First Roll: Kentmere 400

It has been awhile since I have ventured out of my comfort zone and thought about trying a different film stock. When it comes to the big ones such as Kodak Tri-X & T-Max or Ilfords HP5+, FP4, Delta 3200 etc. Ive always loved them. However the buy in is getting pretty steep for me as a hobbyist portrait photographer. I’ve been seeing a bunch of others using Kentmere 400 as an affordable alternative. It has the connotation of being a “newbie” film stock for those new to black and white film. If you know me, this is not my first rodeo with film.

I rated this stock at box speed, 400 ISO. I love the tonality this black and white has. It sort of has an older film stock feel to it, which I won’t complain about! It doesn’t have a modern look to it. I think specifically in the highlights it gives that older black and white charm. My verdict for this film stock is: I loved it! Without trying a roll first, I bought a 120 brick (10 rolls) of this so I guess that’s a good thing I found it worth to have around in the film fridge.

For you super, duper nerds. I developed this roll with HC-110 using dilution B (1:31) for developing. Then DSLR scanned the negatives, turning these into positives with the amazing Negative Lab Pro software!

First Roll: Ilford FP4+

In the fall I messaged Jennifer if she would be interested in creating some work and she agreed. I was super excited about this because I needed a mental health day from work. So we both had a Friday off and I met her at her awesome studio apartments in downtown Boise. We shot a ton this day, however I told her I had a roll of film that required a ton of sun. So we did one last outfit change and headed outside her apartment into the sun to feed the FP4+ extreme hunger for light. I rated this roll at box speed (ISO 125) and went through the roll pretty quick and it sort of saddens me there is no 220 of this in current production. As much as I love the 6x7 negative size, it really cuts short a roll at 10 exposures and if you only have one roll you become quite stingy on pushing the shutter.

Usually I am a Kodak fan boy at heart and I LOVE shooting Kodak Tri-X 400 but I was looking to explore other black and white films and when I ordered my Fomapan rolls forever ago I thought why not FP4 too? This roll was a joy to shoot and I honestly will be investing in more to keep stock in my fridge. The contrast is perfect for my taste, nice rich blacks, solid middle gray and great highlights. It was easy and quick for scanning, I barely spent anytime on adjustments, in fact I spent more time on removing dust. Kodak Tri-X is great but for more mid day shooting and harsh sunlight, FP4 will be an easy go to without hesitation.

First Roll: Fomapan 200

At the end of October, early November I really needed a day off from school other than the weekend. Now a “taking care of myself” day means I’m not sitting on my butt, it means I’m waking up and taking photographs and thats exactly what I did! I met up with Jerusha in downtown Boise with my Bronica ETRSi and a roll of Fomapan 200. I’ve been very interested in shooting this film stock because of what I’ve been seeing others create with it and I must say it did not disappoint. I loved shooting this film stock and I probably will be shooting more personal portrait work/travel with Foma. It’s a tad cheaper than other name brand b&w films and it just has a more classic black and white look to it that I just really enjoy.

I’ve really been enjoying all these new film stocks I’m experiencing. Up next I have a roll of Ilford FP4+ that I shot some portraits with and had a rather interesting developing challenge.

Julie Rose

I met Julie via Instagram last year and I photographed her wedding and since then I’ve become good friends with her and her husband. They messaged me saying they were in town visiting family and that we should meet up. I then suggested why don’t we meet up and create some creative photographs just for fun and see what comes of it.

We had only about 90 minutes or so to shoot, already knowing I wanted to shoot some film I decided that is all I will do. No digital. Scary because I could just waste all our time, even though just hanging out with Julie and Jordan is always fun I still had expectation to have work to share. I brought out the Pentax 67 with the 105mm only along with two rolls of film: Tri-X- 400 and Lomography F2/400. I developed the black and white film myself and then the Lomo film was developed locally. However some light leaks happened with their people and at first I was really upset, but then as I scanned the negatives I saw how it played with the compositions quite well.

2019 started off with work I’m very proud of. I hope this year is filled with plenty of work that I can share and eventually do something with it. I want to either have a “zine” or even have work be displayed locally. I want to have more progression of myself as an artist this year.