Madeira 2024 #5 | On film: Cliff

maipenquynh on 20. August 2024

It felt like this place, Calheta, consisted only of a road that went alongside the sea. In between there was a stretch of beach and, a bit decadently, a harbour for yachts. Our hotel was at one end of the road. And if you walked to the other end of this road, with the sea on your left, you ended up at a bend in the road that led inland to the right (thus, this place was more than just this road). But what I found much more interesting was the view straight ahead. The road ended there and instead of tarmac, stones of all sizes were underfoot, with corners and edges and round shapes. This made walking difficult and I had to watch my footing. I sat down on a large stone with a view of the sea, with the cliff next to me and the late afternoon sun in front of me. The formation of the stones and the cliff had taken my fancy and I moved back and forth for a nice crop. I waited quite a long time before I pressed the shutter release. The time had come when the two birds were seen in the air.

(Click on the image to see it as a whole)

~

#1: Intro | #2: São Lourenço | #3: A curtain and learning exposure | #4: The blue of Porto Moniz | #5: Cliff | #6: Green hangings | #7: moody mist | #8: On the roads of Camacha | #9: On the roads of Calheta | #10: The house on the big hill | #11: Colourful row of houses in Lisbon | #12: My impression of Madeira and Lisbon

Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: Kodak Gold 200
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

Madeira 2024 #4 | On film: The blue of Porto Moniz

maipenquynh on 17. August 2024

The blue and turquoise of Porto Moniz. The white gout. The rough sea, the surf. It was so calming. Regaining our strength and having the sea in front of us after days of lying around. That was all we needed. We were drawn to the sea every day. It was too cold to swim and the waves and currents were too strong.

I couldn't break away from the colours of the water. Since day 1 in Porto Moniz, I wanted to capture these colours on film. And in the end, I succeeded.

(Click on the image to see it as a whole)

~

#1: Intro | #2: São Lourenço | #3: A curtain and learning exposure | #4: The blue of Porto Moniz | #5: Cliff | #6: Green hangings | #7: moody mist | #8: On the roads of Camacha | #9: On the roads of Calheta | #10: The house on the big hill | #11: Colourful row of houses in Lisbon | #12: My impression of Madeira and Lisbon

Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: Kodak Gold 200
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

Madeira 2024 #3 | On film: A curtain and learning exposure

maipenquynh on 15. August 2024

(Click on the image to see it as a whole)

This picture tells two stories:

One story is reminiscent of the sickbed we had set up. We had managed to get something gastrointestinal-related and were therefore confined to bed for a few days. We had no strength for more. Drinking and broth soup was everything that was feasible.

The other story, and this is my personal beautiful story, is having a lot of time. Between periods of tiredness and slumber, I felt like getting involved in the subject of exposure. At that point, I had already decided for some time - several weeks, maybe months - to dive into the topic exposure, or rather how I measure it and set it "the right way". While my first experience was the Sunny 16 rule , I decided to move away from the rule of thumb and towards the light meter. At the very beginning I was lost; honestly speaking, I have never really bothered with metering methods. And that day, lying in bed, I thought I'd use the time to try out the zone system. I had read about it several times but never understood it. YouTube was the medium of choice and after two or three videos I roughly understood the concept.

And the curtain? In my memory, this is the first picture where I had understood the zone system. My personal achievement...

… stop stop!

I have to correct myself. After comparing various time stamps (video history, dates of the images), this image of the curtain was not the first picture where I had understood and applied the zone system. That was a few days earlier and a few pictures before that.

The truth: I learnt to understand the zone system back in my healthy days, just before the gastrointestinal fuss came over me. During the sick days, I really only napped and rested. Even if my memory was playing tricks on me, one thing was good and really happened: The curtain picture was the first picture after being ill that I took using the zone system.

One other thing I am very sure about beside all these half-true memories: I learnt and understood the zone system in this very room, with these curtains. This is true.

#1: Intro | #2: São Lourenço | #3: A curtain and learning exposure | #4: The blue of Porto Moniz | #5: Cliff | #6: Green hangings | #7: moody mist | #8: On the roads of Camacha | #9: On the roads of Calheta | #10: The house on the big hill | #11: Colourful row of houses in Lisbon | #12: My impression of Madeira and Lisbon

Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: Kodak Gold 200
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB