A dark winter evening walk along Manchester’s canal paths is not for everyone. It can be desolate, dingy and a little unnerving.
But I went with my camera to capture some of the urban canalside atmosphere. I left my tripod behind and relied on slow exposure speeds and the pools of man-made light.
At times it was just too dark, but there was still a lot to see… apart from many other human souls.
The London district of Shoreditch is just a stone’s throw away from the city’s business district. It’s become synonymous with being achingly trendy, packed with cool bars, shops and eateries. It’s the home of the Cereal Killer Cafe which serves nothing but a bewildering array of boxed breakfast delights. The demographic is young and hip, with beards and man buns a-plenty.
So I made the journey from staid west London to prowl the streets of Shoreditch with my camera. It’s urban with some rough edges and a lot of graffiti art, but has a lot of sumptuous little shops and places to eat. The vibrant facades and store fronts caught my eye, along with details of architecture. It was easy to capture people as they went about their business.
There’s a lot of see and absorb in a small area. I’d thoroughly recommend a photo walk – keep your eyes peeled.
I recently became the owner of an Olympus-35 EC, a compact film camera made in Japan around 1970. It’s close to pristine and its battery-powered components remain fully functional.
The proof of the pudding is in the shooting, however, so I quickly and easily loaded a Fuji ISO 400 colour film and went on my travels around west London with it tucked away in my pocket. Unloading the film was also slick and stress-free with this clever little gadget.
The first results have arrived after a trip to the developers. The bad news first – some close-ups I attempted were out of focus failures, simply beyond the range of the little Zuiko lens.
But that was the only downside. I’m impressed that a 45-year-old camera is still able to produce such clarity, depth and colour with that authentic granularity. Film definitely rivals digital on this evidence – and has its own magic too.
