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Film photogs: Roll in a Day 3, May 19, 2012

By Daniel J. Schneider Posted:
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I left the apartment to find it raining.
I left the apartment to find it raining. (Daniel J. Schneider)

Shooting a whole roll of film in a day is … well, not really a challenge. Unless the challenge is to do it on a certain day, come hell or high water, no matter what plans you already had, no matter whether anything interesting is happening for you to shoot. The biggest challenge, though, is posting 36 frames for everyone to see, duds and all.

Well, that’s exactly what the Roll in a Day group on Flickr.com does every so often. I stumbled across it looking for something else, but even though the next day was only a few days out when I found it, the idea excited me. As a print journalist the idea excited me, too — shoot a whole roll of film, develop it, scan the negatives and send the whole thing off.

Batta is sad because she's figured out I'm about to leave for the afternoon.
Batta is sad because she’s figured out I’m about to leave for the afternoon. Moreover, she heard me say ‘bath.’ (Daniel J. Schneider)
The whole wall on the east side of Wax Trax.
The whole wall on the east side of Wax Trax. Spiderman, the Ramones, an ancient, broken steel awning and the remains of the neon sign. All on a recently-repaired 100-year-old brick facade. (Daniel J. Schneider)

Okay, you had a few days to develop and scan every thing, but I haven’t had anything pressing me to work my film any faster than I wanted until now. Maybe I’ll press myself more in the future.

For this experiment I grabbed the Nikon FM2 that was given to me recently by a very kind Dean Krakel. Despite the missing rewind crank and eyepiece ring, with a little cleaning it was raring to go. I’d already put one of film through it, but hadn’t developed it yet so I was going into this blind, not knowing how accurate the exposure meter and shutter were, or hell, even if it was accurately advancing the film (another post coming soon about repairing the lockout that prevent double winding — this camera’s already taught me a lot).

Murals decorate the retaining wall around the basketball courts at Morey Middle School on 13th Avenue in Denver.
Murals decorate the retaining wall around the basketball courts at Morey Middle School on 13th Avenue in Denver. (Daniel J. Schneider)
Oh em gee. Lost kitten!
Oh em gee. Lost kitten! Did someone take all the tabs with numbers on them? Or just shred the bottom off the poster? Because the cat was found, or the shredding party was just being a jerk? (Daniel J. Schneider)

I ordered 20 rolls of Kodak Tri-X from B&H not that long ago and mysteriously, I received 18 rolls of 400TX and two rolls of Kodak T-Max 400. At first I was dismayed, but I figured I’d use it no matter what. So that’s what I used to test the Nikon and shoot my Roll in a Day.

The results speak for themselves.

I thought the raindrops on the window with the blurred view through the mirror would make a nice picture, but now I question past-me's judgment.
I thought the raindrops on the window with the blurred view through the mirror would make a nice picture, but now I question past-me’s judgment. (Daniel J. Schneider)
Friend's third cat (still ironically named, though you can't tell why it's ironic in black and white), this time sharp. He's suspicious of cameras, but not awake enough to care.
Friend’s third cat (still ironically named, though you can’t tell why it’s ironic in black and white), this time sharp. He’s suspicious of cameras, but not awake enough to care. (Daniel J. Schneider)

I haven’t been as big a fan of the T-grain film in my Yashica-D; I think the Ilford Delta 100 and (obviously) Kodak Portra 160 have performed fabulously, though.

I already had plans that day, so I just took the camera along with me with a 50mm f/2.0 lens. I made most of the exposures walking in Denver’s Capitol Hill, but a few focused on my friend’s cats Orange, White, and Minerva.

So I uploaded my 36 exposures — out of focus, over-exposed, motion-blurred and all — to the group and prayed. So far, the response has been great and I still got a few shots I really liked. I’ve put my favorites in the slide show above. The full set of 36 frames is on my Flickr page.

Dusky alley shot (notice: more shoes) with the shutter sped back up.
Dusky alley shot (notice: more shoes) with the shutter sped back up. (Daniel J. Schneider)
Capitol Hill view -- twilight over the buildings on the north side of 14th Avenue. If you look, the state Capitol dome is visible to the lower right.
Capitol Hill view — twilight over the buildings on the north side of 14th Avenue. If you look, the state Capitol dome is visible to the lower right. (Daniel J. Schneider)

All these photos were taken with a Nikon FM2 and a Nikon Ai-S 50mm f/2.0 lens; nearly all were at f/2. Kodak T-Max 400 film developed in Kodak HC-110E (47:1) for 7:45 min at 69 degrees Fahrenheit.

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