Fujifilm XP 400 – fragglefilm

A few more from the fujifilm SP roll I had in the Aria, this time in Newcastle. There is nearly always a busker of some kind in town when we go and this time it was a guy singing opera, and doing it beautifully I have to say. The picture is a little bit out of focus, but I like it anyway not least because, well… succulent veggie balls made me laugh. 🤦‍♀️

and just as a little treat here’s a short video of him singng

I love the Moss Bros. shop in Northumberland Street. Originally a 19th century home, it was later converted into a high end cobblers, and then Moss Bros took it on. Its façade is ornately decorated with plaster (a decoration known as pargetting), which was added in 1953 to commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It sits between modern higher buildings, and has a lot of character I think.

Outside one of the entrances to Grainger Market there is a rather large red boot, I assume it’s an advertising thing for one of the shoe stalls.

I think this one speaks for itself

We have a cycle for hire scheme in Newcastle, like Boris Bikes in London, though I haven’t been tempted as yet, orange is not my colour.

Although I shot on colour film, I converted two of the shots to black and white as it suited them better. First Grey Street

It was was built by Richard Grainger in the 1830s with the aid of several architects, including John Dobson. The whole of the western side of the street was designed by two architects from Grainger’s office, John Wardle and George Walker. It contains the Theatre Royal designed by John and Benjamin Green and the Central Arcade and is renowned for its Georgian architecture.

In 2010, BBC Radio 4 listeners named it Britain’s Best Street, describing it as “a street on a human scale with a grand vision”.

Newcastle Castle seen from Central Station

The first covered train station in the world and made mention of by Simon Jenkins, in his book Britain’s 100 Best Railway Stations, the Romano-Italian design Newcastle railway station is a Grade I Listed building – a building of outstanding national architectural or historic interest. On August 29, 1850, the station was inaugurated by Queen Victoria.

That’s it for this time. Next time I’ll be posting some from a roll of Kodak Ultramax.

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..

Winnie on Phils window sill soaking up some rays.

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 🤣

Tag: Fujifilm XP 400

Film Friday ~ Contax Aria (2)

Friday Film ~ Contax Aria (1)