This Is My Love Letter to Life | Our 2022 On Film
2022
I wonder
What your first memory will be
Dancing on grey carpets
The rush of a push in a washing basket
Will it be sand or sea
Flight or sun
Will it be driving
Half eaten cheese slices
Hair clips from your Mum
Will it be vacuum cleaners
Post nap dinners
Nan nan trips or Disney Flicks
Collarbone tickles that make you laugh until you cry
I hope you remember a home
With forgotten phones
Soft dressing gowns
Upside down frowns
I hope you remember a time
Of the three of us
This wonderful mine all mine.
For Paige & Casey.
I guess the very fact it's taken me all day to put this retrospective together shows not just how many photos I've taken of my family this year & our adventures together. But also the amount of time I've had with my favourite two humans on the planet. 99% of the 1500 plus 35mm film photos I've shot this year I have home developed, home scanned & edited. Over 300 plus hours of work. It's not just the process itself that I love, but what the process is for. To leave a visual legacy behind of all that makes up my life, my world & everything that makes it so.
This is My Love Letter to Life. This is our 2022 on film.
Wanna check out my Shutter Go Click Year in Review before this one? Click for my 2022 retrospective.
Amsterdam ~ February 2022
An Amsterdam special taken on a Nikon 35Ti & Olympus MJUII, My first ever home developed colour rolls. I've probably spent around 40 hours hand developing, scanning & removing dust & scratches on these & the next set of images I'm going to post. There's something to be said for digital 😂 But I love the process, I love the time & love that has gone into every photograph. Weddings might be my bread & butter but this shit right here is my visual legacy. I can't see a reason any more to ever use a lab again for any of my film. All taken on Portra 800, Cinestill 800T & developed using Cinestill CS41 using a lab box. Casey's first ever holiday abroad to Amsterdam. Exploring the city & NDSM. They're all bangers so I couldn't pick an order.
November 2021 ~ February 2022
Nikon FM3A, Nikon 35Ti & Olympus MJUII, My first ever home developed colour rolls. I've probably spent around 40 hours hand developing, scanning & removing dust & scratches on these & my Amsterdam photos. I can't see a reason any more to ever use a lab again for any of my film. Tons more black & white photos from the same time period to come but I'm waiting to do them in a huge batch like these. All taken on Kodak Gold & Portra 800. Developed using Cinestill CS41 using a lab box. Staying at Paige's Nans house over Christmas while our kitchen was in bits. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Not just for your incredible lovely home but also for providing the setting for weird & wonderful portraits 😂 Taking Casey on walk near home & all he did was scream. Becca & Dan's baby shower! (OH MY GOD I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS!) A few of Casey playing at home.
December 2021 ~ February 2022
Nikon FM3A, Nikon 35Ti, Minolta Dynax 5, Sweet jeebus I'm scanning in over 1500 negatives at the minute from the last year so expect a lot more incoming. Can't believe how much Casey as grown since these were taken & it's pretty magical seeing them after so long sat in the fridge. All home developed & scanned by me. Mostly on my 35Ti which malfunctioned shortly after this, seems it had it's fair share of problems before repair. There's some rough photos in here but they still give me all the feels. Feeling over focus I guess :-) Tri-X 400 x 3, Fomapan 400, Delta 3200 & Revolog Snovlox. Casey's 1st Birthday, a little Winter walk around Paige's nans house, Christmas day at my sisters house, Seeing mum with Casey & a walk down the mineral line (Casey walked unaided outside for what feels like the first time) We finally got our new kitchen, Pushing Casey in the washing basket, A night out with Hannah & James in Sheff ending in Corp. Some beaut at home portraits with Casey, Pissing about in the garden, Dad & Gwyn come to visit..
20th March 2022 ~ 27th March 2022
Just a little batch of 35mm awesomeness before sharing the ones from holiday in Wales back in April 😂. Adore these shots, My MJUII never fails to surprise me, such a beaut little camera. All shot on expired Fuji 100 on my MJUII. All home devved & scanned in Cinestill CS41 using a lab box. Magna with my sis & fam (I managed to get through that entire day without taking a single photo of my sister or her kids, nice one Ry 😂 ) Newmillerdam woods with Paige & Casey. Nothing like some fallen trees to sit a fat bab on.
North Wales ~ 31st March ~ 2nd April 2022
Really proud of this set, definitely some my favourite film images I've shot. People wonder why the Hell I put so much time into film as opposed to digital & you only have to look at these to know. I'm not landscape guy but those shots of Snowdon have come out so beaut. All taken on a tiny plastic compact. All home developed & scanned using Cinestill CS41 & DF96. Kodak Gold 200, Fuji 100 Expired, Portra 800 & EZ-400. Shot on a Nikon FM3a & Olympus MJUII. Amazing B & B in Llanfrothen near Porthmadog, I took us out as a storm broke to the most crazy rainbow laden light I've ever seen Portmeirion, Black Rock Caves in the most beautiful magical light. You could literally drive onto the beach. Snowdonia walk with Casey on my back the entire way. Got about half way up I reckon before turning back. Me & Casey take a bath.
2nd April ~ 15th May 2022
All little pockets of daily life in this set. Shot on MJUII, Nikon FM3a, Minolta Dynax 7000i. Home developed in Cinestill DF96 & Cinestill CS41. Shot on EZ 400, Delta 100, FP4 Plus, JCH Street Pan 400, Asma NK-11 100, Pan 100 & finally the colour roll which I LOVED is expired Ferrania Solaris 200. Anston Stones Wood, Meeting baby Jaxon for the first time with Casey, Paige's mums for a BBQ after our kitchen flooded again 😢 Painting fences & playing outside with Casey, Casey has his first Ice Cream, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Seeing Dad on his birthday gig which light leaked to all shit. A little date night where went home early to sleep haha, Dad & Gwyn's for the day. Casey in the paddling pool. Life's best bits are often the bits in between. Download Festival coming up next & they are BEAUT.
Download Festival ~ 9th June ~ 12th June 2022
Download Festival 2022. All the dust & drunken memories. Some of my fav shots of the year in here. Especially on Delta 400. Just check out those confetti laden stage shots when Kiss were playing, BEAUT! Was great to do an entire Festival without having to leave for a day to shoot a wedding. No Casey, No responsibilities. Just music, mates & making memories. I love the behind the scenes ones too. Especially taking portraits of everyone in my drunken state. All home developed using DF96 shot on Fomopan 100, Delta 400, Pan 100, Ilford FP4 Plus & Rollei RPX 400. Taken on Minolta 7000i & Olympus MJUII, Can't wait for next year!
St Lizier France ~ 19th June ~ 23rd June 2022
Back in June I headed for a wedding in St Lizier in the South of France & made a choice to stay in the creepiest most bizarre Air B n B I have ever stayed in. Not only was this place hotter than the sun with no fan. It was also covered wall to wall in floral wall paper. Adorned with some of the most badass retro 70's fittings & finally... genuinely the most frightening space I have ever stayed in. Poor Paige has to stay on her own all day there with Casey while I shot the wedding. Why didn't she go outside you ask? Because not only was St Lizier & the surrounding areas (we drove to a few) quiet. They were also some of the rudest most unwelcoming places I have literally ever set foot in. Honestly we had one day when we took Casey (a one and a half year old baby) to a nearby town & sat down in hope for something to eat TWICE & got ignored for over an hour. In the end we just bought a load of food from the Super Market & headed back to our creepy as fuck Air B N B. If I get booked there again I'll be staying in Toulouse & travelling in. So yes in short, aside from the beaut wedding it was shit. But Casey had a belter of a time & I of course made sure that I took all the photos of this mind bending place. Shot on mostly digital & a couple of rolls of Color Plus plus some Rollei RPX 400. Some of these photos are pure book covers & I love it! Side note this gallery also includes my favourite toilet I have ever photographed (IT'S BRIGHT ORANGE)... Yes I've photographed a lot of toilets
25th June 2022 ~ 7th August 2022
Sam & Charlotte's wedding, thanks for letting us borrow your beaut wedding cars. Whitby with Becky where Casey decided to get in the sea fully dressed. (Ok I actively promoted it 😂) Eureka with Dan & Becca (It's literally exactly the same as when I was a kid), A couple of from Becca's birthday night out. Another Casey bath time, Casey playing in the sprinklers in the garden. The hottest day of the year where we just hid inside. Wild flowers with Casey & Yorkshire Wildlife Park with Katy & Fam. Shot on Kodak Colour Plus & Ilford Ortho Plus. Olympus MJUII & Nikon FM3A. Home devved in CS41 & DF96
August 2022
Last time we came here Casey was still but a tiny bloobie in his Mammas belly. Love my little family so damn much. All taken on a Fuji XT4 & 23mm F2.
Bloodstock Festival ~ August 2022
It's been nice treating my Fuji XT-4 like a bit of a dad cam recently. Barely any edits just colours and go. Here's a load from Bloodstock 2022. I'm not gonna lie the music ain't my bag but getting to spend a week of quality time with Casey, Paige & a good bunch of mates every year is just a dream. The fact Casey get's to come to a proper metal festival every year too. That's parenting done right. Some beaut moments in this set.
10th August ~ 5th September 2022
A bit of Bloodstock on film. I shot tons of digital this festival which I've already shared but still shot a couple of rolls. Mostly Casey running around wild. My sisters 40th Birthday on Tri-X 400. Half of this roll was crap due to me developing wrong (Not enough time I don't think) Such a shame as the ones that did come out are awesome. Casey playing on the drive in his new red & yellow car shot on expired Agfa 100 slide film. Not as much latitude in this film as I'm used to & all the exposures seem to be slightly over exposed which is annoying. A bit of Paige's Birthday at her mums house. A tiny bit of my birthday in Sheffield. Shot on Agfa 200, Color Plus & Agfa 100 Slide film. The slides themselves are gorgeous. Would love to see them projected. Everything home devved using Cinestill DF96 & CS41 apart from the slide film which was devved by Analogue Wonderland. Taken on MJUII & 35Ti. Going back in time to our second time at Deadwood Cabins next for Paige's Birthday.
Deadwood Cabins ~ 27th August ~ 28th August 2022
Deadwood Cabins 2022, this time we booked out all the cabins for Paige's 29th Birthday. Such a bloody magical place. Honestly I actually day dream about it sometimes. haha. Can't wait to go back again next year. Shot on 35Ti using Expired Agfa 100 Slide Film & Agfa 200. Same issue with the slide film been slightly over exposed but I love this set. It was so good to get my 35Ti back from repair too. Slide film developed by Analogue Wonderland. Colour Negative developed by me in Cinestill CS41. It's taken me months to develop, scan & edit all these family photos but the next album will be my last until I do the whole process again in a couple of months or so. YAY!
Menorca ~ 13th - 20th September 2022
Finally over 1500 negatives developed, scanned & edited, here's my last gallery of 2022 that I'll squeeze in before the new year. Our first proper beach holiday with Casey to Menorca. Don't normally go all inclusive ever but having ice creams & juice on tap for the poisonous dwarf was definitely a major plus. Such an amazing time with the fam I remember getting a bit emotional when we were about to leave. Shot on Agfa Vista 100 slide film. Kodak Color Plus, Lomo Redscale which I thought would be awful but actually turned out my favourite photos of the whole trip. I'm not one for (lookslikepiss) edits but redscale film is a vibe. Finally a roll of the single worst film I ever put in a camera Revolog Streak. It's a film souped 35mm stock that adds scratches to your negatives. I'd rather put my trouser appendage in a blender than use that again for anything. I've probably shot over 50 different film stocks this year but I know my fav emulsions after basically trying them all, so 2023 will look a bit different. I'm investing in camera scanning this year along with better developing kit so I can do more rolls at once. I've loved the process of literally making all these photos from nothing this year. Was it worth the 300 plus hours I've spent doing so when I could have just picked up a digital camera? ABSO-FUCKING-LOUTELY.
