James Ballantyne

Its Liminal Everyday

Half In Wood, Half In Iron

Garmisch

Paris

Was It Worth It?

To begin, the purpose of this blog is to discuss my early purchases within my own journey of film photography. Looking at different aspects of each purchase to help other practitioners decide if they require such equipment for themselves. At the end of the blog there are photos showing some results of these purchases.

Travel Tripod

The reason I chose to purchase a tripod, was because I was having difficulty shooting, I felt uninspired and in a rut. I needed a change.

I had watched a few videos and noticed people using tripods, it seemed to slow them down and be deliberate in their image making. I looked into tripods and they are very expensive. I did already have one but it was heavy and bulky. I searched on the internet for cheap tripods. I wanted something that wasn't terrible, could last longer than 3 years of abuse. I settled on a Manfrotto Element Tripod, reduced from £100 to £60.

When the tripod arrived, I did a shoot. It went great, allowing me to slow down and have more fun in the process. As I used it more I became aware of its limitations, this isn't bad thinking, it just alters how you use it, a creative challenge if you will. I took this tripod to Italy with me and it held up. I shot parts of Half In Wood, Half In Iron with this tripod. I also took it with me to Germany. It is a robust piece of kit. As time progressed a few years later I used it less. Not because of any issue with it, but because my process changed, I used different camera systems which required me to use a heavier tripod to support it better. Although I don't use it that often, I have still kept it because it is a useful piece of kit.

Scanner

At the time I was considering the purchase of a scanner, I was on break from university and had a gap year, which meant I could not use their facilities. I had looked at the price for my film lab to scan the film and the lowest quality scan was £5 and the highest being £14. This being on top of the price of developing would equate to a roll costing at the cheapest £10 and the most expensive to £26 not including the price of the film itself. The price fluctuates depending on the type of film and the quality of scan, nonetheless it is expensive.

Scanners vary in price. Ranging from £89 to however much you are willing to spend (eye watering expensive). Since they come at a cost, you must ask yourself questions around your practice of film. Do I see myself pursuing film long term? Is film just a hobby? Am I going to university? Will I have time to scan? Can I afford to pay someone to scan it for me?

After conversations with my family I realised film is something I wanted to pursue long term. I had already made the decision to work part time to accommodate my practice but also still be able to feed myself. I was living at home. So I worked out I could have a scanner but which one. I used various websites comparing scanners, videos and everything. I ended up on an Epson v850 pro. It cost £850, expensive, however it was high quality, allowed me to develop a range of films and it was an investment into my future.

Expired E6 Film

I'm aware the subheading is incredibly broad, however there is more than meets the eye with this. It started a few years ago in 2022. I had decided to dedicate my photography to film and was looking for colour film. You might be thinking, isn't e6 film expensive, why are you looking at that? Initially I wasn't however, I searched everywhere for cheap colour film, and was struggling to find some at a reasonable cost. I managed to end up on ebay, in a subcategory for film, expired film. It was like the holy grail. The issue was, there wasn't a lot of it. So I snagged up what I could, some color negative to begin with. Then I found some film in green boxes with a low iso. £80 for 20 rolls, my head practically fell off. I was lucky to get the final bid. I must confess I didn't really know what e6 film was, I had briefly looked into it, but I was more excited to get my grubby mits on some colour film.

Throughout the year 2022 I purchased 40 rolls of e6 film. Velvia 100 and Velvia 50. The 40 boxes cost £5.88 per box. A steal. Some of the rolls were cold stored and some expired by 7 or more years. Nonetheless I had them.

You are probably reading this thinking what's odd about this.

Well...

I had decided with my minimal research on the intricacies of e6 film, to go and shoot it. So I did. I treated it like a colour negative film. Not knowing how the film operates and works. Looking at it now it hurts to know I shot about 25 rolls of this stuff, messing up a good 70%. The silver lining is, I still have some. Especially now I know this stuff is very hard to come by and a very nice film to shoot.

Overall I do think this purchase was worth it, even though I perhaps didn't realise I had misused £500 worth of film, on random skirmishes and shoots. It allowed me to go out and shoot, and learn and practice, which is valuable information. The wonderful brutality of film.