Jonathan Grado

Film Set 04

Austin doesn’t get much rain, unless you just moved here and you were hoping to get some sun.* With the rainy day I decided to take some Lomography Color Negative 800 film out downtown for the first time. Also took some Portra 400 to a river…it rained there too. Oh, and there’s a single shot on Portra 400 120 film from a Rolleiflex in here somewhere of a pool banister/handrail/thing you hold when you’re about to get into a body of water.

Shooting Lomo 800 in Rain and Low Light

Loaded the Lomo 800 for a Downtown Austin walk with aimee. Tried this film out on rainy window reflections, the Austin Public Library, and the ACL Building (that building with an outdoor stairwell carved into it). There weren't any goats around this time, though.

What I actually wanted to know was how Lomo 800 handles bad light, and Austin gave me a full day of it. Did I start out by wanting to see it in bad light? No. Did I have a choice with so much grey in the sky? Also no.

Looking at the outdoor shots, the shadows were surprising. The ACL Building stairwell is a dark subject on a dark day and I still get texture in the wet treads, plus the interior lights and a little blue sign inside a doorway that I didn't think would show up. Same with the interestingly pointy architecture of City Hall. It's a nearly black (dark blue?) building in the rain, still readable. I metered for the shadows and the film held.

The cost of course is the sky. Every frame with overcast in it is blown to paper white with nothing in it. But I mean this was expected. You can't see it but I just shrugged.

Color splits depending on where you're standing. Indoors it runs warm. The coffee cup at Joe's downtown went deep orange-red with green sliding into the shadows, and the library shots kept skin warm under mixed lighting without tipping all the way orange. You can definitely tell some of the photos in there were underexposed though. Outside in the rain it stays neutral. Concrete reads as its favorite color, grey. The blue tile through the cafe window stays blue, and the rust-colored shrub next to the stairs held its color in light that I would think would have flattened everything.

Anyway, I should try Lomo 800 one more time.

Portra 400 at the River

Oh, and the Portra. Portra 400 was used on the extremely successful fishing trip with Daniel. The sun was shining, the river was bountiful, everyone loved each other, random passersby were extremely helpful in letting us know where fish were biting.** Great little road trip.

*when the sun does come out you’ll wish for rain. As I type this we’re in our fifth day in a row of 102+ degree weather. What.

**the opposite of everything I said.