A new beginning...continued

So I returned to my new mentor after a weekend of almost constant snapping.  I had 2 issues concerning the photos I was taking - the first being the aperture settings.  Before I started using the Olympus Pen 35mm, the various settings were set for me in a way that would hopefully cope for general conditions.  Secondly, I didn't want to simply click away at anything that looked mildly interesting as I knew that my new 'master' would inspect the quality of my compositions.

Once inside his magnificent house, the true scale of his talent became apparent.  Beautiful sculptures and photo prints lined the walls of the modern style building.  It was like I was in a sanctuary or gallery of his finest work - certainly a good inspiration for me.  I sat down and began to talk when it became apparent that he had another surprise for me.  From the corner of the room, he pulled out a medium format Mamiya 645J, with tripod attached and said that I should really have this, but only if I was serious about learning.  Of course I accepted the gift with eager eyes and a wide mouth...I couldn't believe my luck.  As well as this, he gave me a light meter and loaded a film into the Mamiya.  We then went through all the features of the camera and wound the first exposure into place - more on this later.

Another visit to his dark room and we were about to develop my first film.  We studied the various apparatus and chemicals that we would use, and I was sure to write it all down before it flew completely over my head.  Luckily, my girlfriend was there with us (bit of a squeeze in his rather petite garden shed!) and she is also interested in this format.  Cutting a rather long story short, we applied the developer to the film, then the stop and finally the fix before we rinsed the film and then hung it to dry.  Almost like Boots, I returned a few hours later to see my results for the first time.  I had totally forgotten the feeling of having your film developed.  From the composition of the photo, to the 'click', to the development and the waiting in between, it really creates a great sense of anticipation.

 -- I think this is the feeling that I'm hooked on! --

Using his magnifying glass, we both inspected the negatives.  I thought, in all, they looked quiet good, but he was slightly concerned about the under exposure (not enough light) on some of them.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to print the photos, but this was something I could do on my return to England.  So all I had to do now was take my first ever medium format photo.  This meant setting up the composition then using my 'new' light meter to determine the aperture and shutter speed that I would need.  I decided to take a photo of the family in front of our holiday home - a rather traditional picture that our family hasn't taken for a long time.  Hopefully, I will develop that film soon and post the results up here - fingers crossed!  As for my 35mm photos, they have been developed and scanned....