What a month! Welcome back to another monthly newsletter all about the joys of analogue photography.
In this newsletter, you can find:
recent headlines in film photography
lomography home pages
sharing your images and adventures
my film adventures for the month
Youtube update
As I write this, I’m currently in Seville, having visited for la Feria de Abril and very excited to share a few images! The Feria was started in the 1800s as a livestock fair but a lot of what it is today involves parading, taking pictures in Feria dress, and socializing. A lot of what you might see are people wearing their respective Feria outfits, the women in ruffled fitted dresses often with flowers in their hair and fans in their hands; the men in nice suits.
The lighting is not the best here but the moment I couldn't resist! I am taking a few film photos in Seville but of course there is the waiting period for the dev and scan to be done. Stay tuned!
Recent Headlines
Ferrania released Orto (orthochromatic) film
Lomography adds new metal film case to shop for both 35mm and 120 film
Lomography adds new color for Lomo Apparat
Reveni Labs releases multiple film accessories
FilmLab Desktop 2.5 Version Official Release
Negative Supply New Light Source Mini 97 CRI
Film Photography Project Releases Low ISO Sun Color Film
Lomo School Opens! From Lomography
Lomography Homes
Agrimony is a Lomography Connoisseur and one of my favorite albums is the “suds and soda III” which looks like film souping and yields very unique results. Check it out here.
Amniky takes stunning landscape images so this one is for the golden hour lovers - see it here.
Asmifox has a collection of wonderful image, but the portraits and cute doggo shots stand out for me - check it here.
Share What You’re Up To!
Thank you to Sara S. from Michigan for sharing this lovely street image taken on a Canon Autoboy F with Lomo 800 film:
If you have any recent images, gear, or adventure stories, feel free to share them with me either in the comments or via email molly@eclectachrome.com.
Film Adventures
The AgfaPhoto half frame camera has seen a lot of action this month but it also had to move over for a new addition.
For the record, cocktails are not my thing. I rarely drink, but if it had to be anything: straight bourbon, dry cider, light beer, or tempranillo wine for me!
Does anyone enjoy an Aperol Spritz?! I’m not so afraid to say it was kinda gross…but at least it looks pretty.
Anyways, I’ve had my eye on the Reto 3D for awhile. The price tag has always kept me at bay as it’s almost $100 for a new one! For a very niche and novelty item, this seemed a bit much.
And yet, everything changed when I came across one (practically new in box) on EBAY for $60. Not wanting to pass up on this chance, I bought it and now currently have it packed in my cabin bag for España!
The build quality is surprisingly solid but I will be reviewing the camera in full soon so if this interests you, stay tuned.
If you want to see a 3D example from my first test roll, follow me on either Instagram or Tiktok as Substack doesn’t allow me to upload video or GIF files here!
Though, my test roll was a bit of a funny story.
I accidently shot the same roll twice without realizing it.
There was a roll of Kentmere 100 laying around in my film drawer, looking like a new roll of film with the lead out and all. But after I developed it in 510 pyro, there were regular 35mm frames overlapping the Reto 3D’s smaller three frames in a row…
What is this sorcery?!
Well, turns out, I had shot the roll in London last year, taken the film lead out to prep it for development, never developed it, forgot about it, then thought it was a fresh roll of film and loaded it into the Reto for testing! Eeek!
So my test photos look a bit funky, some of the double exposures are really neat though so a little bit of a happy accident. At least, I know the camera works, so it’s now sitting snug next to my X-E4 and Canon Rebel K2, ready for another adventure!
This has inspired me to start a new project, double exposure street photography!
While it may seem like there are new cameras popping up each newsletter, there are also cameras that I sell. I tend to buy and sell cameras in a specific camera pool in the budget. Want to buy one? Gotta sell one first.
This month, I sold the Leica CL. Those side strap hooks and shutter dial placement eventually got to me!
Tenerife on Youtube
Part 1 of my 5-part Tenerife video series is live :) Yes, that’s right, I made 5 videos from a one week holiday! There was way way too much to put it all in one. The next video will be out second or third week of May.
Channel Update
Did you know it takes roughly 10+ hours to make one 10 minute Youtube video?
Most Youtubers will say it takes a LOT of time, so I know it’s not just me. Especially if everything is done in house.
Here’s an example breakdown for the above Tenerife video:
3-5hrs: Capturing photo & video on location (one day)
1hr: Developing & scanning B&W film
1hr: Script writing (to stay organized when recording & editing)
1-2hrs: Setting up & Recording talking head portion
0.5hr: Listening & selecting music tracks from Epidemic Sound
1-2hrs: First edit (laying out the materials on the track & cutting)
1hr: Second edit (refining the cuts & flow)
1hr: Final edit (adding titles, music, and final cut)
0.5hr: Exporting & Uploading to Youtube (HD not 4K)
0.5hr: Create thumbnail, add YT description, tags, subtitles, end screen, cards, etc.
So that’s actually closer to 15 hours.
The time it takes for each element will flucuate with individual videos, but you can see why you have to LOVE it to do Youtube. I’m sure there are things I could do faster, but it’s my process for now.
You can also see how it might be annoying that Youtube is putting ads on my videos when my channel isn’t monetized.
Why am I sharing this though?
It’s a layup to say I’ll be dialing down on Youtube for the rest of the year.
There are some exciting things coming up this year and I could use the some Youtube time for them. I still LOVE making videos, especially recently shorts, reels, tiktoks, etc.
I’ve always been a sprinter rather than long distance. My best events in competetive swimming were the 50m and the 100m butterfly.
Youtube videos are a marathon.
So if anyone wants to follow me on Tiktok, I make a decent amount of videos over there :) Which then of course get reposted ocassionally to Instagram and Youtube shorts. Although Instagram really hates Tiktok and any content reposted from there doesn’t stand a chance! And then we have Youtube’s copyright to deal with along with not having the ability to make videos over 60 seconds still.
Ah social media…I see the off-social media folks smiling slightly at their blissful platform-free existence!
To sum up that ramble, less Youtube, more other stuff :) Not weekly, at least once a month, probably biweekly.
Let me know any thoughts you have on this below!
Signing Off
Well, that’s all for this week folks, looking forward to hearing from you if you comment or share something with me. Otherwise, see you next month! I will hopefully not be in lobster-state after a few weeks in Southern Europe.
Any tips for traveling to Madrid or Porto, let me know!
Cheers,
Molly
I'm happy to see someone who forgets to develop rolls! That can be a nice accident sometimes, since so many months have gone by since I shot the roll, I look at the developed pics with a fresh set of eyes. That can be a benefit to the shots I took.
Hey, hey, Molly! I really like those double exposure shots. Well, I like them as potential inspirational fodder. Were you serious about the double exposure street photography thing? I think it has potential, but the learning curve is likely pretty flat, and it could take a lot of thought, trial and error to get something usable.