2023-02-04

Stroclacame（Strolling with a classic camera）Vol.３

camera

column

Film

at first

I’m sorry

Because we can’t speak english

I am using DeepL translate, so it may be a strange sentence,

but I would like you to understand

Thank you

Photographer Okamura’s Whimsical Column

This time we talk about film.

Lomography Purple

LEICA M3 SUMMARONｆ2.8 Goggles Apertureｆ8.0　Otaru

Summer Phantoms.”

Are we on another planet or in a dream?

When I look at this image, I would normally think “it must be processed”…………………………
In this day and age, I would normally just assume it was a “digital shot” and look at it.

As you can see…
The color is really purple.
It may seem obvious, but until I saw the developed images, I might have been skeptical, not so much skeptical as a little skeptical that it was true…

The blue of the sky is actually a darker blue, a summer blue sky.
The sky in this photo is a faded bluish color, and I have seen old, faded prints that have this sky color.

However, when I looked at the whole picture, I wondered if I had taken the picture with the wrong color filter. But it still looks different, so I guess I would have to call it “purple”.
It is a film that produces very interesting colors.

This “Lomography Purple” is a genuine negative color film, and can be developed and printed at Kitamura Camera.

All of the photos I am about to show you were taken with the Leica and Summaron combination, and the colors and details of the tulips are very nice and three-dimensional.

Of course, it can be said that the film is a product of the lens used to take the photographs, but I think the expressive power of this film is quite wonderful, as is the contrast in color tones.

This photo was taken at the Temiya Botanical Garden, which is located in the back of the Temiya Park in Otaru.

It is a small elevated place where you can also see the ocean a little further on.

There are flowers blooming all over the area and a shrine in one corner, which seems to have a long history.

When I have time and the weather is nice, I tend to come to Otaru, but I usually go to the city streets, but on this day I remembered something and came to this park.

I had a hunch that I wanted to visit a slope that had been used as a location for a movie starring actress Miho Nakayama, so I drove in that direction.

By the way…the movie is “Love letter” directed by Shunji Iwai.
Actress Miki Sakai plays Miho Nakayama’s girlhood, and the film is set in Otaru and Kobe. Miho Nakayama plays two roles, “Itsuki Fujii” in Otaru and “Hiroko Watanabe” in Kobe.
Other actors in this movie include Etsushi Toyokawa, Takashi Kashiwabara, and actress Ranma Suzuki, and I watch this movie many times a year on VHS video at home.

I wasn’t a particular fan of Miho Nakayama, but I used to listen to her music on my car audio.

When I was young, Miho Nakayama “Miporin” was an invincible idol. I used to turn up the volume in the car and get excited!

Click here for the official Fuji TV movie website link for the movie “Love letter”.

＊Please see the translation as it is only available in Japanese.

This park is located further back through the narrow path used for the filming.

The botanical garden is quite sloping, and the sea can be seen from the distance.

I feel it is a bit dangerous to let small children play on it. Once they fall, they seem to roll over and go wherever they want…

Click here for the link to Otaru City Official Website

Click here for Temiya Botanical Garden link　Japanese (language)

LEICA M3 SUMMARONｆ2.8 Goggles Apertureｆ11　Otaru

Memories of Summer.”

Looking at it with this saturation, there is some kind of unsettling emotion.

This feeling is not just hot summer, but if anything it’s even hotter… this could be scorching.

When depicting grotesque scenes in movies, such as a scene of terror, the colors are often black and white or dark red to stir up fear, and I think these colors are similar to that.

This time it was dry and sunny, but I’d like to try it in the rain. I’d like to try it in the rain as well.

Looking at it like that, it seems as if some danger is approaching and they have evacuated to higher ground.

The truth is, it was very hot at that time, and I could hear the lively voices of the nursery staff and the children, like “Take a break, hydrate yourself!” and “Wow!”… It’s just a shot of smiling.

The film looks very interesting to express something with colors.

It makes me want to try my hand at shooting in these tones.

LEICA M3 SUMMARONｆ2.8 Goggles Apertureｆ11　Otaru

Shrine in Bloom.”

In the world of Japanese mystery novelist Seishi Yokomizo, I think it could be a scene from “Akuryoto” or “The Village of Eight Graves” but when I took the picture, I thought the trees were wonderfully sculpted, so I took the shutter.

The shrine has a certain atmosphere. The trees surrounding it are also majestic. This shrine is also located in the park.

The school children came down this staircase.

Looks like you’re on your way home, I bet there’s a kindergarten or something nearby~!

“Oh, they’re blooming beautifully…” “Be careful going down the stairs…”

The place was bustling with people. I walked past and gently snapped the shutter with my Leica.

LEICA M3 SUMMARONｆ2.8 Goggles Apertureｆ11　Otaru

“Closed Schools.”

Concrete school building.

At first glance, it may look like an abandoned school, but upon closer inspection, the entranceway is lined with plywood.

It is a mysterious space where students seem to be present but not present, where lively voices seem to be heard but not heard.

Everyone seems to have disappeared. There is no sign of life. The trees are in full bloom and the insects are chirping.

I think “purple” is also quite good, although I think monochrome is fine. I feel that this color makes the photo somewhat meaningful.

Later, I noticed the steel lines on the left and right at the top of the screen, but I guess I didn’t notice them when I took the picture.

As one photographer says, “Shoot the four corners.” If I had been aware of the four corners, I might have noticed them…

LEICA M3 SUMMARONｆ2.8 Goggles Apertureｆ8.0 Certain place in Ishikari

Forgotten is presence or memory.”

Motorcycles and boats that have been abandoned for years.

A shooting point I’ve been going to for years.

The store probably used to serve drinks, snacks, etc. at the store. This location is next to that store.

The motorcycle used to not fall over, it used to stand up more properly and get up on its own stand. Somehow the tank is missing or the seat is missing. It seems that someone took it because it was too unprotected.

In comparison, the boat in the back has been abandoned for a long time, but surprisingly, it does not look dilapidated. It is indeed a ship – resistant to rain and wind.

Another motorcycle as an added bonus.

LEICA M3 SUMMARONｆ2.8 Goggles Apertureｆ11 Certain place

The Rotting Motorcycle.”

Burned? The figure that makes you think.

This also appears to have been caused by rust and rubber that deteriorated over time and disappeared due to exposure to sunlight.

What’s more, I’ve seen this car body over the years, so I’ve already seen it decay over a long span of time.

I wonder if it’s like a house, when the owner is away, it suddenly becomes useless.
I want to take good care of it. I wonder what the reason was…

I treasure this “Leica M3”!

NIKON DF Auto NIKKOR 50㎜　Apertureｆ4.０

My M3.”

I bought this as a resolution to myself when I decided to make a career out of photography and when I was finally able to call myself a photographer as a “job”.

I have been in the photography business for 20 years and this Leica has been 16 years since I purchased it.

Of course, this is not a new purchase.

I have looked up the year of the camera before. I could tell from the serial number that this Leica was one year older than me.

Then you want to find a classmate Leica somehow.

As such, I have a lot to tell you about this camera, but I’ll get to that some other time…

The lens is “Summaron 35㎜ f2.8”, which is combined with “Lomography Purple”, the subject of this issue. I also think it would be fun to combine this “Lomography Purple” with Zeiss lenses.

I think it would have been even more different with a higher contrast depiction.

The combinations of film and lenses can be made endlessly, so there is no end to the fun.

It will still be fun if it heats up again in the future with a few new products coming out.

This film is interesting and unique in that it is a “negative color film,” even though it is labeled “Lomochrome,” and the ISO sensitivity can range from 100 to 400.

It’s funny, you should try it!

Click here for the official Leica Camera website link

Click here for the official Lomography International website link

Photographer Okamura