Another week in Madrid, enjoying the good weather and looking for sun, shadows, and reflections. Week 11 continues with wonderful Ilford film, this time Delta 100.
So building on Week 10 and still in black and white mode, I decided to focus on what we had plenty of: sun. In fact, I figured chasing out shadows would work well in black and white, and this lower ISO 100 film would be more suited to such bright sunlight.
I must say, whilst I do enjoy the results of black and white film immensely, it is a challenge to picture the world in monochrome as you look for things to photograph. This is especially so when being bombarded with strong sunlight and so many bright colours in Madrid, although I figured hunting for shadows would at least give me a good place to start.
All shots below taken on my Leica M6. As always clickable for full screen.
My first port of call was Templo de Debod, a real Egyptian temple that was donated to Madrid in the early 1970s. It is very close to the Royal Palace and just a short walk from Plaza de España. This place always has nice water reflections and the sun sets right behind the temple at the right time of year. Exceptionally clear photograph, an impressive start with Ilford Delta 100.
A shot looking straight up the Gran Via. Not a great photograph on its own, I just wanted to see how the film managed such extremes of light. It is quite balanced actually, with not that much grain in the shadows. Not a keeper though.
Facing away from the Templo de Debod - I always liked how the buildings reflect here. Very sharp photo with this film.
Zoom crop of the above photo (top left), still quite clear and not overly grainy for being so zoomed in. Impressive stuff.
One of my favourite shots from the whole roll. Not everyone is looking in the right direction though as the main attraction is the Royal Palace straight ahead. At least no one was taking a selfie, that would've just infuriated me. Bit overexposed background, but it really adds to the mood and looks like it has been painted on!
My first proper shadow - and I got plenty of them! Hard enough to compose this photo, but happy that the shadows came out so sharply.
I pressed the shutter here too quickly, my intent was to have the dog owner in the shade and the white dog in the sun (also white part of the image). Ah well no worries, there's a typical Madrid street for you to look at.
As I took this photo I had some idea of a caption of 'seeing the light', but I didn't write it down, so all I can say is that there's a diagonal shadow for you to look at! I do like how this film balances between the shadows and highlights though, other film types might have struggled here.
The lone coffee break. I couldn't help it with the very clear shadows, and I like how it came out. This is right infront of the Mercado de San Miguel, a renovated old marketplace that now houses loads of "gourmet" tapas stands. It's popular with both tourists and the locals, although it is a bit pricy given it is so central. Definitely worth a visit but also feel free to ask me for other recommendations if you ever visit Madrid.
Side entrance of Plaza Mayor. This would have been better in colour actually as the building facades are very colourful. I was also standing right in the shade and found it hard to expose.
Old Spanish facade, with the sun more or less falling perfectly only on one side - or at least that's what I choose to think! I really enjoy going on a photo walk and being so aware of everything, we tend to forget to look up a lot of the times and that's where you find some really great views.
How could I not take a photo of some long legs dangling out of a window?! Very clear photo, I'd love to try this film with some clouds in the sky to see how it works out.
Typical street lamp in Madrid, they make for nice photograph subjects. I only have a 50mm (and a small wide angle) lens so this photo has been cropped a bit, hence the bit of grain.
So there you go, Ilford Delta 100 on a very sunny walk around central Madrid. I was happier with this batch of photos compared to Week 10 (Delta 400 film) as I felt they were more balanced and the film ISO was more suited to the bright sunlight.
Overall assessment: this film is excellent. It produces some really sharp images, with good balance between very strong highlights and shadows. Some grain visible when you really zoom in to an image, otherwise you cannot see it. I will definitely use this film again, I'd like to try it using a medium format camera for landscape photography (I'm always planning ahead for new projects!).
Week 12 is Kodak Portra 400 on a small East Frisian island shot just after the New Year. I haven't see the photos yet, but I am hoping for some good results as Portra 400 has got a great name in the film world.
As usual, go get out there and take more photographs!
And by the way, I welcome all feedback including ideas for themes to shoot. I am delighted I have been doing this project for 3 months now, but Week 12 means I still have 40 weeks to go!
All the best,
Neil
