Then and Now 50

Nice weather, so I put that old 1955 photo in my pocket and old ISS in my also 1955 Brownie and went on a sentimental journey.
Well, the times they are a- changin'.

Street party

How very nice: a sunday walk through a childhood street to discover this great multi-culty party. You'll see the church where I was baptized in the back. And I was only testing 1973 ISS in my 1936 Kodak, and 100 years old EKDP.

Kryptogramm

Es geht voran, mit Düsseldorf und mit mir. Vorige Woche noch ein kriechendes Krustentier, heute wieder fix auf die Beinchen. Ich habe immer noch den Hund huckepack, aber eppur mi muovo und bei Karstadt is Kaliskaya im Angebot, der Racke Rauchzart unter den Wodkas.
Und als ich dann zuhause doch noch zusammenbrach war das völlig in Ordnung.

E In the Minox B was modern Minopan 400 (Agfa), and the century old Eastman Powder still working after all these (4) weeks!

Picturesque

And then, suddenly, I remembered: things like these were hanging in my oculist's waiting-room, decades ago...

The Yawning

I am the proud owner of an almost complete 1962 Click-II: camera, filters, hood and working flash! So I loaded that with those big old bulbs and they really got me through the night. Normal problem with flash outside: no reflecting walls, but those (clear) bulbs have enough power, as I found out.


On modern Shanghai, this time not dribbling, but with strange black spots. Every film an adventure, how do these cunning Chinese dó that?!

Eine deutsche Zeitmaschine.

 Jaaa, der Käfer ist bloss retro, aber das bin ich ja selber auch, irgendwie. Von heute, und von gestern.
"Das werden wohl àndere Bilder als digital?" fragt er. "Licht, sag'ich, Licht und meine Jugend. Damals."
Ansonsten ist es mal wieder ein Blitzbesuch, zu heiss für langes Spazieren.
Conejo und Marques de Alella bei Madrid, und Nussbecher - nein: heute an der Kö, Ristorante Buongiorno, wegen des Bildes hier oben.

Die Zeitmaschine, alles Sechziger: Agfa Click mìt Gelbscheibe und Isopan ISS. In Rodinal, versteht sich!

Apropos damals: die von der Rheinischen Post ist wenigstens noch gelb. So'n Bissken.

the Ensign 29 camera and film (2)

Because there is a lot of interest, not only from Germany: this is the 1930 Ensign 29 with that very rare < 1955 Agfa Wolfen film.
I will soon compare it with a contemporary Ilford HP3, and tell you a bit more about this interesting pre-Orwo фильмфабрика Агфа Вольфен.

Ensign 29 (1)

Stolz erzählte ich meinen fluchenden holländischen Mitbürgern wie einfach es sei in Düsseldorf: Münze 'rein, Kärtchen 'raus. Das waren noch Zeiten! Heute erklärte ich verzweifelten düsseldorfer Damen wie die verfl*** Rheinbahnautomaten funktionieren könnten! OMG!
Wie auch immer.
E29 also. Das ist ein Filmformat zwischen 127 und 120, wurde kurz nach'm Krieg hergestellt bei Agfa-Wolfen. Wo bitte? In der russischen Zone, ± 1955, wurde nachher Orwo. Was heisst exklusiv, Isopan N6.
Und noch ein Nussbecher bei Vecchio. "Hat's geschmeckt?"
Signorina: il gelato, il sole, e lei...

Millacle

This (again...) is very, very special. I still had one fourties Agfa/Perutz and today I also had the courage to use it.

 And yes: the same happened as over a year ago: brittle film, gelatine went her own way and anti-halo the other.
  But this time I was prepared (which in fact only meant I didn't panic when I saw the mess...) So I had my glass plate ready, managed to catch some gelatine (in the fishing-process I over-stretched the film to 8cm, so later little cracks appeared when drying) and there it is: another time machine.
The "White Mill" was built in 1760, the KW Pilot in 1936, and the (1946?) film was developed in Ansco Vividol, at least 40 years old.
(No, this mill doesn't turn the "wrong" way, it's the mirrored result of "fishing and scanning".)

Another time machine

The mill is on the street where I was born, the camera is the ± 1930 Agfa Billy and the film is Isopan from pre-november 1966.
Yesterday's younger 135 Isopan was black, so this one was an easter-egg.

Nostalgia

While I was developing my "Siberian" film, the doorbell rang and there was my neighbour with a cute little map full of AGFA-papersamples. Real prints on real paper; Lupex, Brovira, Record Rapid, Portriga. Those were the days... Thanks, Jos!

Siberian film? For the Russian stuff you'll have to go to my new blog: http://destinationirkutsk.blogspot.com/

UPDATE!

I updated my "Easter Lecture 2010" so have a look: Fr 26 March 2010.
And look above for the result of the struggle you're seeing here!