09-02-26 - Site Spotlight Weekly
Let me start off by saying sorry and apologising for no weekly updates up until now. Sometimes I am doing nothing photography related. Not even taking photos so during those times I have quite literally zero updates. Any update that I would have is actually so small there is no point in giving an update. Still. For now I am back. I am still debating whether I should scrap this if I have no updates to write but let's continue SSW for now. I have quite a lot to update you on but I do not have a weekly update to share. Instead I will just update you on everything that’s happened from December up until now.
All changes and updates listed here are actually from December 2025 to 8th February 2026
December 2025
New camera, spending time with family and new images:
1.) So it was Christmas Day! I was very excited for the day ahead because I would be spending Christmas Day with my family. We would be going round to my sister and her partner's house for Christmas Day. it would be me, my parents, my nephew, my sisters and their two partners. It was a fun day where we ate and played card games. For Christmas I received a new camera, a bulk loader, a Paterson developing tank and other really cool gifts! I was excited to use to use bulk loader and camera! The camera is a Yashica Mat 124G so it would be my first time trying out a TLR (Twin Lens Reflex). 2.) Just before we left for my sister’s house I decided to finish off a roll of film. It had been sitting in my camera for over a month at this point and I wanted to get this roll out of the way before the coming week which I'll talk about shortly. This roll is for Ilford Delta 400 - (Roll 62) that I shot in Ilminster, Shute, Honiton and in Exmouth. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Ilford Delta 400
Boxing Day 2025
Trying out the Bulk Loader:
1.) On Boxing Day I decided to load some film from the bulk loader with a reel of Fomapan 400. It was very very difficult at first because I couldn't see what ins doing. You have to do it completely by touch. It will completely ruin the film if you attempt it with the lights on. In this case I used a Darkroom Changing bag. A changing bag is like a mini portable darkroom. After several hours and then after several more hours I finally managed to load the film in the bulk loader correctly. I then used some empty 35mm cassettes and some tape and began loading each cassette with some film. December 27th 2025 - January 3rd 2026
Cornwall:
1.) On the 27th we drove up to Cornwall. We would be going on holiday again and to the same place we went to the last time. I was very happy about this because I would be spending my birthday there. I bought with me some cameras and all of my film but this time I left my Contax at home The film that I bought with me was mostly the bulk rolled film along with Medium Format. I did bring other films as well but I knew I wanted to shoot mostly Black and White while in Cornwall. I took quite a lot of images and so I will share them with you now:
Kodak Gold 200 - (Roll 63) that I shot in Polperro. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Kodak Gold 200
Fomapan 400 - (Roll 64) that I shot in Daracott and Botallack. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Fomapan 400
Fomapan 400 - (Roll 65) that I shot in Porthleven, Daracott, Swanpool Beach and St. Ives. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Fomapan 400
Cinestill 400D - (Roll 66) that I shot in Botallack and Falmouth. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Cinestill 400D
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - (Roll 67) that I shot in Falmouth, Swanpool Beach and St. Ives. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Ilford HP5 Plus 400
Kodak Portra 160 - (Roll 68) that I shot in St. Ives and Godrevy. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Kodak Portra 160
Ilford XP2 Super 400 - (Roll 69) that I shot in St. Ives. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail. I have explained within the dedicated page I have split this roll of images up into two parts but I will explain again here. I shot some of this roll in 2025 and I shot the rest of this roll in 2026.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Ilford XP2 Super 400 - Part One
Lomo Purple 100-400 - (Roll 70) that I shot in Godrevy. I shot these images in 2025.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Lomo Purple 100-400
January 2026
1.) Now comes January 2026 of this year. I would been the year by finishing off the roll of Fomapan 400 and starting on other films: Ilford XP2 Super 400 - (Roll 69) that I shot at the Minack Theatre and Lamorna. I shot these images in 2026.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Ilford XP2 Super 400 - Part Two
Kodak UltraMax 400 - (Roll 71) that I shot at the Minack Theatre. I shot these images in 2026.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Kodak UltraMax 400
Ilford XP2 Super 400 - (Roll 72) that I shot at the Minack Theatre and Lamorna. I shot these images in 2026.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Ilford XP2 Super 400
Ilford XP2 Super 400 - (Roll 72) that I shot Mousehole. I shot these images in 2026.
Included below is a button to the roll where I talk a little bit about it in more detail.You can click the button below which will take you directly to the film page where this roll along with all of my other rolls are located.Kodak Portra 800
2.) Purchasing a Light meter, camera and other things:
Shortly after Cornwall I decided it was best to purchase a handheld Light Meter and so that is what I did. I got myself the Sekonic-L85D Speedmaster. It is a very accurate light meter and very advanced or so I've been told from the countless videos I've watched about it. I am excited to see what kind of results I get from using it. This will be very very beneficial to my photography and progressing forward. It will save me money once I get the hang of using it. It has many different functionality's such as advanced Flash and Ambient Measurement, great low light capability, cine/video modes and many others. For now I am interested in only two things though. Spot metering and Reflective metering. Those are the main two that I am interested in at the moment. Spot metering will be great for landscapes. It’s for metering a specific point of a scene. There is also a retractable lumisphere which is great for things like portraits. To be honest this is my first time using a light meter so I am learning as I go but in time this should help me capture images with the correct exposure. I also found something quite interesting on Ebay. I found an old camera called a Ricoh Mirai. I found it for less than £6. I’ve been using that recently alongside my Yashica. The camera looks very interesting and doesn’t look like a normal camera. It looks futuristic and out of this world.While in Axminster, I usually like to visit the Recycling shop. Sometimes they have camera related things (the same place I found the old Polaroid Autofocus 660 and Pentax Espio 738S. I was after one thing in particular and I've been looking at it for quite a while which was an old Rollei Slide Projector. I bought alongside a few slides and I asked them to test it. Sure enough, it turned on, and the motor was working. This specific slide projector has a wired remote and you can when all slots on the machine are filled with slides you can press forward and back to view different slides. The focus was also working and I could see one of my slides projected on the wall. I was very excited and looking forward to viewing my slides. So once I got home I turned it on but there was a problem. You see, it wouldn’t light up or protect anything so I looked a bit deeper. The bulb was completely broke and it must have broke anytime from after the initial test in the shop to when I got home. My mum said to me it could be because he moved the projector too quickly after turning it off as he didn’t let the bulb cool down enough. Could this be the issue? I’m not really sure. The bulb in question is a 24v 150w Halogen Lamp. It glows bright and hot and so by moving it quite often may damage the bulb. Sure enough the broken bulb was an issue because I purchased a new bulb later on and waited for the delivery. February 2026
Slide Projector is fixed, new content coming soon and exciting new opportunities are on their way:
1.) I bought the projector and the new bulb into Axminster. There is a community waffle house and they have a section or the cafe where volunteers help fix or repair broken technology. This is on the first Saturday of every month I donated a bit of money for the repair and once I got home me and my parents viewed my slides. I think going forward I will have to get or borrow a white screen (I only have a yellow wall so it’s not really ideal) and I will be shooting more slide film this year. 2.) I was emailed recently. They are asking me if I would be able to take photographs for them. This will be two venues or two buildings and in two different locations. I am really happy that they asked me and I would love to do it. I was told that I would be paid for my work. This is really exciting news for me and I will be happy to do this for them. 3.) I have one more roll of film of Cornwall left to go through and then until I finish the two rolls that are in my cameras I'm all caught up in regards to 35mm and medium format. Polaroids are another story though. I have updated 2025's page with the final Polaroids of the year however I a lot of ones from 2023 and 2024 left to go through and upload. Because of the amount, they will take me some time, a considerable amount of time in fact so blessed do best with me. 4.) Below are the final Polaroids of the year: You can find the page in the top navigation bar of my website. Hover over Polaroids and then click “All Polaroids”. That will take you to where you need to go. Or you can click the button below which will take you to my 2025 Polaroids.
Or if you would like to view all of my Polaroids and not just the ones from 2025 then you can click the button below.
All of the Polaroids below are ones that I have just uploaded. They were shot in 2025 on a mix of two different cameras. The cameras I used for these photographs were the Polaroid SX-70 Sonar and the Polaroid Autofocus 660. I shot these in Sidmouth, Seaton, Stourhead and at home.
Well that’s all for now folks. I will try to get the final roll of film uploaded soon. I am also going to look into geting a sou vide and some developing chemicals and I'll get to finishing off the film that are in my cameras.
