10 shots on Instax… Preston Park
I have been slightly MIA for a while. Ever since Instagram kicked me out of my main account, I’ve struggled to find the motivation to share anything I’ve created. Even though I’ve turned what was my portrait account into a catch all for anything digital I create, all I’ve been posting on there is old work.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still been creating. I’ve not only had my Sony out for a portrait session or two, but I also have about 15 packs worth of Instax film from my Mint camera sat waiting to be scanned. My motivation waning isn’t creativity, or photography, it’s purely social media. Even with this blog, I’ve had at least three or four outings worth of instax already sat on my computer, waiting to be written up and then shared to whatever account.
As a result this entry is a throwback to March. A visit to Preston Park museum. On what3words this is roughly at ///exposes.helpfully.baking
Worst things first
The below image was taken in the interior of the museum. It was kegs of whisky, rum and gin etc. There wasn’t enough light, even wide open, meaning the shot is blurry, whilst at the same time I used aperture priority, and the inbuilt lightmeter overexposed the scene to the point where you can’t even read the labels on the barrels. Manually exposed and with a tripod I do think there could be a good shot here with the way the spotlight hits the back bar though…
OK Images
The first image in the below set is of the exterior of the museum. Whilst there is nothing I particularly dislike about the image. There is nothing that stands out either. I imagine it’s a composition hundreds of people have on their smartphones.
The second image was purely taken because it’s an old camera. I do rather enjoy taking a photo of an old camera on my Mint. Especially when the camera in question has bellows like mine, as this one does. Funnily enough, this is not the window of the camera shop.
The third image was intended to be about light, in the bakery, but I shot it too dark. Whilst I like a moody tenebrism image, this looses too much detail to the point where you can’t tell it was the bakery as a result of that style of shot not being the intent. To make matters worse this was one I metered for, not the camera.
My Favourites
God Save the King
This has a strange juxtaposition. Whilst being in a vintage victorian era print shop, it has posters up for ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘God Save the King’ as it falls in the time since the death of Queen Elizabeth II and before the coronation of King Charles III. Without this story, I would have probably just marked it OK, as with the bakery and the bar, it’s a case of probably not having enough available light (or a tripod etc with me to stabilise) to get my vision onto the frame.
Blacksmith
I had a pack with a lot of spread issues on this trip. Many of these shots were discarded when the subject was totally obliterated, but there were a couple that I still really liked. The below is one of them. The spread issue only really impacts the top right, which was mainly sky anyway. It also frames the building as it follows the shape of the roof and up to the chimney. I would have still liked this image without the imperfection here, but in a way it also almost makes the shot.
Lampost
As with the above image, this one suffers from a spread issue. Again, the shape is quite fitting with how it vaguely follows the shape of the wall. I bet this would also be a cool shot at night, with the lamp itself higher in the frame and the falloff of light spreading across the brick.
M Heavisides Photographer Grand Studio
Not only is this a cool building, it is also a photo studio, it has cool cameras in the window, and it even advertises instant photography! Would I have preferred if I got the roof line slightly straighter? Yes. Do I really care about that affecting how I feel about the image? No. It’s still probably my favourite of the day, excluding possibly a portrait or two of my little ones…
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