Keith Cartmell Photography: The film project, an update

The plan was simple. Get out and expose a roll of film every week throughout 2026. I was thinking black and white, mostly long exposures, done along the rivers. Something moving, something still, because that's the secret sauce for long exposures. Develop the film 2 rolls at a time, since the Black, White, and Green developer does two rolls on a batch.

If you do the math that comes out to 52 rolls of film in a year, or 416 photos. Yes, 8 photos a roll, using a Fujica GW690 first generation. This is a completely manual camera. No batteries, no exposure meter, no autofocus, no auto load or rewind, no computer interpreting the scene for you. You can read about the first year with the camera here.

I'm not sure how many rolls I've put through the camera since I bought it about 4 years ago, but guess it's a bit less than 100. I suppose if I really had to I could pull out the storage binders and count. Another time, maybe. What I really like about carrying it around is the conversations I have with other people about it, and film photography in general. One guy recognized it in the dark at 10 feet as I was working the Spolumbos scene below.

I'm getting better at setting focus and exposure, so I don't ruin a lot of shots that way. I was hoping to end up with 400 in focus, well exposed photos of something. From there, edit down to the ones where that something is interesting, and then take them into the darkroom and do some prints.

So during the ramble with Sean last weekend he asked how it was going, since the year is half over. (How can that be?) Well, if I was on track I'd have about 26 rolls of film developed. In fact, roll 13 went into the camera during that ramble, and there's a couple frames left. I really should get out and expose them.

So technically speaking I'm at half my target. But that's all it was, a target. I could take the camera out and expose the last frames in a few minutes, but what would that get me? I'm at least trying to get interesting photos that have something in common, with the idea they'll go in a book or series of prints. I'd rather end the year with 200 photos that make me think about which are good and belong together, than have 400 where I can eliminate 200 right off without needing to think about it. I don't mind spending some money on film and developer, but I don't want to waste it.

Which films, you ask? Mostly Delta 100 or Acros II. I started with Acros when I bought the camera, but then I couldn't get it for a while so I switched to Delta 100. I like how both look. The big advantage for Delta 100 in home developing is that it dries flat. Acros is better for long exposure work because reciprocity failure isn't as much of an issue. I've got a page in my notebook with reciprocity compensation times for Delta 100, and I mostly have the workflow nailed down.

To wit, find a scene that captures my attention. I suppose I should unpack that a bit. Something about the light, or the composition, or the subject tells me that might be a good photo. Reflections almost always catch my eye. It's hard to describe, I just know it when I see it.

Then the fun starts. Set up the camera, check composition through the viewfinder. I usually have to find something vertical to get the focus right because it's a rangefinder. I've sometimes used zone focusing. Then it's exposure. I mostly use the Viewfinder app on my phone because it gives me frame lines for that lens, and compensates for the yellow and ND filters. It does not give the reciprocity compensation, hence the notebook. Advance the film, do a last check of the composition, focus, lens settings for shutter and aperture, hope the light hasn't changed dramatically, set the countdown timer on the phone, click the shutter and phone, and wait for however long is needed. It might be 10 seconds, or 5 minutes, but is usually around 1 minute. Cover the lens with a hat, and move shutter speed from T to something else, then back again. For whatever reason, the lens makes a quiet, satisfying click doing this, where a normal exposure is a fairly loud ping.

So what images have been captured in the last little while? Here's a sampler. All of these grabbed my eye. Some of them have been blogged on my personal blog so regular readers might remember seeing them before. If you'd like to become a regular reader and want me to add you to the blog notification list so you don't miss anything, either comment below, or send an email to keith@nucleus.com.

1. From a walk along the Bow near downtown.

2. Coming out of Fish Creek during an evening walk.

3. Another part of Fish Creek.

4. Highway 22 over the Bow River.

5. Coming out of a darkroom exhibit in Crawlspace. I worked the exposure on this very carefully, wanting the building front lit by the floodlights, some texture in the road, and the rest dark.