I did a few trips up to Zaanse Schans. It is historical and stuff. I used Kodak PORTRA 160VC film i.e. Vivid Colour. 120mm Kodak PORTRA Vivid Colour film at 160 ISO. And this is how the photos turned out.

I must admit that I haven’t come to terms with the colours. I have not used the 160VC until now. In fact, this is the first time that I have used 120mm colour film, vivid or otherwise. And the colours look a lot livelier in the high resolution scans. I guess they’ll make good travel magazine spreads. You think?

And this afternoon I did a trip to Volendam. I didn’t bother doing colour. I loaded black and white film instead. Good old black and white.

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Zaanse Schans is a beautiful neighborhood to the north of Holland.

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I enjoy the experience of using film – the 35 minute train journey downtown to Rajubhai’s shop where I purchase the film and then a rickshaw ride to Bandra to get the film processed after I have exposed them. And then the scanning – at home on my EPSON V600. I’m not so sure about 35-millimeter film anymore. Firstly, it isn’t easily available. Fuji Neopan is the only film easy to find but something seems to be wrong with it. Maybe they don’t store it right. And secondly, scanning is a pain. The dust, spots and scratches are difficult to negotiate. I still enjoy medium format 6×6 photography (120-millimeter film on my Yashica Mat). And medium format negatives are a lot easier to scan. I shot this photo at a Kathakali performance at Fort Cochin in the last week of March. I didn’t particularly enjoy scanning it. So I’ll put my Canon AE-1P away for the moment. Perhaps.

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On a winter afternoon, Rahul Alvares, Anne Ketteringham and I did a boat trip in sunny Goa through the backwaters of the River Mandovi. Amidst the narrow canals and mangroves that are rich in bird life, the motor gave way.

The lightweight paddles helped us maneuver the boat through the canals and down the main stream. And the sausages nourished us through the long journey back. We escaped by the skin of our teeth!

Please use the arrows above to navigate through this set of seven photos.

Now that’s not what actually happened. In fact, the motor didn’t work too well right from the onset. And its health deteriorated further along our journey. Whilst it lacked the power to force us through, it never gave way completely. Our motorman managed to steer us back to Casa Britona – a fantastic boutique hotel along the banks of the Mandovi.

A view of the mangroves along R. Mandovi seen from the upper deck of Casa Britona. Shot with a Canon 50D camera and a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 lens.

Rahul drove us back to Assagao from Britona.

“I’ll be right back”, Rahul hopped out of the driver’s seat. He was back in a minute. “Here – keep this sac at the back next to you.”

“What’s in it?”

“Snakes!”

Rahul has hands-on experience in handling snakes. He is famous.

Anne Ketteringham got a picture of me whilst I was loading film into my Yashica Mat using her Pentax camera and Sigma lens.

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Yashica Mat, f/5.6, 1/125, Fuji Neopan 100 ISO – 120mm film.

I shot this portrait during my visit to Goa in the November of 2009. At about 6 ‘o clock in the evening, he was on his way home after a hard day in the seas, fishing. He reminds me of a gentleman I’d shot in Maharashtra, half a decade ago. I see many similarities in indigenous people from the west coast of India.

Canon AE-1P, f/1.8, 1/60, Kodak T400CN – 35mm film.

Shot from the 6th floor of a residential building.

November in 2009 brought unseasonable thundershowers, pleasant weather and overcast but beautiful skies.

Canon AE-1P 50mm f/1.4 lens.

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Let’s look into a couple of details:

All of the fables here. Limited edition archival prints available. If you’d like to purchase one, mention it in a comment and I’ll get back to you.

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I bought a Yashica Mat TLR camera having a Yashinon 80mm viewing lens +Yashinon 80mm 3.5 taking lens last evening, the 30th of September, 2009.

I found a manual online.

I’d have blasted a dozen rolls by now except that 120mm film is completely out of stock.

The Yashica Mat isn’t equipped with an in-built light meter. So it’ll take me a roll or two to get the hang of it. If the camera functions as it must, these could be exciting times ahead.

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A bunch of juveniles engage in outdoor sports whilst high tide during the monsoons at Juhu Beach in Bombay. 2009 brought the tallest tides in over one hundred years.

Contact prints are expensive &indecisive. I prefer low resolution scans instead. I can then check focus, composition etc. &get the better frames scanned at a high resolution thereafter.

Studio Mull Herr’s best deal is Rs. 400 for 36 exposures at a resolution of 4 x 6 inches at 300 dpi. Instead, I get this preliminary scan done from Mazda. Mazda charge Rs. 100 for the 36 exposures at 72 dpi.

I’d shot some film a month and a half ago &haven’t had the time to go to back to Mull Herr to do the high-resolution scans.

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Pre digital photography times, the one-room-kitchen apartment at Prabhadevi served as shop. Or should I say, darkroom and waiting area. Prabhadevi isn’t the cheapest neighborhood in Bombay. But Paritosh and his brother could afford the rent. Just about. Give thanks to the Rent-Control Act.

Everybody loves Paritosh. And his brother.

Digital cameras. Hmpf. A set back for Paritosh. And his brother. Paritosh and his brother have but this one skill. Black and White film. Processing and prints. Good job. Comparable to the best photo labs in the city.

No capital to invest in a digital lab. Digital media. Hmpf. A set back for Paritosh. And his brother. Profits declined. Customers too.

Paritosh and his brother moved shop. Into a ‘Pigeon-hole’ like block, at a slum, in Mahim. Everybody loves Paritosh. And his brother.

But numbers trickled down further.

I remember patronising them, at the slum, in Mahim in 2005. Paritosh and his brother were desperate.

Paritosh and his brother have but this one skill. No capital to invest in a digital lab. Digital media. Hmpf. A set back for Paritosh. And his brother. Losses in business. No customers.

Almost every lab discontinued Black and White film services at the end of 2006.

Digital cameras in all shapes and sizes. And cheap.

Paritosh and his brother shut shop. For good.

But God is Great.

Paritosh got an offer. He accepted. With both hands. Paritosh is these days, a salaried employee at a popular conventional & digital imaging centre in Prabhadevi, close to his shop of old. Paritosh does black and white.

His brother got an offer. He accepted. With both hands. He is these days, a salaried employee at a popular conventional & digital imaging centre, at Opera House.

I met Paritosh this afternoon. At the conventional & digital imaging centre, at Prabhadevi, close to his shop of old. I had five rolls of black and white film to be processed.

“Hello! How are you! Do you still do black and white? Or no?”

“Yes, Paritosh, these are some black and white rolls that I have brought to you.”

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