Solidvortex blog

Western Cemetry

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:12:10 GMT

A selection of shots of the eerie and neglected Western Cemetery (Westerbegraafplaats) in Ghent, Belgium. A beautiful and moody place filled with centuries-old tombs and gravestones.

Theatre Jeusette

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:19:11 GMT

A small and very dirty abandoned theatre somewhere in Belgium.

The blue hospital

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:07:23 GMT

I visited this place about 2 years ago. We were on our way to Italy, but we needed a place to spend the first night of our trip. We settled on this huge hospital. We arrived here in the dead of night, with no clue whatsoever of how to get inside or if there even really was a way in. We walked around the building for several hour, checking all windows and doors, but none would give way to an entrance. Our hopes were really starting to get really low, would we already fail to find a place to sleep one night into our trip? Would the three of us be forced to sleep in a fully packed car?

We decided to do one last round of checking, maybe, just maybe, we missed something. Just as we were giving up, one last window caught our attention. It was hard to get there, but it seemed like our last chance. We were lucky, It was open. Maybe lucky wasn't the right word, as getting there seemed near impossible. Good thing impossible is a word not to be found in our dictionaries. We got in. We picked ourselves a room and got a nice few hours sleep. All was good.

After getting up, we realised this hospital was even bigger than it seemed the night before. Some impressions of this huge abandoned place:

Labyrinth school

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:24:10 GMT

A large school, on the verge of reconversion. An endless maze of corridors, rooms and halls. Beautiful decay everywhere.

Het Amerikaans Theater

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:19:00 GMT

Het Amerikaans Theater (or the American Theater) was originally built in 1958 for the Brussels World Fair. After the fair most of the buildings where demolished, but the American pavilion was one of the few that was left standing. Right after expo 58 it was put to use by the VRT (then BRT, the Flemish radio- and televisioncompany), as a television studio. That was until this month, as they moved out of the buildings early june. I had the chance to go and fotograph the premises on the last days there.

Salesianos / Torre del G

Tue, 29 May 2012 20:29:21 GMT

2011. January. Spain. The weather was supposed to be great there that time of the year, but but we got rain. And then some more rain. Our first objective was Salesianos, a massive castle-ish early 1900's Catholic school. Two Chapels, a ballroom, epic hallways and beautiful fireplaces. Huge.

Seeing as there were some rumours of tight security over there we went to scout the place at night. The entrance was well concealed, and once in we checked out the place, so to know our way around the next day. There were no signs of active security. Still, we took no unnecessary risk and spend the night in an abandoned farm we spotted down the road. Upon closer inspection, we noticed half of the roof had collapsed and that the place was a total dump. As night had already set we decided to clear out some rooms and sleep there anyway. The temperature dropped to around -6°C that night. It was cold. It was raining. Were we really in Spain?

The next day, we got up early and got back in Salesianos and started shooting. We were there for several hours and saw absolutely no security. We now know for sure that there wasn't any, seeing as the place got completely vandalised in the last year and everything that was worth stealing got stolen. Even frescoes got torn from the ceiling. If you're still planning on going there, you're too late.

After we shot what we wanted we left for other locations. But we returned that night though, as we'd set our minds on hotelling the place. One problem. It was raining. Not just raining, more like a monsoon. In some places, there was about 30cm of water in the streets and we had to walk quite a bit and climb trough a hole to get back into Salesianos. It was going trough it or sleeping in the car. We went for the first option and dressed up in trash- and other plastic bags and ran for the entrance. Luckily, there were some very nice bunkbeds waiting for us in the old dorms.

Cheers to a great explore with Rule, Dr.Baab, Mr.B!

Olympus trip 35 & Macophot UP64

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:11:28 GMT

Some shots with the Olympus Trip 35 on Long expired Macophot UP64.

HC-110

Sun, 06 May 2012 21:06:42 GMT

Ah ... the smell of HC-110.

Father Ray's place

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:03:10 GMT

An abandoned monastery, quite big, but pretty empty. Electrity was on, so I switched on the organ and blasted out some noise. Epic. Visited in july 2011.

The brewery

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:18:07 GMT

An abandoned brewery somewhere in Flanders. It used to brew a famous Belgian wheat beer, until the recipe was bought by another company and production was moved elsewhere. The following pictures where shot some 2 years ago.

Elkacolor 200

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:15:19 GMT

All of these were shot on long expired Elkacolor 200. It was quite a crappy film to begin with and being exposed to heat for quite a while didn't do it any good. It got really grainy, but the colors are still ok. Shot in Berlin and London with the plastic mystery panocam.

Festival of Lights Ghent

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:27:15 GMT

The second edition of the Festival of Lights in Ghent. 4 days of performances with light and projections. Yesterday was the first day of the festival, and already thousands of people were walking the tour. On a thursday night. Go figure. It's quite a spectacle though, especially the mapping on the old post office and the cathedral-like passage with 55.000 LEDs.

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Berlin Tempelhof Airport

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:15:35 GMT

The tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany. A huge airport terminal, built between 1936 and 1941. Quite an impressive structure, epic architecture. It was closed down in 2008 and has been waiting for a reconversion ever since.

Truncinas

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:11:07 GMT

Shot around Drongen (Ghent) with my Agfa Isolette on Expired no-brand iso400 film.

Hospital K (part I)

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:29:34 GMT

A hospital halfway trough moving to another building, the old buildings destined to get torn down. These are pictures of my second visit to this place, several months after my first visit. At the time of the first visit the hospital was still stuffed with equipment, the second time it was mostly empty.

Mamiya DSX500

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:07:27 GMT

Just some random photos shot a while ago with my Mamiya DSX500 on Agfa APX100.

Zeche Am Wald

Thu, 12 May 2011 19:12:38 GMT

Zeche Am Wald, an abandoned coalmine. It was way past midnight, and we really needed a place to crash for a few hours. We had our minds set on an abandoned coalmine, of which we were pretty sure we would be able to get in. So far, so good, but here's the catch, this mine was in the middle of the woods and the road leading there was closed. This little detail ment we had to walk several kilometres in pitch black darkness trough a forest to get there, and once we were there we still had to find a way in. After some scouting around we found our way in, and we went looking for a nice room to spend the night. Inside, the buildings were trashed beyond recognition, so we picked one of the former offices that still was fairly clean. After some drinks we went to sleep only to be awakened a few hours later by the sound of a car. Security was checking every door on the premises. Luckily we got in a different way and we closed our entrance well. Here's some shots of this place (the first image (of our awesome lair) was shot by Rule)

Innocenti Milano

Wed, 04 May 2011 20:04:10 GMT

The abandoned Innocenti factory in Milan, Italy. Up to 1972, this was the place where the Lambretta scooter and the Mini Minor were built. There's not much left of the orignal factory, really. Just a huge stripped hulk, filled with trash and thriving vegetation. All of these were shot with my Agfa Isolette II on Shanghai GP3

The crematorium

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:21:45 GMT

An abandoned crematorium, a creepy little place.

Agfa Isola II & Fortepan 400

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:04:27 GMT

The agfa Isola II is the slightly better version of the Isola I (yeah, really!). The big difference is the lens, the Agfa Agnar is an ok lens for this kind of low end camera. Here are some example shots on long expired Fortepan 400.

Pirna

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:31:48 GMT

An abandoned 60's office block with a beautiful stairwell. The rest of the building was pretty empty and quite boring though. We visited this place in november and stayed the night there, even though it was freezing outside. And inside. Insane.

The Gevabox

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:28:16 GMT

The gevabox, a box camera with snappy Art Deco-ish looks. Of the 8 exposures (6x9), only 3 had a visible image, I guess there's something wrong with the shutter. Still a fun camera though. The three images, shot on long expired Fomapan 100:

Kodak Plus-X and the Petri 7sII

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:24:58 GMT

Long expired Kodak Plus-X, I'm guessing about 40 years past date, extremely foggy, but still scannable. Shot with the Petri 7sII

The graveyard

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:16:46 GMT

A neglected military graveyard in the woods. Creepy.

Paris and the Olympus PEN EE2

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:13:51 GMT

Some more shots of Paris, again with the Olympus PEN EE2 on Agfa APX 100.

Powerplant IM

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:06:25 GMT

Powerplant IM, a massive semi-abandoned coalplant. Endless pipes and tubes everywhere, a beautiful old control room and several huge turbines.

Rondgang Ghent

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:26:45 GMT

Every year on the last friday of july there's a folkloristic parade in Ghent. It's called the 'omgang', and it's kind of a memorial of when Charles V humiliated the Ghent people in 1539 by making them parade the streets barefooted and wearing a noose. shot with the Agfa Isolette on Shanghai GP3.

Chateau Jeanne

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:23:47 GMT

A small abandoned castle with a stairlift, quite a boring empty place.

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Ricoh 500 G

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:22:42 GMT

The Ricoh 500 G is a nice and compact Japanese rangefinder camera from around 1972. It's got a 1:2.8 40mm lens and a cds lightmetering cell. I didn't notice the disintegrating lightseal when I loaded the camera for the first time, so the first roll got all smudged and scratched by the loose rubber. Here are some examples (expired Kodak Gold 200).

Spain and the Sony a580

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:14:28 GMT

After more than 4 years of intense usage, the time had come to retire my trusty old Samsung 815pro digital camera. I decided to finally get myself a DSLR and settled on the Sony a580 with the kit 18-70. I also bought a second hand Sigma 10-20 and I already had an old Minolta 35-70 kicking around, these three lenses gave a nice set of options, especially in the wide angle department.

I had an urbex trip planned to Spain, so this was the perfect opportunity to take this new cam for a serious spin. I have to say I'm really happy with my choice, this camera performs as well as I expected it would, especially in low light conditions. I went a bit overboard with using the 10-20 though, I fell in love with the possibilities of shooting in extreme wide angle right away, I hardly even took that lens of my cam. Here are some sample shots:

Fomapan 400 and the agfa Isolette

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:04:11 GMT

I shot a roll of Fomapan action 400 a while ago, but I only got around scanning the negatives recently. I'm really impressed by the quality of film you get for such a low price. Shot with my Agfa Isolette.

Krebsklinik

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:24:35 GMT

An abandoned cancer clinic in Germany. A huge building stuffed with left-behind equipment and furniture. After a long drive from Belgium we really needed a good night's rest, and we had our minds set on this hospital. When we drove by the first time we saw some people standing around in the lobby, we passed by again and they were gone. We decided to park our car and check it out. While we were heading up to the building a young guy came walking to us (he obviously came from inside the building), asking "polizei? polizei?". Obviously the guy and his friends were really scared, but after reassuring we were not police, he and his friends left.

We then headed inside and installed ourself in a nice room on the top floor (there was still electricity!), after a very comfortable night we had breakfast in the chapel and started shooting.

Panotrash and UP100

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:23:09 GMT

Digging trough a box of crappy plastic point and shoots I found this little wide-angle panorama camera, its all-plastic, it's really cheaply made and there's no sign of a brand. I shot a roll of long expired Maco UP100 trough it.

The Bakery

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:11:10 GMT

An abandoned industrial bakery somewhere in Germany. A huge complex, spanning several blocks and even crossing a street. Mostly empty halls, but there was some nice machinery left, the man-sized mixers were pretty awesome.

Fisheye randomness

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:04:18 GMT

Some random fisheye shots, first three are on expired Kodak Gold 200, next two on 15 years old Ilford HP5 and the last one on 30 years past date Kodak plus-X

Workshops Comet

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:27:19 GMT

Workshops Comet, an abandoned barrelfactory. I've been there 4 years ago, but I didn't take any pictures at the time, I just made a quick run trough the place because it was getting dark. Sadly, upon returning a few months ago, I found it utterly trashed and vandalised. A few years can really make a place go to waste.

Machines and maps

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:22:03 GMT

Some random images shot with my Agfa Isolette somewhere in may/april 2010 (on Shanghai GP3). Two of them were shot in Filature LCS, the mural map is from Filature Monique and the last one was shot in an abandoned woolwashery.

The Monastery

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:20:08 GMT

An abandoned monastery/hospital. It was quite empty, but luckily the architecture was nice, especially the staircase.

By the seaside

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:08:16 GMT

Some shots from the Ostend seaside. Shot last summer with the Franka Solida III E on Shanghai GP3.

Gardens of Rüul

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 21:06:59 GMT

A prestigious garden museum that crashed and burned before it even got the chance to take off. Sadly, the spectacular visitor centre is bady damaged and trashed now, but the huge palmtree in the glasshouse part remains.

Felica summer

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 17:04:38 GMT

I finally got around scanning some negatives shot with the Vredeborch Felica last summer.

Filature LCS

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:03:13 GMT

A well sealed abandoned textile factory. There was lots of stuff left behind, machines, a room full of textile samples, fully furnished offices. All untouched, a very nice location.

Franka Solida III E

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:26:35 GMT

The Franka Solida III E is a beautiful medium format 6x6 rangefinder folder with a huge Schneider-Kreuznach 2.9/80 lens.

The following images where shot with this camera on Shanghai GP3.

The abandoned cannery

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:19:06 GMT

The former Picolo (Bonduelle) cannery in Stabroek, Belgium. At time of my visit (about half a year ago), it had already been abandoned for quite some months, yet everything was still powered. Sadly, the plant has been demolished now.

Trip 35 on the train to work.

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:14:52 GMT

Every morning I have to commute about 90 minutes by train to get to work. To kill some time, I bring a camera along and shoot the passing landscape trough the trains windows. The following selection was shot with my Olympus trip 35 on long expired Fomapan T200.

Alte tommy kaserne

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 23:06:05 GMT

An abandoned British army base in Germany, complete with a little church. This place was abandoned a long time ago, yet there's as good as no vandalism, just beautiful natural decay.

Agfa Click I

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:02:59 GMT

The Agfa click, a nice 6x6 medium format viewfinder point and shoot camera. Here are some example photographs shot on shanghai GP3.

What the inside of a cooling tower looks like

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:27:34 GMT

something not a lot of people get to see, the inside of a cooling tower. An abandoned and inactive one, but still quite an impressive sight to behold.

FED 3

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:10:28 GMT

The FED 3, a marvel of Russian technology, was a 35mm rangefinder camera with an M39 lens fitting produced from 1964 until 1980. It's got a beautiful Leica inspired design (or rather, Leica rip-off design), a bit chunky but still stylish. I've got a FED 3b, which has a film advance lever instead of a knob (as the 3a), it also doesn't have the stepped top plate of the 3a. I wanted to check how this camera was holding up mechanically, so I shot a roll of Ferrania Solaris 200 trough it. Upon developing the negatives it became clear that the camera wasn't really in perfect working condition: scratched film, badly advanced shots and some lightleaks.

The papermill

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 17:09:36 GMT

An abandoned papermill, forgotten for years. Untouched. An eerie place, dark and unsettling. The air was damp due to an underground stream running trough the factory's basement. Generators and some machinery still in place, beautiful natural decay everywhere. A very special place.

Olympus Trip 35

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:26:26 GMT

The legendary Olympus trip 35, a popular viewfinder camera of which more than 10 million were produced between 1967 and 1988. It's a great and easy to use compact camera with a 4 position zone focus system and a selenium lightmeter for the Program mode. Here are some example shots on expired Kodak Gold 200.

The sugar factory

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:16:49 GMT

An abandoned sugar factory somewhere in Belgium. Giant looming buildings filled with oversized machinery. Getting in was easy, but we knew there was security so we had to lay low. Rain was pouring down and the buildings were creaking in the ruthless wind, so we couldn't hear if someone else was walking around inside. After a while it stopped raining, and we could hear someone making his rounds downstairs, so we kept still until the noise disappeared. We were almost finished and we wanted to check the last building, the lab. Just as we were about to enter, we noticed a single trail of fresh wet footprints on the doorsteps. Someone recently entered this building and was still inside. We decided to bail and get out of there quietly.

Zeiss ikon Nettar 515/2

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:03:55 GMT

I took my Zeiss ikon Nettar 515 for nightly testdrive last week, it was the first time I used this cam and I noticed that it's really hard to get good compositions with the pop-up viewfinder. The camera is a medium format folder that shoots 6x9 negatives, it's also really well built.

I wanted to take a stab at some medium format night photography, so I loaded the Nettar with a roll of Shanghai GP3 and went outside to shoot some nearby streets. All exposures were between 30 and 60 seconds at f22.

Zeche KP

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:25:48 GMT

Another abandoned German coalmine. Massive buildings, epic machinery, and of course some nice kaues.

Expired Kodak Plus-X and the Panamate

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:22:22 GMT

A while ago, someone gave me about 8 rolls of long expired (I'm guessing around 30 years past date) Kodak plus-X. I decided to shoot a roll with my panamate to see if the film was still useable. I developed the roll in HC-110 (dilution H) for about 10 minutes, and I was surprised to see that the negatives were quite ok. There's a lot of base fog and the grain is pretty big, but the negatives were easy to scan.

Hospital HCD

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:17:57 GMT

Another abandoned hospital, this one was being stripped for reconversion while we were there though. Still, there were some intact parts of the building to be found.

Lubitel 2

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:13:57 GMT

The Lubitel 2, a TLR. I loaded this camera with its first roll of film about 6 months ago, and i've only gotten around finishing it recently. I guess the waist level viewfinder is just too unwieldy for my taste.

Chateau Bambi

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:11:45 GMT

A small abandoned castle/hotel. Creepy atmosphere, the ceiling is coming down in places due to a leaky roof, while the furniture is still in place.

Zenit EM

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:08:56 GMT

First roll of film (expired Kodak Gold) I shot with this Zenit EM. I got this camera for free, so I figured I could at least use it once just to try it. I have to say I'm really disappointed, I knew these cameras weren't built to the highest standards, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. Everything seemed ok while using it, but when I finished the roll and tried to rewind it, the film just got torn off, so I had to unload it in the dark. I still got the salvaged film developed and there seemed to be lightleaks on most of the images. I'm definitely not going to use this one again.

Olympus PEN EE2

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:03:25 GMT

The PEN EE2 is the second PEN camera I bought (the first being the PEN EE3). The difference between those cameras is that the EE3 has an additional scale in metres for flash exposures. Besides that, they are basically the same camera.

I shot a roll of Agfa APX 100 with my PEN EE2 on my recent trip to Paris, here are some sample shots.

Agfa Billy I

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:29:29 GMT

Two images of the first roll (Shanghai GP3) I shot with my Agfa Billy I. I got this one real cheap on a fleamarket, and I have to say I don't really like it. It's just too cumbersome to use fast, and I tend to like the 6x6 negative format better than 6x9.

The car graveyard (part 2)

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:22:13 GMT

Some more shots of this surreal place. This time shot with my Mamiya dsx500 with a Coslinar f2.8/28mm lens on Agfa APX 100 film.

The train engine graveyard

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:16:09 GMT

An old trainrepairshop and about 40 train engines. Left behind a long time ago.

The car graveyard

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:09:35 GMT

A car graveyard in the middle of the woods. Hundreds of 50's and 60's cars have been rusting away here for years. These were shot with my Petri 7SII on expired Kodak Gold.

The military vehicle graveyard

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:06:44 GMT

A military vehicle graveyard in the woods (mostly DDR stuff). It was an extremely hot day, the grass was too tall and insects were buzzing everywhere. Trucks, jeeps and amphibious vehicles all over the place. Quite an impressive post apocalyptic place.

Kodak Vericolor 160

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:05:33 GMT

I recently shot a roll of long expired (2001) Kodak Vericolor 160 with my Vredeborch Felica. The film was still usable, but it had a weird blotchy discoloured band across the entire roll. I still like this film though, the colours are different and a bit off, but in a good way.

Triple exposure, two with yellow filter, one without, but with flash:

Built-in yellow filter of the Felica engaged:

And some straight shots:

Zeche Warenkorb

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:02:19 GMT

A few days ago I went on an urban exploration trip trough the German Ruhrgebiet with Bob and Roel. One of the many coalmines we visited was this one.

It took us 3 hours and a hell of a lot of effort to get in, but we were rewarded with some nice and modern kaues with shopping cart-like baskets. At first the building seemed as there was no possible way in. We then scoured the site for a makeshift ladder, as there was a hole in the building some 4 metres high. Bob climbed in, but as soon as he was in, Roel and I heard the front gate open and a van drove on the premises. We quickly grabbed our gear and ran to hide in some nearby bushes. After a while the van left, but the guy in the van took the ladder, and so Bob was trapped in the building. Luckily we found another climbable object to get him out of there. This ment we had to find another way to get in. And we did.

The thin line between hoarding and collecting

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:24:54 GMT

I bought another lot of cameras yesterday. I went to pick up an Asahi Pentax SP1000 some guy was selling, and when I was there he told me he was selling some lots of random cameras as well. I took a look at the crates of stuff and bought one of them because he was asking next to nothing considering what was in there.

This way I got home with about 30 cameras instead of one, I'm now trying to decide which ones I'm going to sell and which ones I'm going to keep.

What is in there:

Asahi Pentax SP1000Debonair Diana clone
Regula Sprinty BC 300
Regula Sprinty BC
Agfa Click I
Agfa Click II
Franka Solida I
Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2
Kodak Brownie Starlet
Vredeborch Vredebox
Ultra Fex
Uni-fex
Kalimar A
Agfa Isola I
Agfa Isola II
Agfa Isolette II
Petri 7sII
Ricoh 500G
Cosina compact 35S
Olympus trip 35
Voigtlander Vitoret
Petri 35E
Minolta Hi-matic E
Minolta S
Zeiss Ikon Contessa
Agfa Silette LK
Revue 400SE
Vredeborgh Felica
Mamiya 135

Filature Monique

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:21:24 GMT

Another abandoned textile factory! A huge site, but mostly really dark halls. There was one nice surprise though, a large relief mural world map, in a very decayed state.

Galerie de Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:19:40 GMT

A few days ago I went to Paris and I visited what has to be one of the coolest museums in the world. The Galerie de Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée of the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle. It's basically an old building stuffed with thousands of dusty skeletons, and the way the exhibition is set up probably hasn't changed for the last 50 years or so.

I brought my Agfa Isolette II and made some shots. I really should get an external rangefinder, as the focus is quite off in some of the pictures, and I'm not that good with guessing distances. Also, seeing as there wasn't all that much light available inside, I had to shoot with the aperture wide open (tripods were not allowed in the museum), resulting in quite a shallow DOF.

Shot on Shangai GP3

Filature Indigo

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:14:03 GMT

A huge textilefactory which went out of business about a year ago, they're still moving out.

Agfa Isolette II

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:08:15 GMT

The Agfa Isolette II is a nice 1950's medium format viewfinder folder camera. There are rumours floating around on the internet that Isolettes need to have their bellows replaced because they all have pinhole lightleaks, but mine is fine and light-tight.

My Isolette has got the Apotar lens and the Prontor-SV shutter, which results in apertures between 4.5 and 32 and shutter times between 1 and 1/300 (and B). The guess-o-matic focusing works ok and seems pretty accurate.

I have to say I really like this camera, the resulting negatives are sharp and contrasty plus the camera is fun and easy to use. It's also pretty compact with the bellows and the lens folded inside the body, and thus easy to take along.

shot on Shanghai GP3:

A lifetime of cameras

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:05:24 GMT

Today I bought a lot of cameras from an old guy (for real cheap). He was selling all the cameras he'd ever bought because he recently switched to digital. His first camera was a Franka Solida IIIe, he got it while serving military duty (this was around 1950). After that he updated his camera arsenal every 10 years or so, keeping up with the latest fads. In a way, this is a condensed view of almost 50 years of camera history.

The cameras in the lot:

1950 Franka solida IIIe (120 film (6x6 negatives), uncoupled rangefinder)

1961 Miranda DR (35mm slr, removable pentaprism viewfinder)

1968 Olympus PEN EE-2 (35mm (half frame), selenium exposure meter)

1974 Minox EL (supposedly the smallest full frame 35mm camera ever made)

1986 Minolta 5000 AF (an ugly and unwieldy autofocus 35mm slr)

Also, some extra accesoires: a Gossen Sixtar exposure meter, a Vivitar 135mm for the Miranda and 2 flashes.

Filature D

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:01:08 GMT

An abandoned spinning mill, this one will be demolished soon. It's quite a big complex of buildings, mostly empty, but the atmosphere is nice.

The elderly home

Sat, 29 May 2010 12:29:27 GMT

An abandoned elderly home. The beds are empty, the plants have died. Shot with my Mamiya dsx500 on Spector color 200 film. There must have been something wrong with the film, because there are brown blotches and lines on most of the images.

The sewing thread factory

Wed, 26 May 2010 20:26:21 GMT

An abandoned sewing thread factory. Immense halls, one after another, all empty. Suddenly, we come across a washing machine. Running. "Someone is still living here". Our cue to get out.

Panamate

Thu, 20 May 2010 18:32:12 GMT

The panamate, a really cheap all-plastic crappy panorama camera, shooting a horizontal half of a 35mm negative. The box makes all kinds of outrageous claims like "A genuine dual function camera!", "Cheaper than disposable!", "Time after time!" and "Just aim and shoot!", awesome!

I shot 2 rolls of Ferrania Solaris 200 with this plastic wonder of technology and cross-processed them in HC-110. The developed negatives show how crappy this camera really is, the pre-set shutter speed is obviously to slow, as almost all pictures have some motion blur going on, and there's some serious abberation on the left en right side of each image. I do enjoy the result though, and I'm really starting to like the look of colour film cross-processed as b/w.

Holcim

Tue, 18 May 2010 17:18:03 GMT

An abandoned tilefactory. Half-demolished.

Agfa Isoly Junior

Fri, 14 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Agfa Isoly junior is a really trashy camera, I got mine on a flea market for a few euros and I had to tape it in several places to prevent massive lightleaks. It's a medium format viewfinder camera (Shooting 4x4 negatives) with 2 apertures (cloudy/sunny) and a close up lens (2-4m). The Junior is the cheapest and crappiest of all isolys, but it's still a fun camera to shoot moody pictures with lots of abberation

Shot on shanghai GP3 film

And this is what happens when you don't advance the film properly.

Montevideo

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

An abandoned wooden warehouse, built in the late 19th century.

HH3

Mon, 10 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Another abandoned hospital. This one was weird, it had a really creepy, desolate atmosphere, I really didn't feel that at ease there. The operation theatres made me forget all about that though, those lamps are beautiful.

Colour film cross-processed in b/w chemistry

Fri, 07 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

About a month ago, I bought a lot of 50 rolls of Ferrania Solaris 200 film on a whim for real cheap (can't go wrong with about 30 cents a roll). The only reason I bought this trashy film was to play around and experiment with, I especially wanted to try cross-processing colour film in b/w chemistry.

Fast forward to a few days ago, I finally shot a roll of this Ferrania film with my Adox Golf IIa. I didn't put much thought in the shots, as I figured the developing would probably fail anyway.

As I didn't really have any reference times for developing colour film (let alone Ferrania film) in b/w chemistry, I just guessed. I developed for 20 minutes in HC-110 dilution H and I was glad to see that that actually was a good guess. The negatives are quite grainy, but the contrast is ok and the images are clear (although not very sharp, but that's probably more due to the camera than anything else).

The original Golfs are nice folding cameras, but the IIa is more of a brick-like chunk of a camera than an elegant folder, it's design is nice and semi-classy though. It's got a totally inaccurate guess-o-matic focusing system (1m to infinity), 7 apertures (and an auto setting), 4 shutters speeds (/125, /60, /30 and B). There's also a selenium light meter which will (when selected) set the aperture automatically.

More PEN

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

More Olympus pen shots! 3 diptychs and a triptych this time. I really like the slightly off colours of expired kodak gold.

Solargraphy

Mon, 03 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Solargraphy is a form of long-exposure photography to capture the paths of the sun across the sky. Photographic paper is used instead of film because it's a lot less light sensitive.

Two months ago I decided to give this technique a try, so I made two pinhole cameras and loaded them with old agfa photographic paper. I installed one on the roof of the building I live in and one the balcony. This is the image I found in the one on the balcony (the one on the roof seemed to have disappeared somewhere at the end of march). This image has been exposed from 01/03/10 until 03/05/10.

It turned out better than I expected, there's a good amount of traces of the sun visible and the surroundings are clear enough too. It seems the camera moved a bit somewhere halfway trough though.

Vredeborch Felica

Sun, 02 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Fleamarket find: a Vredeborch Felica. A really compact medium format camera that shoots 4.5 x 6 negatives. It's got all the right features: Built-in yellow filter, 2 apertures (sunny/cloudy), 3 shutter speeds (/25 /50 and B), flash sync and a three step guess-o-matic focusing system. It's trashy but I like it.

HH2

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Endless corridors. A morgue. This hospital has been abandoned recently.

Agfa Isola I

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The agfa isola is a medium format viewfinder camera that shoots 6x6 negatives. It's got 2 apertures (bright and cloudy) and a built-in yellow filter. Focusing is done by turning a three step guess-o-matic focusing ring, it works but it isn't really accurate. It's a little less trashy than my Clack, but there's still some abberation going on.

Some scans from the first roll I shot with this camera:

The social club

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

An abandoned club/restaurant.

Flea market finds

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Cheap flea market scores: An Agfa Isoly junior, an Agfa Billy I and two boxes of magicubes.

Olympus PEN EE3

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Olympus PEN EE3 is a half frame 35mm viewfinder camera, This means you can shoot 72 small photographs on a 36 exposures roll! It's a really small camera, true pocket size. The EE3 has got a selenium exposure meter that normally would automatically set the aperture, but sadly the meter is dead on my cam, so I have to set the aperture manually and work with the fixed 1/60 shutter speed.

Here are some examples shot on expired Kodak gold 200 film.

Fisheye

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Some recent fisheye shots.

The city library

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

An abandoned city library.

Boarded up

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Sometimes, whole streets get abandoned.

Silver screen

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Midnight. Pitch black darkness. An abandoned movie theater.

Agfa Clack

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

'82

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Here's what happens when you shoot film that expired almost thirty years ago, especially if said film was quite a crappy brand to begin with.

This roll of secacolor expired in 1982 and was supposedly tossed in a drawer to be forgotten. That is, until I dug it out recently and decided to use it. I shot it with my Praktica L and this was the only image I could pull from the negatives, the others were mostly just green and purple clouds and vague contours. Luckily, the sole usable image is quite interesting.