Fuji Superia X-Tra 400

Happy Accidents

You never want anything to go wrong with your film or camera but on the rare occasion it does it can produce some wonderful results. This next series of images are from the same day as a previous set (Calton Hill) but from a different camera, my Yashica Electro 35 GT. About halfway through the roll I felt something go wrong but kept shooting anyways. Turns out the film wasn't advancing properly so the frames ended up overlapping in really interesting ways. These are the happy accidents that were produced. I think they look really cool.

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Hailes Castle

A few weeks ago I wanted to test my new Contax G2 so I went to Hailes Castle with my Mum. It was really nice to go out somewhere with her as it's not something we really get to do and Hailes Castle was on my growing list of places I wanted to go visit. East Lothian, the county where I live, has a huge amount of castle ruins strewn across its land and I'd like to visit as many as I can. With so much history right there on my doorstep, it seems foolish not to.

Hailes is one of Scotland's oldest stone castles and was built around the year 1220. It sits in the valley of the River Tyne about a mile and a half from the town of East Linton.

I shot two rolls of film, one roll of Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 rated at 200, and one roll of Fuji C200 at box speed. As for lenses I used both the Zeiss 28mm f2.8 and the 45mm f2. Extremely happy with the Contax G2 system and I can't wait to use it again. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures.

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Hailes Castle was built by the de Gourlay family and remained under their ownership until they forfeited it during the Wars of Independence with England. The castle was then granted to Sir Adam de Hepburn by Robert the Bruce. The last Hepburn to hold the castle was James Hepburn. James was believed to have been involved in the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots’ second husband, Lord Darnley. In April of 1567 Mary was abducted by Hepburn and taken to Dunbar Castle. They then travelled to Hailes Castle, where they stayed overnight, before proceeding to Edinburgh to be married. It was this event that would eventually lead to Mary’s ruin, and years later, her execution.

 

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What remains of the East tower along with the tree that's sprouted up behind it.

 

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My Mum having a wee seat in the castle grounds.

 

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Old Hailes Burn is a tiny tributary that runs along the front and side of Hailes Castle and into the River Tyne.

 

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The distinctive red sandstone masonry makes it easy to identify the original castle from the parts that were added to it later.

 

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My Mum walking through the remnants of the Castle's curtain wall.

 

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A mishmash of rocky patterns.

 

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A cottage that overlooks a castle? I think I'd be OK with that.

 

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There's a little maintenance building within the castle grounds and I couldn't help but be drawn to the shades of green, particularly the olive green of the bricks surrounding the window frame.

 

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This is one of those photos that I think people might find utterly boring, but personally I find nature's colours and textures to be anything but.

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I accidentally exposed for the highlights with this one so it looks different to the other castle shots but I'm posting it anyway because I quite like it!

 

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A closer look at the lovely cottage just across from the castle.

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This one might drive symmetry buffs mental but I liked the hedges.

 

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We passed this amazing bridge on our way to Hailes Castle, so on the way back home I quickly jumped out the car and took a handful of pictures of it.

 

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North Berwick

Received my scans back from the lovely folks at UK Film Lab after only 3 working days. Truly excellent service. Wasn't supposed to have them until this month so it was a really nice surprise!

The first shots I'll be sharing are from a blustery, wet Sunday my friend Craig and I spent in North Berwick. I had intended on testing my Contax T2 but I didn't feel comfortable taking it out in the light rain. Instead, I decided to take my much less expensive Lomo LC-A to test and I thoroughly enjoyed using it. I wasn't sure what to expect from my compositions since the viewfinder is a bit weird due to the frame lines being partially obscured. No idea if that's the case with all LC-As or if it's just mine. Either way I worked with what I had and I'm happy that, for the most part, they were accurate. It was also my first time using a camera with zone focusing which was cool and I did a lot better than I expected. All shots were shot using Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 at box speed. 

This first image was taken from the car on our way to North Berwick, at a set of traffic lights in Haddington to be precise. I liked the way the windscreen fog and the dashboard framed the man crossing the road.

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The coast is beautiful when it's sunny, but I also find the same to be true when the weather is the complete opposite. A different colour palette, a different tone, a different feel.

For me adverse weather conditions have always served as a strong reminder of just how alive the world is and that was very much on display in North Berwick with the sea hammering against the rocks causing the water to shoot high into the air. It was really cool to watch and I'm glad I managed to capture a little bit of that.

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It was nice to see so many people out and about exploring the coastline despite the wind and rain.

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Craig looking out to sea.

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I'm not sure if it's still in use but this little coastguard lookout hut sits on the rocks watching over the sea nevertheless.

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Hints of yellow.

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These colourful doors were once changing rooms for North Berwick's outdoor swimming pool. Sadly, the pool is no longer there, it's now used to park boats not in use, but the rainbow coloured doors remain.

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This elderly gentleman was having a stroll along the harbour just in front of Craig and I. He was only in our view for a minute or two at most and my decision to take the shot when I did happened in a split second. However, the moments beforehand play a big part in why it's one of my favourites from that day. Let me explain.

"The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows" by John Koenig is a project that aims to come up with new words for emotions that currently have none. One of the words in the project is "sonder" which he describes as "the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own". I mention this because I've done this for as long as I can remember and I did so with the man in this picture. I wondered if he was lonely, if he'd lost the love of his life and walks this path because it's something they used to do together. Or maybe it's something that brings him great joy and his significant other awaits cosy in their little seaside home. The possibilities are endless and in truth I find it overwhelming because I feel every bit of emotion contained within the life I've constructed for the person.

I may not have seen his face but his slightly hunched, closed posture, pictured above, felt vulnerable to me and made me wonder what he was feeling, and I guess that's why I like this photo so much. It's just a man out on a walk, but that man has a story. We all do.

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I loved the contrast between the dull, dark buildings in the foreground and the bright, colourful little houses in the back.

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Marine Parade is home to some stunning shorefront houses. This charming property really stood out to me.

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Another lovely property on Marine Parade.

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This is another favourite of mine from this roll. Turned out exactly as I wanted.

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The dark colours of rock formations always stand out to me on grey days.

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The Lomo LC-A is a great little camera and I had a blast shooting with it. It's diminutive size means that it can be taken with you almost anywhere and also that it's very inconspicuous, which is nice if you don't want to draw attention to yourself with a big camera. As for the images produced by it, I love them! They have a lovely soft quality to them that I find hard to describe in any great detail but they are certainly of a more lo-fi, lomographic variety. Speaking of lomography, the camera really changed my stupidly blinkered view of  it. I had always seen it as cross-processed images with crazy colour casts and insane vignetting, which isn't my thing. Sure, you can cross-process your LC-A images to achieve that look if you so wish, and vignetting is present but it's much more subtle and that more subtle version of lomography is one I really like.