It’s always reassuring after a dark and gloomy winter to see those little signs of life – buds and shoots and catkins – you know things are going to change, and soon.

Then you turn a corner and see a massive tree full of the most amazing Barbie-pink magnolias – glowing like a beacon. You realise we’re on a new page now. Hello, Spring!

In a world where life can change in an instant (often in crazily unfair ways) it’s good to have the clockwork of mother nature to keep us moving forward – turning the pages, not closing the book.

Photos taken with my Polaroid SX-70 and 600 film

I Capture the Castle – not only a pithy blog title for a post which includes a Polaroid photo of a castle I captured, but also a marvellous book which I’d forgotten all about (and MUST read again asap) – almost every sentence is worth quoting.

Perhaps if I make myself write I shall find out what is wrong with me.
― Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

When people say to me they are thinking about trying film photography and aren’t sure about what camera to get or where to buy one I tell them this;

Mention to everyone you know that you wish you had a film camera – bang on about it quite a bit – and then sit back and wait for the deluge.

Taken using a LC-A and 35mm film

In the same way that everyone today seems to have at least one digital camera per household, so it was in the day with film cameras – they were coveted and saved-up for just as their digital cousins are today so they tend to get squirreled away in attics and under-stairs cupboards rather than being thrown out.

Taken using Lubitel 2 and 120 film

I would say at least half the vintage/film cameras I own are ones that have been gifted to me by people who think I am doing them the favour by taking them off their hands. They don’t feel ‘right’ throwing them away or donating them to an unknown, possibly cruel fate – but when they realise they’ll be sending them to a good home where they’ll be cherished and used; it suddenly becomes a very attractive proposition. Everybody wins!

Taken with Pentax K1000 and 35mm film

I was recently given a bag full of camera goodies by some friends at work who are (unsurprisingly) trying to clear as much room as possible in their home. It was so exciting rummaging through that big plastic bag – better than Christmas even. The highlights of this particular haul were definitely the Holga (I’ve always wanted a Holga) and a Polaroid (and Polaroid film – you know I love Polaroids)! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Taken with Diana F+ and 120 film

So yes – my message to you if you’re thinking of taking up film photography is talk about it incessantly to everyone you know – and even to people you don’t know. The worst that can happen is you’ll be branded a geek and not invited to parties any more, but it’s got to be worth it on the off chance you might hit the camera jackpot!

If you look at old family snapshots from the 60s/70s/80s you’ll notice how colours have shifted and faded. Blacks are rarely jet-black and whites are almost yellow – some have a colour-cast across the whole image, others have one particular colour fading faster than any of the others. I love these photos!

1. 70s Family, 2. Family Photos, 1960s, 3. Late 1960s Early 1970s KUMPF Family Vintage Photos KUMPFS Pennsylvania Americana Christmas (35), 4. scan0034 david, 5. World Trade Center in the Mid-1970s, 6. vintage 1960s christmas dad photo

A simple way to emulate this effect and therefore give your modern-day digital photos a ‘vintage’ feel (sorry for over-using the whole ‘vintage’ thing, but I can’t think of a better word) is by using one simple but often over-looked tool in your Photoshop arsenal – the ‘Selective Color’ adjustment layer.

‘Selective Color’ allows you to alter the properties of the colours in your image one by one; creating subtle or startling effects depending on how far you push it. It was originally developed for people who needed to alter hi-res scans in preparation for CYMK printing – for example, you could adjust the amount of yellow ink in the greens of your image without affecting the yellow inks in the red areas.

Here’s how I use it:

With your layer selected create an adjustement layer – and choose ‘Selective Color’ – depending on your version of Photoshop you should see something like this…

The dropdown will show you all the primary colours as well as whites, neutrals and blacks. For each of these you can adjust the CMYK sliders. That’s all there is to it really – start sliding!

I start with the ‘Neutrals’, then ‘Blacks’ then ‘Whites’ then the all the other colours. When you look at older photos like those above you can see the blacks never look really black and often have a reddish or blueish tinge to them – this is easy to achieve using this tool.

 Before

 After

This isn’t something I can really give you definitive settings for as every photo will be very different – it’s one of those tools you need to just use by eye and play around with.

What I would say though is that it’s a good to start with ‘Neutrals’ – there will be more ‘Neutral’ hues than any other (followed by ‘Blacks’, then ‘Whites’). Even if you had a photo of a field af grass, you’ll get a bigger effect changing the ‘neutrals’ as opposed to the ‘Greens’.

You can save your settings if you like, but I tend to treat each photo individually – no two are likely to be entirely the same. And of course this is an adjustment layer so you can go back and fiddle with the settings, turn them off or copy them at any time in the future. Great stuff!

 before

 after

For such a quick and simple to use tool it’s pretty effective, don’t you think? Oh, and it’s also very useful for correcting colour shifts back to how they should be, of course!

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

So, the future – what does it hold? Truthfully? I don’t know – not yet anyhow.

I’ve been waiting for some paternalistic, authoritive being to decree what my future should be; to tell me what it is I’ll ‘be’ when I grow up. This is ironic as I have a tendancy to do the opposite of what anyone tells me to do.

I’ve never really been encouraged in any one direction in life and have needed to feel everything out for myself – it’s got to a point now though that enough time has passed and experience has been lived through to deal me a ‘sort of plan’. There’s a problem though – the ‘sort of plan’ has been presented to me in jigsaw-puzzle format – I have all the pieces but no clue as to how they fit together or what it is I’m required to create!

I think I’ve got the corner pieces sussed;

• photography
• writing
• community
• recognition

That last one - recognition - I realise it sounds a bit self-centred. I was going to change it for something else, something that didn’t sound quite so me, me, me – but, well, you can’t cheat on this sort of thing, can you.

Yes, I yearn for a slap on the back and a well-done now and again (I would imagine we all do). To be honest I don’t remember it happening very often during my formative years which is probably why I hanker for it so much now. I’m not so self-centred though that I think I deserve any of this without doing something to earn it. I’m happy to work hard – I love a challenge!

So that’s what I’m up to; sorting all my puzzle pieces. Slipping the obvious, easy pieces into place; the photography, the blogging – wondering how I’m going to deal with that big blue area of sky (my day job) and seeing if I can’t work out what the heck the big picture is supposed to be!

For the first time in my life, ever, I am going to make a plan!

Do you have a plan?

Photos taken with my Polaroid SX-70 (always part of the plan) and 600 film.
(Recognise that bottom one)?