By Chris Guy posted on 12 Nov 2023 in Urban

Film Number 35

In May 2021 I shot of roll of expired black and white film on an old Pentax 35mm compact camera. It was the first roll of analogue film that I'd used for around 18 years!

Like many others, I moved into digital photography in the early 2000s and loved the freedom of being able to shoot as many frames as I liked and then have instant access to the files, editing them in Photoshop instead of the darkroom. Moving to digital really opened up photography for me and allowed me to embark on personal projects, such as the District Line walk.

However, since that initial, experimental roll back in 2021, I have rediscovered my love for film photography. I got my two 35-year old Nikon FE2s out of the cupboard and had them beautifully restored by Black on White Cameras in Bristol. I began to buy film rather than rely on my stock of very old expired rolls and started shooting colour negative, which I'd never really been a huge fan of before. The results were good.

My Nikon cameras are lovely, but they are also big and heavy to carry - especially as an everyday camera. So with that in mind, I looked for compact film point-and-shoot cameras and came across the Yashica T5 - a nineties compact with a super-sharp Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm lens. I found one on eBay and it was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Small and portable, with great image quality.

The pictures on this page are all from a single roll of film - Ilford Delta 100 - taken over the summer of 2023 on the aforementioned Yashica compact. The images span four months from the end of June when we visited Frome for the Photo Festival, to the Dean Lane Skate Park in Bedminster at the end of September.


Black-and-white photo of a stone wall topped by taut netting and poles, with distant rooftops and a church spire under a cloudy sky.

Sports ground fencing, Cecil Road Clifton. 26 August.

Black-and-white street scene: a curved corner building with a clock and 'Castello' shopfront; two pedestrians push a stroller crossing the sloped road.

Castello Restaurant, Frome. 25 June.

Monochrome scene: wet cobblestone lane lined with stone buildings and a parked SUV under an overcast sky.

Big wheeled Range Rover. 10 July.

Black-and-white waterfront: crowds on a quay watch hot-air balloons drifting over the water and city skyline; some people stop to take photos.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta. 11 July.

Crowd watches hot-air balloons drifting across a dramatic sunset sky over a waterfront; silhouettes and long shadows in black-and-white.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta. 11 July.

Black-and-white portrait of a smiling short-haired woman seated at an outdoor café, arms crossed on the table, with blurred diners and an urban backdrop.

G in Wapping Wharf. 11 July.

Black-and-white street scene: bearded man blurred in the foreground, pedestrians pass a row of shopfronts and offices, including a NatWest branch.

The Clifton Triange. 14 August.

Black-and-white photo of a tall, rectangular wooden arch sculpture standing in a forest, framing trees and foliage behind it.

Yaşasin by Pomona Zipser. Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail. 16 July.

Black-and-white scene: people posing by a white horse statue outside a waterfront building, with industrial cranes and a hot-air balloon in the sky.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta. 11 July.

Black-and-white harbor scene: small boats moored at wooden docks, industrial warehouses and tall chimneys on the shore, their silhouettes reflected in rippling water.

Underfall Yard. 21 September.

Black-and-white street scene: tall church spire, 20 mph sign on a lamppost, stone wall and a lone pedestrian walking along the sidewalk.
Black-and-white photo of a low brick and stucco building with a painted "Gotham" mural, a portable toilet and barriers in a sunlit courtyard, tree branches and shadows in the foreground.

Clifton and Cotham. 23 August.

Morley Road

Morley Road, Southville. 21 September.

Black-and-white street scene with shops (including 'ace & tate' and 'LEXIE'), pedestrians on the sidewalk, a parked SUV and a church tower rising in the background.

Park Street. 14 August.

Black-and-white street scene showing a Fred Perry storefront; two scooter riders stopped at the curb while pedestrians walk by.

Park Street. 14 August.

Black-and-white photo of a three-story corner pub with hanging plants and a sign; two people stand at the doorway; a geometric exterior staircase rises on the adjacent building.

The Highbury Vaults. 23 August.

Woman seated by a shop window enjoying an ice cream cone, playful expression with street reflections behind.

Frome Ice Cream. 25 June.

Black-and-white photo of an empty skate bowl covered in graffiti, with an "ASK" mural and buildings in the background.

Dean Lane Skate Park, Bedminster. 21 September.

Black-and-white photo of an empty urban skatepark with graffiti-covered concrete ramps, surrounding buildings and a tall light pole in the background.

Dean Lane Skate Park, Bedminster. 21 September.

Tagged with:
black and white bristol film

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