Saw the light beams and found it impossible to resist. Pentax MX + Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 + HP5+ @ 1600.

The Plan

The plan for photography at latitude was the simplist one I could possibley come up with for shooting film. 1 Camera (+ 1 backup), 2 lenses, 1 Type of film. My cameras were a Pentax MX and a Pentax ME Super, my lenses a Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 and a Takumar 135mm f2.5, and my film Ilford HP5+ 400 speed black and white film.

Getting In

Jonsi really impressed me, gave me true Sigur Ros style shivers. Was really excited about this shot as I took it; Jonsi lit up with the rest of his band silhouetted in a sea of dust. Pentax MX + Takumar 135mm f2.5 + HP5+ @ 1600.

So apparently, big commercial festivals, such as Latitude has become, have decided it’s really time to start clamping down on amateur photographers who want to have a bit of fun with some old film equipment. Every day I managed to get into the arena, just after differing conversation about why I was only dubiously within the ever changing rules. First day it was no “big zooms”, well I got past that one by completely legitmately claiming that 135mm doesn’t zoom at all. It went from there to being no interchangeable lenses, which required me to do some minor begging, just about persuading them to let me in.

I didn’t just take photos of bands. Here’s Sophie being oh so incredibly nice to me. Pentax MX + Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 + HP5+ @ 1600.

Results

So, here’s what I think of the results. I think if you like the style, it’s a fun and easy way to take nice photos at a festival, but I do realise that grain is hardly to everyone’s taste. There are a few things I can quickly think of that would have really improved the results:

1. My crowd positioning could consistently have been better. I never really had the drive this festival to get forward and so the 50mm saw very little use for band shots, in fact generally I was so far away that the 135mm was giving me the full band shots you see here. This in turn forced me to use f2.5, which forced me into shutter speed ranges I’d prefer not to be in.
2. Get a camera with a more advanced light meter; I love my 1970s Pentax relics, but the light meter is very very easily confused, especially by stage lighting.
3. Learn to have a steadier hand. Quite a lot of camera shake going on when I was getting down to 1/125 and 1/60 with the 135mm on, which I suppose is to be expected. I imagine however I could have done a bit better if I’d really concentrated at it.

I still got a couple of images I’m really pleased with, and I definitely enjoyed the photographic process as always, and that’s what it’s all got to be about at the end of the day.

The National were my Friday night headliner. Excellent as always. What this photo shows up is that shooting at 800 speed gave very little advantage in terms of reduced grain over shooting at 1600, at least not in these less than optimum lighting conditions. Pentax ME Super + Takumar 135mm f2.5 + HP5+ @ 800.

Another potential option might be to shoot with a more modern type of black and white film. HP5+ grains more heavily than, for example, Neopan 400 by my reckoning. As much as I adore HP5+ generally, I think Neopan will get it’s chance next time.

Coming soon

I’ve written another post about the festival that’s just waiting for some photography to go with it, so check back!