Monday, May 3, 2010

Film From the Freezer

Johnny
U.S. Route 285, Española, New Mexico, June 2006

This portrait was taken on a roll of Adox KB-14, which is pre-Yugoslavian, pre-Efke.  Yep, you read that right:  This particular roll expired in October 1969, and rated at ASA 20, it hasn't lost a bit of its lustre.  This is Frankfurt, West Germany Adox, made 23 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and exposed 17 years after!

In fact, I have never seen tighter grain on any slow-speed film I've used in 35mm.  Not Agfapan 25, not Panatomic-X 32 ASA.  In fact, I was already well aware of Adox's legendary sharp accutance and smooth rendition of the full tonal range that I centered all my subjects on that particular roll, so that I could print them square, by chopping the sides.

This portrait of one young punker was taken with my Nikkor prime lens, 50mm/f1.4.  It is technically -- and artistically -- worthy of my Rolleiflex SL-66.

I'm so blessed that I still have twenty bulk reels of the stuff in the Frigidaire!