In January of 2026, I took a train from my home in Somerset to London. There was work to be completed but not by me. My role was to assure the work and ensure the operational priorities of the customer were accounted for. I stayed in Stratford in the East of London, by the Westfield Centre. Being January, cold and lacking light, I decided to do my best with my Holga and push the film. Not every frame was a winner but there were some nice pictures
How many times have we as photographers said "I am going back to simple photography"? I think at some point we have all said it. Lately, I have been thinking about just that theme.
Some of my cameras are extremely simple. They consist of a box to prevent light from affecting the film, a lens and shutter mechanism, this allows me to chose how much light will hit the film and exactly when that will happen. Finally there is a simple mechanism to allow the film to be moved through the camera (I'm talking about 120 roll film here).
More simple still is large format photography. The film is supplied in sheets and is placed in a special frame, in the dark, and has a sliding door that can be removed when the frame is in the camera.
And then there is the problem of exact exposure values. How do we get those? You can use a light meter. But it turns out that all meters are not created equal!
If you want to simplify things you can use the Sunny f16 rule. Just have a look outside and choose an appropriate value, while applying the Sunny f16 rule.
Exposure is such a minefield. You don't want blown out highlights or blocked up shadows. You want shadows to have detail and highlights to have detail. You probably also want deep blacks, sharpness, detail. On and on and on it goes.
Eventually you get to the zone system and your mind melts.
Sometimes it all gets a bit much! Too much maths, too much kit, too much to think about.
Those who understand the zone system think the rest of us are idiots and us idiots think life is too short for the technical complexity of the zone system and simply want to produce photographs that are interesting and have soul.
Recently I have been studying the work of Don McCullin. Don is a famous photographer who made a career shooting 35mm film using a Nikon F camera, with a 50mm prime lens. His subjects were war, famine and human depravation.
Reading his autobiography, "Unreasonable Behavior", standing around waving a light meter about to get the best exposure settings was a hazardous occupation. A nearby, and unseen, sniper may take an accurate shot at you, ending your life. Dons approach seems to have been to get an indicative exp setting, however he could, and then rely on the latitude of the film and his experience of exposure settings. So he could stop down or open up an aperture as he shot. Often he would push film, Don normally used Kodak Tri-X, to ISO 800 or even 1600 if light was at a premium.
The resulting negatives are astonishing, they are detailed, gritty, matching the dynamic nature of an ongoing skirmish or battle with arresting black and white photographs.
Don McCullin produced work for the Sunday Times magazine for many years, until someone in charge decided that presenting the horrors of war and famine to Englishmen, while they enjoyed their Sunday breakfast, was not on. Luxury brands complained that their products didn't sit right opposite award winning black and white photographs of dead children.
Another photographer who was disinterested in technical excellence and more interested in photographs that captures moments was Jacques Henri Lartigue. He took photographs throughout his life and built a huge catalogue of work, without being overly concerned with the technical aspects of the craft.
So coming back to simplicity in photography, I decided to get my Nikon F75 out, insert new batteries and take some photos. The camera is a bit more modern than a Nikon F and has a built in light meter.
My simplicity is to let the camera and film do the heavy lifting and just try to concentrate on producing photographs that are interesting. The photographs in this blog post are all taken on a 400 speed film that was exposed as ISO 800 and was pushed in development to ISO 800. This is what my simplicity looks like.
As the Rolling Stones once sang, you can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you'll find, you get what you need.
Following on from my last blog, regarding my use of Ilford PQ Universal developer (and it's clones), I should perhaps expand upon the reasons why I use the dilution of 1+29. As I mentioned in the previous blog the dilution of 1+29 allows similar development times to ID-11/D76. Why is this important?
Firstly dilution. What does 1+29 mean? With tools like the Massive Dev Chart app, it is easy to use the instructions given to make the development solution. The instructions state that 16.7ml of Developer is added to 483.3ml of plain water at 20 degrees centigrade. The total making 500ml of developing solution; This being the correct amount of developing solution for a roll of 120 film. Easy right?
Well yes and no. the 1+29 means the following;
1 part developer
29 parts water.
To find the correct amount of developer from this the following arithmetic is used.
1+29 = 30
500/30 = 16.7 (the / means divide and the 500 is the amount of developing solution used in milliliters).
The one part is now found in our formula 1+29
To find the 29 parts simply multiply 1 part by 29
16.7*29=483.3 (* means multiply)
so 16.7+483.3=500
Measuring fractions of a milliliter is impossible, and quite frankly unnecessary. I measure 17ml of developer and top up with water to the half liter.
17+483=500ml.
The time taken for development is critical, up to a point. The Massive Dev Chart app will provide timings for particular films. For example it states that when developing Kentmere 400 in PQ Universal, the development time should be 8 minutes and 15 seconds. Individual timings are unimportant here but any developer and timing that is used should be greater than 5 minutes and less than 10 minutes, as a guideline.
Why should the time be longer than 5 minutes? There are two reasons why this might be so.
It's a funny thing that Ilford sell a liquid developer called PQ Universal, suggesting the developer can be used to develop film and paper, but then go on to state in their datasheet that they don't recommend the developer for 120 or 35mm film use, though sheet film is okay.
This kind of contradiction is the kind of thing that will intrigue my brain and cause me to want to investigate further.
So investigate I have.
Film developers fall into two broad categories. These are;
At my last birthday, my son gave me a birthday card and said your present is inside. I opened the card and there was a piece of A4 saying "Holiday in Benidorm". Thanks, I said.
Now Benidorm is a destination that carries some baggage with it. It is the destination of choice for those Britains' who really want Blackpool with good weather and even cheaper lager. Benidorm is famed for full English breakfasts, with English sausages and a mug of builders tea. There are plenty of sports bars serving all the English brands of lager, like Stella Artois and San Miguel. There are also several Irish bars serving genuine Guinness.
There are also the same fast food brands that you'd find in any UK city or town. The ubiquitous golden arches, the chicken from Kentucky, pizzas named after a pub game and more.
Not so much an experience of a different culture, with local fresh food and dancing, more of a home from home. Globalization has much to answer for.
Back in the 1960s, my maternal grandparents were early adopters of the Jet powered package holiday. They had been holidaying abroad before by using the train and ferries and then train again to their final destination. But when air travel became affordable, they jumped at the chance to board a BAC 111, the charter flight aircraft of choice, and arrived in Ibiza to find local fishing villages, fresh seafood and local entertainment (bullfights, flamenco etc) all washed down with plenty of local wine and sherry. This was long before the commercialization of many Spanish holiday destinations, or, as many think, the ruination of these destinations.
It was with trepidation that I, tentatively, looked forward to my weekend in Benidorm.
The weekend got off to a bad start. The post 9/11 paranoia, that still exists at Airports nearly 25 years later, proved to hold us up for longer than necessary. The security operative had clearly used Midnight Express as a training video rather than entertainment. The delight with which I was asked to accompany him and went through my suitcase and carry on bag, was palpable.
By the time I wheezed up to the boarding gate, my heart was about to give up the unequal fight with my age and with my painful feet complaining, they shut the gate and wouldn't let us through. Bastards!
This is the downside of modern travel, negotiating the security systems that were put in place for our security but which are intrusive and are designed to make the traveler feel like Billy Hayes.
My son got on the phone later in the day and the holiday company agreed that we could fly the next day, Saturday, and we could return on the Tuesday. A quick email to my boss to ask permission to change my holiday dates, resulted in an enquiry of such depth that it made the Watergate investigation look like a call to directory enquiries. Eventually permission was granted but with the mini lecture that I must be more organized in future.
After all the nonsense of the previous day, The day of the flight went perfectly. We arrived at the airport and, in contrast to the previous day, we were sat in the bar drinking a beer less than an hour after leaving my house.
The flight passed, not exactly pleasantly, but quickly enough that it didn't really matter and we emerged at Alicante airport ready for our transport to our hotel.
Arrival at the Hotel Olympia, in Benidorm Old Town, was a real delight. The hotel has an old world charm. The quiet entrance is in a street off of the main pedestrianised area. You step into the reception area and are greeted by a member of staff who welcomes you to the hotel and efficiently does the admin to check you into your room without looking myopically at a computer screen for half an hour.
We dropped our bags in our room and ventured out to find some dinner. Time was moving on and it was about 10pm, but we found a lovely little family run restaurant where a simple meal of Spaghetti Bolognese for myself and a freshly cooked pizza for my son. From out table we could watch the kitchen staff spark into life and cook our food, The food was delicious and reasonable price at 35 Euros for both of us, include a couple of beers each. This was a venue that we'd return to during our brief stay in Benidorm.
We then repaired to a bar and sat outside enjoying a drink and a chat.
The next day we ventured out early following an enjoyable breakfast. I'd brought along a Polaroid Flip camera and four packs of film. Getting the film through the security at the UK airport was a nightmare as it can't be X-Rayed or CT Scanned. At £17.99 a pack, you don't want the film ruined! So I'd calculated on using 2 packs a day during our stay.
Now I have to say that Benidorm Old Town is relatively unspoiled and lacks the gaudy, noisy, dreadful attack on the senses that you get a couple of hundred yards down the coast. The streets are a great place to take contemplative stroll post breakfast and the early morning air is fresh and welcome. The shops are a mixture of local crafts, butchers, bakers, and shoe shops.
The Benidorm castle is easily accessible but there are only foundations still to be seen and a modern viewing area is built over the top, with perspex windows to allow viewing of medieval foundations and stonework. The view of the coast and sea is at it's best here.
The early morning light was excellent and a contrast to the dull, dark conditions at home. I pulled out the Polaroid Flip and shot some pictures,
The Flip is a beautifully simple camera. I borrowed the Flip from Dave Whenham (@daveinelland) and he has borrowed my Polaroid I-2. The I-2 has lots of features and can be a bit complex to navigate. The Flip is much simpler and works better for it. I quickly shot the first film and reloaded.
In the Old Town there are plenty of subjects to shoot, but my preference is for double exposures and I was not left wanting. We walked and walked until it was lunch time and a delicious luncheon was enjoyed, again in a street bar. The temperature at the end of January is 18 degrees Celsius and so the ability to walk around as it it were a cooler summers day in the UK was possible.
More walking in the afternoon took us along the coast toward the opposite end of the beach. There wasn't much along here but the walk was pleasant and we popped into a bar about 3pm for a restorative beer.
By the time we wandered back to the Hotel, I'd shot all the film for the day.
Following another meal at the restaurant we'd been in the previous night, we had a final drink in a lovely little bar about a 100 yards from the Olympia, sitting out until about 1am.
The next day, and nursing a bit of a hangover, we had a chilled day that included 3 meals, beer and more Polaroid photography.
We were collected at 06:20 (am) the following morning for our flight home.
I was surprised and delighted by Benidorm Old Town and I think that it was well worth a visit and made a nice weekend break.
I will caveat this post by saying that I am by no means a Polaroid Multiple Exposure expert, but I dabble. There are others on the 'net that are much more into Polaroid cameras and all the good and interesting things that the cameras do. There is a chap called Will Malone who has made multiple exposures a real art form and tried, with some success, to formalise this with some science. It is this kind of geekery that really interests me.
I am not going to reproduce the formalisation here, but, as we all stand on the shoulders of giants, I shall, and have been, be using his work as inspiration for my own.
A multiple exposure is, as I'm sure you will know, the practice of making two or more exposures within one frame and the result will be two pictures (if you take two exposures), somehow mixed together by the universe in a way that is not entirely predictable. The result is random, chaotic even, but wholly unpredictable.
