I’ve now completed 2 rolls of film on my Aria, had them developed by the wonderful Analogue Wonderland people and sorted them out ready for posting. Not all have turned out well and mistakes were made, but I’ll be leaving those ones in the dustbin of posterity and just posting the ones I like. I am on a steep learning curve with the Aria and though I’ve worked in manual mode before with the Rollei’s it’s been a while so that’s an ongoing refresher too.
The first roll I put through was a Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400 135/36 Color film, and I started that at the back end of December. These shots are test shots mostly around the house and a few from South Shields. I haven’t faffed with any of them other than to crop or straighten where necessary, I save all that malarky for my digital work. It’s nice just to have them as they are.
like a lot of small coastal towns in the North things have gone downhill, with shops closing down, the shoppers going to Newcastle or Sunderland instead of local. In (a vain~ sorry- cynic) an attempt to regenerate the town centre, the council are demolishing buildings in King Street, which housed Mothercare, and Thorntons (chocolate shop) amongst others. This is in order to ‘clear the way for further development’ and according to Councillor Dixon, “We know that for our town centre to thrive we need to move beyond retail and create a more vibrant environment”. More details HERE.
Back at home we had a snow day. I say snow day but I really mean a snow 2 hours. The picture isn’t so good, I was hanging out the bedroom window and camera shake was a thing, but I had to document the only snow we’ve had this winter so far. 2 hours I ask you? What’s the point in that?
We had Livvy and Matty to stay over one Saturday night, another dodgy shot as I didn’t get the exposure right so the shutter speed was too slow for a crisp shot, but I like it anyway, makes me smile.
Of course I had to turn the Aria on the cats..
I have always taken images of the sunsets I see from the bedroom windows, I have an ongoing series of Wardley Sunsets, so I had to see if the Aria would be able to contribute.
So that’s enough for this week. Out of 36 frames I got 19 I was happy enough with, so thats 50%, considering how expensive film is that percentage needs to be improved, but that’s fine, I’m at the beginning of this journey and I’ll get better with practice. Stay tooned for next time when I shot a few frames in Newcastle. 🙂
all pictures clickable and embiggenable, but don’t, they look better smaller 🤣
fragglefilm 
Lovely! You will get to know it in time. Some great lenses available for that camera too!
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I’m saving up! Thanks Steve.
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It looks like you might have a spot of snow today. I’m in a red warning zone, which should be fun.
The Wardley sunsets are great. I’ve been enjoying some lovely sunrises recently, but my photos of them are grim.
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We’re out of the zones here, rain and a moderate breeze forecast and at the minute there’s still a blue sky and slight breeze. I was looking forward to snow but that doesn’t look like it’s happening here.
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It’s like the apocalypse here. Bin collections are cancelled, the main bridge over the river is closed and we’re being told not to go outside. The chickens are terrified and I’ve discovered that I wasn’t very good at identifying the objects that might fly around the garden. Any moment now I’m expecting to see the Wicked Witch of the West cycling by above the rooftops. It’s rather windy.
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😬 poor chickens! Fingers crossed it’s over soon.
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Winnie and Lord Vincent steal the show as always; how do they feel about the King St demolition?
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Blissful ignorance, they have staff to do their shopping.
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You can’t beat that retro look of photos on film stock. It feels amost ‘creamy’. But a 50% hit rate is expensive to continue with. Reminds me of throwing away almost 50 prints (out of a couple of hundred) when I got my photos of the trip to China back from developing. That was 25% of a once in a lifetime trip, and I had thought I knew what I was doing. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I’m happy with a 50% start, that was its first outing, I’ll improve 😊 cheers Pete.
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Well done for the first roll! I love the vintage look on many of the shots. The sunsets are lovely, but I am impressed with the 2-hours of snow 🤣🤣🤣. The cat photos are cute, especially Winnie’s shadow. I look forward to the next roll soon! ❤️
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Still more to come from this one next time. Yes snow! It’s supposed to be snowing today but it will miss where we are, too near to the coast. 😦
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I can hardly wait! 😊
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Well done, Fraggle! I enjoyed all of these. Big hugs.
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Thanks Teagan.
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Lovely photos, fragglerocking. Lovely sunsets and the cats are magnificent, as always has been the case since ancient Egypt :3 Apropos of expensive how much is a roll of film there? Here an expired Kodak Colorplus 200 is almost 7 of pounds, to think that was almost the price of professional films :,l
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Film very expensive here Francis, 50 sol for 35mm colour and upwards. Then there’s the developing costs! I’m going slowly!
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Soon drugs will be cheaper than film xP
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I’ve never owned an Aria, but everyone that has one adores it. 50% keepers on your first roll with the camera is excellent IMO. The sunsets and Winnie in silhouette are superb!
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Thanks Mary it’s worming its way into my heart!
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