Kodak Ektar in the Smena 8M

Kodak Ektar in Smena 8M, various locations

Slave cabins at Magnolia Plantation in Natchitoches Parish:

Grave house at Bay Springs Cemetery in Natchitoches Parish:

St. Augustine Church in Natchez, LA:

Lake Charles City Cemetery:

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Kodak Ektar in Smena 8M: Plaquemines Parish

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Galveston, TX: Kodak Ektar in the Smena 8M

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Terrebonne Parish, Smena 8M

Okay, that last one was actually Tezcuco Plantation.

I have some money coming to me, and although I’m being #fiscallyresponsible and using most of it to open a checking account (I’ve only had a savings since I moved to Louisiana), I did use a little of it to buy a couple of wishlist items. A new fountain pen, of course, specifically a limited edition Sailor Sapporo Four Seasons (the Meigetsu or Autumn Moon pen). Got a good deal on eBay, about $20-$30 less than American distributors are selling it for, and free expedited shipping from Japan. And also this camera:

It’s a Zorki-4, the Soviet-made Leica knock-off, and I got it from the same Etsy seller I got my Smena 8M from. He has extremely reasonable prices for cameras guaranteed to work, even with the cost of shipping a hunk of metal all the way from Moscow (about 1/3 of the overall price). This model was released for the 50th anniversary of the 1917 revolution, hence all the Soviet bling. Lots of these cameras were commemorative releases.

Dosvedanya, comrades!

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LomoChrome Purple

I got LomoChrome Purple rolls of both 35mm and 120 film for Christmas. I shot the 35mm a couple of days later but still have the 120.

It doesn’t look as purple as some of the examples I’ve seen online, which I now realize have probably been digitally manipulated to make the colors pop more. And although it was overcast both days I shot, the film is supposed to be ISO 400 and I had it on the right lens opening, so I don’t know why it looks so underdeveloped and murky. There’s also weird spotting, which I have NO idea what that is, whether the lab fucked up or it’s an artifact of light leakage–I shot this in my Smena 8M, which admittedly has been known to leak.

All that said, I find the results interesting enough to try again, in a different camera and on a brighter day, and I’d probably send the results to Dwayne’s instead of trusting it to my local Walgreen’s. I still have the 120 to shoot, and I’d also like to try the LomoChrome Turquoise.

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Mystery roll: St. Charles Borromeo church & cemetery, Grand Coteau, LA

This was the second half of that mystery roll.

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Mystery roll: Our Lady of Tickfaw

This was from a roll of Ektar that I had rolling around in a desk drawer for so long that I forgot what was on it. I’m pretty sure I shot it in the Smena 8M, judging from the wonky framing on a couple of the shots (that crappy viewfinder). Half of it turned out to have been shot at that weird, busted Marian shrine up in Tangipahoa Parish.

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Vacation #2: The Windsor Ruins, photographed with the Smena 8M

Okay yes, I’ve taken dozens of photos of these columns. But never with this particular camera! I just think they’re really pretty, and they’re really close to Natchez so whenever I go there it’s like, why wouldn’t I?

Alas, I had that boring, uniformly overcast, grayish-white sky AGAIN. Except for the first visit, it’s been overcast every time I go there, and never in an interesting way. Oh well, I shot some black and white too, maybe it will look less flat.

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Light leaks: art or accident (or both)?

This is from a roll that I shot in the Smena 8M and recently had developed. I’ve never known this camera to have light leaks before, but I shot the first half when I went to Rayne (this was taken in the “wrong way” cemetery), and didn’t finish it until I went to Madisonville, a few months later. I suppose it could have gotten jostled at some point. Also, the film shot in this camera has to be removed and wound back into the canister by hand inside of a lightproof bag, due to the fact that the original take-up spool is missing and I had to cannibalize the inside of a film roll. Another possibility is that the bag wasn’t as tight on my wrists as it should have been; however, the second half of the roll was mostly free of light leaks, which points to the former scenario as the more likely culprit.

Anyway, light leaks are one of those things that give digital perfectionists fits and make them prone to dismissing all vintage/toy/plastic camera enthusiasts as hipster dilettantes. They like to point out that the effects of these cameras, if for SOME reason they are desired, can be replicated with Photoshop. To which we reply, where’s the fun in that? Stop being such a control freak and see what happens!

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