Through the last four months of 2016, Emulsive.org ran the @FP4Party. Film shooters were encouraged to burn up a roll of the Ilford film during the first week of the month and post results on Twitter during the third. There was a competition for the best entries, voted on by the site’s followers.

The main aim was to get people using a film stock that they may not have otherwise have tried, and by running it across a few months, people got to explore the abilities of the film in different situations. I enjoyed the results of the three rolls that I shot for the project – you can see some of them here. For 2017, the plan appears to be to run similar ‘parties’ for other films and first up is Kodak TMax (#TMAXparty in case you hadn’t guessed).

And so during the first week of March, the plan was to use up a roll of TMax that’s been tucked away in a shoebox in the garage for a few years. I had no plans for the week other than working, and the weekend was pretty free. But once again the British weather had other ideas. I managed to get out for two short walks with Emily, allowing her to enjoy one of her favourite pass times – jumping in muddy puddles.

The camera I used was the Olympus Stylus 120 that I’d received from my Emulsive Secret Santa. It was untested and broken, in that the LCD display on the back was smashed and black. It meant that when I managed to turn on the date stamp feature (accidentally), I didn’t realise.

For a free camera and a cheap(ish) film, the results are pretty good. Enough to make me question the money that I have tied up in a Leica M6! I think it’ll be a ‘glove box’ camera – one that I can carry about, just in case…

Gubbins:
Olympus Stylus 120, Kodak TMax 400, Ilford Ilfotec HC for 6:30, scanned at home.