10 Shots on Instax… Seaton Delaval Hall
Seaton Delaval Hall is a National Trust property just over the border from North Tyneside into Northumberland. On what3words its at roughly ///grid.page.drank
Some of its previous tenants were known to be quite quirky and eccentric, leading to some rather interesting rooms in the hall (especially for younger visitors) such as a stage with noisemakers for wind and rain effects, an upside down room with furniture on the room and geese noises from under the beds.
Worst Things First
I had three clear misses on this trip. They were very important misses though, as they were the start of me taking my steps towards an artistic direction for the use with this camera. They led to what it probably my favourite Instax photo that I’ve take to date.
I actually have a bit of a soft spot for the middle image. There’s something about the imperfections and the way the colour came out that I quite like. The first image the light changed after I’d metered, visibly so. I knew it was going to be dark as a result, but I thought I was already pushing my luck hand holding at 1/4 so chanced there being some detail in the shadow. With a tripod I think you could get some cool cellar images here (although I doubt that the National Trust would be happy with me blocking the halls).
OK Images
Unknown Building
I don’t know what the building below is. This was the second image I took on the day. The first had a flare so bad that I thought I may have had light leak issues, and this was taken as a test. No thought went into it, it was literally just what was in front of me as the other image had developed. Funnily enough, the image with the artefacts has ended up in my favourites section!
Red Carpet
I like this image, I like the colours. The weakness here is me! I could try and retake this in summer when there is more light and hope for a faster shutter speed, but as with the cellar images above, I think I’m limited to my ability to hand hold. Realistically this should probably be taken with a tripod. I would like to see the effect harsh summer light would have on the circles, and if it could crisp the lines up around them as well mind…
Favourites from the day
Flares
I do have the lens hood for this camera, honest. I’ve had a few shots now that could have probably benefit from it, but with this one I really like the flare.
I underestimated how wide the lens was. I had aimed to cut the people out by hiding them behind the wall to put the focus on the hall. With the people in, I would have probably written the image off, but the flare distracts from them, even completely covering 3 of the 4 people in the frame. I did worry it was a leak, but as it’s not I can imagine myself trying to do this intentionally in future.
‘East Wing’ - Stables
On the top left of the building as it sits in this frame there was a relatively harsh shadow line that I was trying to catch here. You can see the brighter patch on the left hand side of the triangle. Whilst I didn’t quite pull that off, I like the framing and the detail that resulted. If I’d broken out my ND8 I may have got the shadows I was chasing, but it would have been at the expense of the lower brick work, which it turns out is a highlight of the frame for me.
Central Hall - Rear
I was initially drawn to the light and shadow falling across the courtyard on this shot. I wasn’t intending to take a frame of the hall exterior itself as I didn’t think it would result in something new for me, even on the Instax. The light made me think again about the image and I’m pleased it did. As with the above image, it’s slightly overexposed vs what I intended in my head, but again benefits from it. As with the above image, a stop of two darker would have benefit the light and shadows that originally caught my eye but to the expense of the brickwork, and it’s again that detail that makes me really like this shot.
Central Hall - Interior
One of the things I’m growing to love about this camera is that you take your shot, and then you have that two minute wait where you wonder how it’s going to come out. As soon as this started to emerge from the blank white piece of paper and plastic the camera spits out as you crank the lever to develop, I knew I was going to love it.
The colour brought by the warmth of the light, the geometry of the windows and the light they cast into the darkness, the details barely visible in the stone flags on the floor... I love it. I think this is out and out my favourite frame shot on my Mint RF70 so far.
When it had developed I did circle back to the spot to try it a stop brighter to see how that would look, but the light had changed. Clouds had enveloped the sun and the hard lines cast onto the floor were gone. In truth this was more out of curiosity, and thinking that others may prefer the frame not quite as dark. For me I like to embrace the darkness, and think even if I could could have taken this image again at 1/125 I’d have still preferred this version…
I mentioned in the Belsay blog about chasing images of window/door light and I think this just adds merit to that idea for me.
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