A tour of some of Munich’s many vintage looking shop fronts, shot on expired Konica Centuria film in search of that “old school” film look.
This post sees me travel around Munich in search of “old looking” shop fronts, and given how many there are, I didn’t have to travel far. I can’t take credit for the idea of this post as it was my wife who commented on how cool these old looking shops would look on “old style film”. And with that I searched for some expired film that might achieve that washed out look she was talking about. Enter Konica Centuria 200 film. I didn’t know much about this film, but figured it was a decent bet to achieve the look I was after. I did some research and decided to overexpose and meter this film at ISO 100. I can’t remember exactly how old the film was, but it was definitely 10 years past its expiry date.
Films have an expiration date for a reason, as the sensitivity of the silver halide in the film degrades over time. Using expired film is really a hit and miss exercise, as it is impossible to know how the results will turn out. Storage of film is really important and if the expired film has not been frozen or stored in a refrigerator (which slows the deterioration of the film) then it is likely the results will be poor. There is a great resource on expired film here.
A bit more about the shots
All shots were taken with my Leica MP and 50mm Summicron f2 lens. I figured the 50mm was a good choice to frame the shop windows (in comparison to my 35mm that is considerably wider). I started at the music shop (post cover) and made my way through other neighbourhoods in search of old style shop fronts. In fact, they are not hard to find, given how many independent and family run shops exist in Munich. Most have been around for decades and seemingly have never changed their shop fronts. Many of them remind me of the shops in my neighbourhood growing up in Madrid, although sadly most have been replaced by typical chains. Munich has a nice mix of old shops and new modern chains.
Flower shop, founded 1934.
This is a good example of a shop based on the bottom of a house or apartment block.
A typical Munich street corner.
I was lucky with this shot as this vintage looking car appeared just as I parked to survey the area for old shop fronts! I got a huge smile and wave from the passenger as I took this shot.
I love the washed out colours of this shot, as intended with expired film for this post. The shot below could be taken in 1970 not 2020!
“Competent and fast” - seemingly good qualities for a telecommunications shop.
Local dry cleaners.
I loved the lighting in this shot as well as the company logo font. I believe this is a building company.
“Collecting King” - antique house.
You still see the old style trams in Munich, a good fit for this blog post!
Love the large pretzel!
Electronics shop.
One of my favourite shop front shots.
Great advertisement for Erdinger Weissbier. I love how grainy this shot is.
Sunset view of the Olympic Park.
Traditional German bakery.
Not an old shop front but the BMW HQ - I love this building and had not seen this perspective before, so I decided to take the shot. I’m surprised how well it came out on this expired film as the scene had a strong contrast between shade and sunlight.
Driving school.
The Highlight Towers
Cinema in Münchener Freiheit - gotta love the old school lettering.
If the e-scooters were not in the photo this could be from the 1980s!
Haircut, anyone?
I am really surprised how this turned out, the colouring is a bit off, but I really like the sunset lighting on the bottom of the tower. The composition of this shot works really well.
Stationary & newsagent shop.
Wine with your fruit & vegetables?
Beer logo on the front of a restaurant, a very common view in Munich.
Spate brewery in Munich makes Spaten beer and Franziskaner. Founded in 1397! I believe it is also linked to Lowënbrau, likely part of the same group.
I’m still not sure what a dolphin has to do with a pharmacy, but the logo is pretty cool.
Overall observations
I’m really happy with how these shots came out, and in actual fact the expired film performed better than I expected. Some of the shots are really clear and don’t look expired at all, but luckily some look old, washed out and from a different decade (the whole point of this post). I like having a theme for my posts as it really focuses the mind, and for a few hours as I drove around Munich that’s all I could see: old shop fronts! I really enjoyed being able to capture so many interesting and unique shop fronts. It is amazing to me how many of these independent shops exist in this city.
Shooting expired film was a fun experiment. Some people only shoot expired film, but I would probably find the results frustrating unless I was looking for washed out and grainy shots. There is a time and a place for expired film though and I’m glad my wife had the great idea for this post to try it out.
I hope you enjoyed a small look into the past (even though these shops are actually still here today) as much as I did documenting these shops.
See you next time!
Neil
