New Website and Compact Madness

Ok.. So.. After rambling on in my last post about needing a new website, and wondering what the solution may be, I just did what I do best and blagged it. I was checking out some websites I liked for inspiration and before I knew it, I was making one for myself! I wanted something super simple and minimal, and I wanted it to be for film work only. I've needed something just for film for a long time.

So without further ado, I proudly present my new website, LIFEONFILM.CO.UK

I really quite like it, even if I do say so myself. I know what I want the content to look like, so there are some photos on there that I will be replacing in due course, now I have a goal in mind when shooting. It's just a question of time. However, in the meantime, I'm happy with it, and I'm happy that it's given me a little bit of a direction.

Well, that's that. Onwards....

Today I got a new camera. I've been getting the new camera itch for a while now. I used to get at least a couple a week, but I've been controlling my ebay habits for the last couple of months. While I do love fancy pants SLR's and medium format gear, I've always had a soft spot for cute little film compacts. One of my favourites for a long time now has been my Olympus Mju 1. I think the American market called it the Epic Stylus. Anyway... it's a lovely looking little thing, very compact and sleek, pocketable, weatherproof, and with a really good lens. I've had some great results from it in the past. Here's the camera and a few samples.


So anyway... The Mju has served me well, and will continue to do so, but I thought I might indulge myself and get a new little compact. Browsing flickr and various other websites through up a few possibilities, but to cut a very long story short, I've been hearing good things about the Yashica T series of compacts. They've got the T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5. All of them are well built and come have a very good reputation. They also all come with excellent 35mm Carl Zeiss Tessar lenses, and are probably the cheapest way to buy Zeiss glass.

Armed with this knowledge, and a budget in mind, I went ahead and got myself a T2. It's probably the ugliest camera I own, but I kinda like it for that. It's built like a tank and weighs about the same as a breeze block. I think they had a different idea of 'compact' back in the 80's! Still... it looks like it's barely been used. It's all shiny and clean. It still has the original 'passed' sticker on it. Needless to say, it fired up as soon as I put a new battery in it, and I'm a happy little bunny. I've loaded it up with some HP5 for some black and white adventures, and I'm taking it with me wherever I go. Here it is.


Incidentally, this is the very first roll of proper black and white I've ever shot, and once it's finished, it'll be the very first roll of film I've ever processed myself at home. So... new camera, new film, new skill. There's a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong, but hey... no pain no gain. Feel free to remind me of that when I'm complaining about lugging the breeze block around everywhere.

I'll post the results when I'm done. IF they're not too embarrassing that is :)