In Development: Adventures in Film, Volume 40
This roll of film contains a few experiments… Not only was this one of my first rolls of film with my Hasselblad 500CM, I was shooting Ilford FP4 Plus for the first time. I was still getting acquainted with the Hassy (and to be honest, I still am…I’ve never got into a rhythm of shooting it consistently enough to feel really comfortable with it), and it shows in a few of these photos. Transitioning to seeing in square format isn’t too difficult on its own, but when you layer in shooting from the hip and the mirrored viewfinder I really struggled to translate my vision into a reality. I think I might need to treat it more as a tripod camera to feel more comfortable with it…but I can’t stand tripods…so unfortunately it sits on my shelf more days than it really should. 
As far as the film goes, I’m really pleased with the results of FP4 Plus! It’s super sharp/clear and has very little grain. Usually I’m looking for a different aesthetic with my black and white film, but I figured the a slow film with high quality would pair nicely with the slow working style of the Hassy. It’s been so long since I shot this roll of film that I can’t really remember much of the scenes that I shot, so I can’t comment on its ability to handle wide dynamic range or exposure errors. But in terms of everything else, I’m super happy with it. I could see it being a perfect film for landscape, architectural, and studio photography. I’m not sure how often I’ll be shooting it going forward since I rarely shoot film that’s this slow, but if I ever decide to lug my Hassy on a hike and I’ve got monochrome on the mind maybe I’ll load up some more FP4…
Details:
- Film: Ilford FP4 Plus, Shot at ~ISO 125 and exposed for the shadows (a little overexposure)
- Camera: Hasselblad 500CM + Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8
- Lab: The FIND Lab
- Edits: Contrast, tone curve, clarity tweaks to most images
kyle wurtz 