The film photography competition I partake in each month has “Accurate” as its theme this month and my entry is the following shot of my Silva compass sat atop an Ordnance Survey map. It was a pretty rushed shot if I’m honest. I shot two frames and the whole exercise took less than five minutes including digging the map out of a cupboard. Of the two photos, I like this one the best.
Although I favour Ilford HP5+ over Tri-X – especially now that the latter costs almost twice as much! – I had a roll of Tri-X Pan in my OM-2n so that had to serve the purpose. The film is almost 20-years expired and I shoot it at 200asa (I have a few rolls of it still) and it produces decent results. In this case I think the greater contrast from the Kodak film has resulted in a better photo than I might have had from HP5+.
The biggest downside with the film is how much it curls when developed and dried. It coils up like a spring AND has a longitudinal curl as well. This makes it pretty difficult to get into the negative holder for my scanner – it’s easier to get my cat into his box for visits to the vets!
A map of contours
Like my roll of Tri-X Pan
Twisting and curving
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 April 2021
Steel City Snapper photography 