Today I was out and about with one of my lovely analog cameras again looking for locations for some early-morning sunrise photo trips. I came across this lovely location called «Husodden» not too far away from where I live. Being sensible and staying local is an important part of the world we currently live in. While I was walking around Husodden to shout for possible locations, I did some photographs with the Olympus OM-1 and a roll of Rollei RPX25. I metered it at around ISO 18 (My light meter goes to ISO25, so I opened the aperture slightly more) and shot with an orange filter to get the popping effect in the sky and boost the contrasts a bit.
Randsfjorden, the lake, was still frozen and it became a white carpet in many of my images, and gave some extra contrast as well.
I tried to use the remainders of the snow as a lead-in line in many of my images, and I aimed for a very large separation between snow and sky. In retrospect, some of these images would have benefited more from being shot with a graduated filter rather than a fill orange one.
I decided to develop the film with «an old friend». Kodak HC110. I have not used this developer for a very long time, but there was something about the shots I took today, that made me bring out the golden syrup and mix Dilution B. HC110 used to be my favorite developer and, it is very economical and gives really nice greys. Also, there is something about it that I just like. I don’t really know what it is, but there is something about using that thick concentrate and stirring it properly that really wakes the «geek» in me.
A quick and pleasant day out for me today, and I am really looking forward to visiting this location again at some point in the near future. Both for woodland detail work and for early morning sunrise-shots.
I’ve always had a fascination for derelict buildings and other traces of human civilization that is let aside and forgotten. Today, I brought out one of my good friends, the Olympus OM-1, to an old, derelict train station a short drive from where I live. I equipped the Olympus with a roll of Fomapan 100 and the razor sharp 50mm Zukio 1,8 lens. I brought with me a selection of colored filters to boost contrast and play with the light in the lifting sun and shifting blue skies.
The lovely Olympus OM-1 with an orange filter added. As you can see, the camera is set to rewind as this was taken after the roll og Fomapan 100 was empty.
Valdresbanen, the railway I worked by, was closed for passenger traffic in 1988. Some freight trains were ran there later, but the old station buildings have been untouched since this time. Quite sad to think about the number of shut down railways in Norway really. Nevertheless, the old buildings are still characteristic and beautiful in their own way.
Today, I went to Fall station which is very close to Hov in Søndre Land municipality. This was never a big and populous station, and the only building there is a little shed where people would wait for their train to arrive. The main station building was burned down in 1982 by the Norwegian railway company and the shed was built after that. I have shot portraits at and around this location multiple times, but I have never before gone there to explore the location as a subject of its own.
Reklamer
I have never tested out the filters I used today, so I did a lot of bracketing to understand how they work and see how to best compensate for their function. I only got to use the yellow and the orange filters, as they were what I found to match the lighting and location the best.
Playing with focus around an old signal light. Olympus OM-1, Zukio 50mm f1,8 – f5,6 – 1/125th. Fomapan 100, Xtol 1+0. Orange filter
I did some playing around with different items left aside by the old railway, and did heavy bracketing. I figured that the Orange filter needs two stops of compensation, while the yellow needs a bit more than one from how I interpret my negatives.
Working with dark colored filters can be a bit challenging due to the light loss, and hence difficulties to focus. With the Olympus, however, I found that working with colored filters were a dream. The viewfinder is wide and bright, and there was never any difficulties getting the focus where I wanted it with either the yellow or the orange filter.
Working with the fog. Olympus OM-1, Zukio 50mm f1,8 – f5,6 – 1/125th and 1/60th . Fomapan 100, Xtol 1+0. Yellow filter
The foggy train station lies up a steep hill, and at the bottom of this hill it was a hazy and relatively thick fog, removing pretty much all background scenery from many of my images. The station itself, however, was above the fog, and was shining for itself in the misty and cold morning light.
Reklamer
I also shot an image of some crackled paint on the station building. I chose to shoot this with the yellow filter and I went all the way down to f2,8 to get a very shallow depth of field, but retain some sharpness. I haven’t tried this lens at f1,8, and even though I guess it would work very well, I did not want to risk a too shallow depth on this one. I forgot to note down my shutter speed for this image, so that information is not provided.
All in all, I enjoyed this little shoot, and I once again remembered why I love to shoot the Olympus. This is such a pleasant camera to use and its handy size and bright viewfinder makes it a great choice for all kinds of shoots.
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