When Pentax announced their brand new film camera, the Pentax 17, last year I was intrigued. Aside from my pinhole cameras, all the film cameras I use are old ones - some of them older than I am. With parts for old models gradually becoming scarcer it’s great to see a manufacturer like Pentax investing in the development of fresh cameras which aren’t just cheap as chips plastic point and shoot models.
One of the events at the Photography Show this week was a photowalk with photographer Dan Rubin, with Pentax 17 cameras and film provided for us to try. £10 for an hour’s walk with a great photographer, a new camera to try with film and developing (plus a goodie bag containing badges and stickers) - how could I resist that! The 17 is a half frame camera so I wasn’t sure I’d be that excited by it, but I went with an open mind and listened to Dan’s creative suggestions. One of these was to take some of our photos as thematically connected pairs, on the basis that two frames take up the same space as a single 35mm film frame - like the one above. This was an interesting way to shoot and made me think in a different way about the sights I was seeing.
Alongside the paired images I also kept my eyes open for anything that interested me, such as these rippled reflections in the water.
