“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

Ansel Adams

Dear reader, I have a confession.

I have already confessed to my ever-expanding book collection.

However, books are not the only thing I collect.

I am also generating quite the little camera hoard.

Thankfully the camera hoard is not as significant as the book hoard. I have just six cameras of different types, whereas I dare not count the number of books I own.

(I’m realising as I write this that if I’m not careful, I will end up on Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out, with all my cameras and books laid out in a warehouse for the whole world to judge.)

I love photography almost as much as I love books. After several years of shooting with digital cameras, more recently I’ve been having fun with film photography. Naturally, for this blog, it was time to start capturing Medway.

Film photography has had a resurgence recently. Kodak and Pentax have produced new models of half-frame film cameras, and Leica has seen sales of film cameras go up a whopping 900% in the last 8 years. Add to that all the different kinds of film you can get nowadays, and it’s safe to say that film photographers have it pretty good!

I can understand the appeal of good old-fashioned film cameras. As much as I love crisp, sharp, digital images – and the certainty of knowing whether or not a shot is a good one as soon as I’ve snapped it – there’s a timeless quality to film that digital photos can’t match.

Film is also arguably more authentic. In a world where an image can be digitally altered to remove every imperfection (or manipulated for evil ends), film photography, with its flaws, surprises and less-than-perfect results, feels more ‘real’ somehow.

Nostalgia is part of the appeal too. I remember the days when holidays meant packing a camera and a roll of film, and carefully deciding whether a particular sight or moment justified a photo while you were there. When you only had 24 or 36 shots per roll, you couldn’t waste any by taking a frivolous picture of your hotel breakfast or something. Back at home, you’d have to wait two weeks for your film to be developed, hoping it would come out nicely. Inevitably some of the photos were duffers – blurry, heads chopped off, or everyone looking like ghosts because you accidentally turned the flash on – but that element of surprise was all part of the fun then, and still is for me now.

The element of surprise is even more fun if you use an experimental film. You can get all sorts of these now, from colour-shift films like LomoChrome, pre-tinted Dubblefilm, and special-effect films such as Revolog, BKIFI, Cinestill and many more.

A couple of Christmases ago, The Man of Kent bought me a half-frame camera. I’d had my eye on one of these for a while, and after much research eventually plumped for an Olympus Pen EE-2. Mine came from The Vintage and Classic Camera Company, but you can also get refurbished ones at Cameras by Max, or on eBay.

One of the great things about half-frame cameras is that you get twice the number of shots per roll of film. That’s because each shot or exposure is half the size of a standard 35mm frame. Analogue photography may be having a renaissance, but film is not cheap! A half-frame camera therefore gives you plenty of bang for your buck.

The Man of Kent bought me some LomoChrome Turquoise film to try out with the camera. LomoChrome Turquoise is an experimental film with gorgeous tones of blue, greens and aqua. It comes in 35mm and 120mm formats, and is available at Analogue Wonderland, The Photographers’ Gallery, and other specialist camera stores.

I’ve been using the Olympus Pen EE-2 for a while, but only recently tried out the LomoChrome Turquoise film. I’ve taken this camera and film out on various walks around Medway over the past few months, and here are some of the results. Medway looks trippy and ethereal shot in turquoise, don’t you think?

If you fancy a bit of experimental photography with a colourful, fun film, I’d certainly recommend LomoChrome Turquoise (and Analogue Wonderland for developing). If you’re thinking of trying it but want some review and tips by photographers who are much more expert than me, take a look at Shoot It With Film and Blue Moon Camera Codex. For advice on how to get the best out of a half-frame camera, have a read of Analogue Wonderland: Expert tips for your half frame camera.

I’m looking forward to capturing more images of Medway with experimental films in future – perhaps LomoChrome Purple next?