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Seeing red... Infra-red (ish).

 In May I had one of my two annual hospital appointments, this one with a doctor, as I'd not seen one since November 2019. So I figured as I was travelling into central London I could at least 'play tourist' for the time. I had a two year out of date roll of Ilford SFX film, and decided to take my Voigtlander Bessa-L camera for the day. The Bessa-L is a weird one, it's basically just the bare bones of a camera. Film goes here, lens screws on there, there's no viewfinder in the camera itself, you just clip a viewfinder into the accessory shoe, depending on the lens you're using, and there's no mechanism for focusing, you just use depth of field to get as much in focus as you can dependent on aperture. F8 and be there!

Voiglander Bessa-L, here pictured with 15mm Aspherical Super-Wide Heliar.
Rather than use the 15mm lens in the above picture, I'd discovered that the 25mm Snapshot Skopar had a filter thread which was the right size for some of the filters I had, so I could screw a red filter on the front of the lens. The effect is the red filter lets through more light from the redder end of the spectrum and less from the bluer end. While SFX is not a 'true' infra-red film it has an extended red sensitivity for a similar look. I think the results are interesting.

Thames near the OXO tower


The statue of Mary Seacole in the grounds of St. Thomas' Hospital, where I'd gone for my appointment.


London Eye


Westminster Abbey - I really like the glow in this shot.


Meanwhile the building in the shade has a completely different appearance.


Parliament is the home of whitewash. No demonstrators allowed.


I really like the contrast between the black bollards and the glowing County Hall and London Eye. The road markings also add to the overall perspective.


Looking up the Shard, and the red filter darkens the sky splendidly.


Using up the film on a local stroll, with some home-made sign behind the littlest postbox.


The path goes on - where will it lead us?

So that's a selection of shots. I do really like Ilford SFX 200 film for that slightly otherworldly look it gives, and I really should use the 25mm Snapshot Skopar lens more as it's a manageable wide angle focal length where the 15mm Aspherical Super-Wide Heliar is maybe TOO wide and harder to deal with.


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