Bristol is a lively city, with countless bars, restaurants and attractions. When I moved closer into town from the countryside, I decided to take my Olympus XA4 with me on nights out, to capture the shenanigans we all get up to.
I popped in a roll of expired Fuji Superia 400, and set my XA4 to 1600 ISO – to be honest, I wasn’t sure if anything would come out. I’ve not pushed film much before (and when I have, it’s been black and white). But if you don’t try, you’ll never know – and with this in mind, I sent my exposed roll off to FilmDev with the expectation that nothing would come out.
FilmDev have always been quick, but this time I received my scans back in record time – 2 days for four rolls! I really recommend them to anyone who just wants scans, no prints – their prices are good, turnaround is quick, and the quality of scans is as good as any other specialist developers I’ve used.
Bristol by Night
Some of my favourite images on the roll came from my night-time shots – the blurry faces and movement really add to the life of the images. I hate overly posed and perfect portraits – it’s one of the reasons I’ve never been very interested in portrait photography. But these shots are fun, they’re silly – exactly what a good night out should be. I’m also really pleased that pushing the film worked so well!
Bristol By Day
The daytime shots have also come out nicely – the colours are much more muted than the night time ones, with a warm tone. It’s picked out the reds in the flowers above, and in the brick colours – perfect for a walk along the river in the hazy sunshine.
Pushing Fuji Superia 400 has turned out really well, even with expired and badly-stored film. I’ll definitely be trying it again, and I have the seeds of an idea for recording friends on nights out too.