on Tmax 100 with the OM1 and either the 24mm f2.8 Zuiko or the 50mm f2 macro Zuiko, both great lenses. Number 1 was an early morning walkabout shot of a nice sky over the North Sea. I was looking for something in the foreground that might mirror the distinctive cloud pattern. I tried sand patterns and some rocks along the beach but liked the steps and railings the most.

Number 2 is a simple shot of a residential caravan overlooking the beach. The various elements just seemed to come together in a harmonious composition and that was enough for me. Confession time: number 3 was a set-up. I saw the empty Fanta bottle lying at the side of the road. Some ignorant git had apparently found it easier to throw it out of his or her car window than deposit it in a bin - of which there are plenty in the area - so I picked it up to do the job for them. I loathe litter-bugs. Anyway, on the way to the bin, I saw the puddle with the light shining through the spars of a fence and placed the bottle in the middle of it. Had the bottle been floating off the beach I might have called this one Fanta-Sea. Fanta-Puddle seems to be lacking something.

Numbers 4 and 5 are shots of Arbroath F.C.'s Gayfield Park. It's quite a big step away from Old Trafford or the Bernabeu. I tried to capture the bleak and spartan nature of lower league football grounds. I'm too readily attracted to scenes with a variety of vertical poles and lines.

The next pair were taken at the old stables just north of Dundee that I've featured on the blog before here. It's got loads of character and atmosphere although every time I pay it a visit it shows itself to be more and more dilapidated. It's probably just a matter of time before the landowner decides that it's so far gone that he'll be able to overcome the stables' listed building status and replace it with a couple of ugly houses. Such is modern life. These were done on the OM1 as well but I do wonder if I might be better tackling the stables with the 5x4 as there's a lot of texture there that really needs a large format neg.

And now we've reached number 8, a quirky wee shot. When I took this I had a vague idea in my mind that the stones and benches were spectators. But what might they have been looking at? Could it just be the reflection of the sun on the wet path? Perhaps, like me they were looking for signs of spring.

Finally, I thought I'd say something about walkabout cameras and lenses. I've tried various combinations over the years but the OM1 with the 24mm and 50mm Zuikos is proving to be a great team. Sometimes just one lens can prove a bit limiting. A body and three lenses is overkill and too heavy for that type of casual photography. The Olympus outfit I'm using is not only light but compact as well. I'm using the 50mm f2 Zuiko macro but the standard fifty would do just as good a job really in tandem with the diminutive wide angle. There's not much you can't tackle with those two lenses.

One thing about the OM mount that's useful if you're doing a lot of lens swapping is the fact that the lens release button is on the lens mount and not the camera. As far as I'm concerned, it's so much easier grabbing the lens with a thumb on the release button, a quick twist and it's off. I can't think of a quicker system for changing lenses short of a zoom.