By law, photographers in southeast England, with a few days holiday, have to make a pilgrimage to Dungeness, which is how I found myself in, probably, the most COVID-safe environment in this crowded corner of the country.

It gave me an excellent opportunity to test a new-to-me, black and white film, Fomapan 400.

In this notebook, I write all my notes related to film developing. “Why are you showing us this Nigel?” you might be saying. Well despite having this great little book with all my notes and despite having been developing film on & off for 30 years, careless people can still f**k it up.

About eight years ago I went to a wedding as a guest, I wasn’t the photographer but I was hoping to get a few good shots for the happy couple (they’ve since divorced, but we’ll gloss over that). I knew the venue was going to be dark so I took a few rolls of Neopan 1600. In the end, I only shot one roll, but I truly hated the results, big ugly lumpy grain. I disliked it so much l’ve not shot it since I still have the remaining rolls of in my refrigerator.

For some time I’ve wanted to blog more. I used to write regularly, and although I don’t find it easy, I do enjoy it. Like everything it needs to become a habit, if you fall out of the habit, it’s tough to restart.

I posted before a sample of Orwo N74+ developed using Kodak HC-110, the sample below was developed using Rodinal diluted at 1+50.

This is a shot of Robin Hood Gardens in East London, it's a test from my first roll of Orwo N74+. Orwo film manufactured by FilmoTec GmbH based in the former East Germany. The company in various forms has been making the film, mainly for the motion picture industry, since 1910.