Berlin
The last few months, I had to travel to the German capital rather often. This was the perfect excuse for me to whip out my camera as well. On my very first trip, I only brought colour film. I was slightly underwhelmed by the results and consequently decided to switch to black&white exclusively.
Starting with a roll of Portra 800
Disappointed by the sharpness and overall quality of this roll. Maybe this is due to my scanner? The film? The photographer?
I quite like the photo of the Gedächtniskirche because of the very retro people walking in front of my camera at that time. It got severely damaged during an Allied air raid the 23rd of November 1944.
The photo of the U-Bahn Station Viktoria-Luise-Platz illustrates well why I was somewhat disappointed by this Portra 800. Smudgy, unsharp, clipped highlights, weird colors… I developped the roll with fresh film and was very careful with my temperature control so this shouldn’t have been the issue.
Kodak TMax 100: better luck?
Because of my poor results, I decided to come back, this time armed with a tested champion. I love this emulsion for its brilliant shadows and contrast, as you will noticed from the next few images. They were shot during a small excursion to Sans-Souci palace in Potsdam, at about an hour away from Berlin by Öffi.
To enhanced the contrasts somewhat, I screwed an orange filter onto my 85mm Nikon prime. Just look at the beauty of those clouds thanks to it!
By the way, if you intend to visit Schloss Sanssouci, don’t forget to visit the Neues Palais, as it is significantly more impressive that the well-known Sanssouci.
Ilford FP4+ : a forgotten champion
I never shot this one, always going for Delta 100 or HP5. I was pleasantly surprised by the results (to say the least). The grain structure and contrasts give for a brilliant retro vibe.