Starting the year off with a handful of rolls on a nearly 10 mile walk around downtown Seattle was a bold choice. Living in downtown has given me the freedom of being immersed in a creative zone, you’ll never find me without a camera when I leave the house. From busy city streets to the tightly packed neighborhoods surrounding the center of downtown, there is always something to shoot with this ever-changing city. If you haven’t visited Seattle, it’s hilly, wet and full of diversity. Each corner of the city offers something different, something that’s always suited by black and white. Sure, the color green is abundant and who doesn’t love some good greens? Although color is beautiful in this city, I’ve always felt the true grunge of the PNW shines through with black and white film.
A recent favorite film stock of mine being Kodak Tri-X 400. A 400 speed black and white negative film stock that’s been a staple in Kodak’s offering for over 65 years. Tri-X is something that I didn’t shoot much of before a recent pro pack landed on my doorstep, in fact I had only ever shot it once before these rolls. Being that I’ve had an itch to shoot more and more black and white I’ve had a focus on finding a different workflow from my choice of film to my developing chemicals (check out the current developing chemicals I’ve gone with for black and white, I made a big change up with using Kodak chemicals across the board- here). Now, I’m not going to spew technical information about Tri-X 400 but what I will say is it seems to suit just about every situation I threw at it and Seattle can be a bear to meter light in.
That’s enough words, enjoy some of the first photos I’ve made this year, I can’t wait to keep exploring this gorgeous world through black and white photography.
Location: Seattle, WA
Camera/Lens Used: Mamiya RZ67 Pro / 110 f.8
Film Used: Kodak Tri-X 400 - buy here
Chemicals Used: Kodak D-76, Kodak Kodafix, Kodak Photo-Flo - buy here
Scanned using Negative Supply gear and converted using Negative Lab Pro
I hope you enjoyed this little gallery and I hope it has sparked a desire to keep black and white in your bag more often. It’s something I’m striving to do more of this year, the learning experience with mixing it into your work is such a great way to develop other approaches to composition without relying solely on color.
Be sure to check out the links below to grab yourself some film and to keep up with some of my favorite products that I use to create my work. Till next time!