A couple of episodes ago, the hosts of the Sunny16Podcast challenged themselves to get out for the hour that they’d normally be recording, and to shoot a roll of film instead. They seem to have had lots of positive feedback on the idea and a few folks have joined in, spending their own hour shooting, and making an audio record of it.

I enjoyed the episode a lot and it made a refreshing change from the usual chat about gear or someone selling their services. And so on Friday, at the start of the three day Bank Holiday weekend, I slipped out of work an hour early and headed for the 12 O’Clock Hills.

It’s a trail that I walked (and photographed) a couple of weeks ago, but since that visit, we’ve made the decision to move to a house that’s just a mile or so from the trailhead. So I was keen to visit again and this challenge seemed like the perfect reason to.

You can hear the tale of my hour (it was more like two) in the audio file above, and see the photographs that I made below.

Here, I’m happy enough with the exposure and the focus, but not so sure about the composition.

Next, another homage to Paul Hart and his excellent ‘Truncated’ work.

I missed the focus on the next shot, but got the exposure exactly how I’d hoped. I was hand-holding at f/2.8 and had the bellows extended. It was always going to be a fluke if I’d nailed it.

Part-way around the walk there’s a Buddhist retreat tucked away in the woods. This fella sits in the gateway.

As you’ll have heard in the audio, I got a real soaking on the walk and somehow, rain got between the elements of the shooting lens. I took the front element off (it just unscrews) and snapped a roll-ending selfie without it. I should have thought about smiling.

Shooting a roll in an hour is nothing unusual for me, but recording the experience was new. As I listened back, I grew used to the sound of my own voice, but probably should have made it clear that I was walking up a steep hill while recording, and don’t usually sounds quite so unfit.
I learned a couple of new skills and how to use Audacity to put the clips together, and listening back, I’m happy that I have the audio accompaniment to the pictures.

I was on a roll, so after finishing the story of my hour for Sunny16, carried on and recorded a ‘Call-In Camera Review’ for the NegativePositives podcast about the Mamiya C330 I’d been using. You’ll have to subscribe to those guys and check it out…