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.
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.
It was nice to see so many people out and about exploring the coastline despite the wind and rain.
Craig looking out to sea.
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.
Hints of yellow.
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.
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.
I loved the contrast between the dull, dark buildings in the foreground and the bright, colourful little houses in the back.
Marine Parade is home to some stunning shorefront houses. This charming property really stood out to me.
Another lovely property on Marine Parade.
This is another favourite of mine from this roll. Turned out exactly as I wanted.
The dark colours of rock formations always stand out to me on grey days.
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.