I had half a roll of Portra 160 to shoot before I could get the roll of film developed the other day, and not knowing whether the roll of film had expired or not, I wanted to hurry things up and get it over and done with since the roll had been sitting in my Canon AE-1 for almost a year now. I knew the roll, while unfinished, had some potentially fun shots from a film production I worked on, of which I posted about yesterday, but also had the last pictures of my dog on it. With some free time and being not too far from a service that offered to develop the rolls within one hour, I roamed the empty, decayed streets of the supposed city and searched desperately for something interesting to capture, ultimately wasting half a roll of film that now costs £20. I don't feel too great about it, but it was the first time since last year that I had done any analogue photography.
Portra 160 definitely isn't the right film stock for shooting overcast and dull tones. It's best under the warm, orange light that you'd find during spring or summer, or strong artificial lighting with various colours to fill the surroundings. It's a very popular, and very beautiful film, and one I haven't used a whole lot due to its even then relatively expensive pricing; now it's only more crazy! But I roamed around the streets searching for composition, looking down small, decayed streets void of population, often showing signs of the ongoing economic decay. Much of the country is like this, unless you're in the very middle of the main cities. It's always funny showing people the reality of England and not just the stereotypes that all towns are small and beautiful, that instead much of the country resembles that of the collapse of the Soviet Union; where decades of economic decay and stagnation never really resulted in any recovery.
I felt pretty limited walking around these areas, void of colour and composition. Where usually I intentionally pursue locations void of people, but found even less emotion. I took a few attempts at the surroundings, looking for old roads and pathways that lead to interesting locations, searching for some leading lines to help shape a photograph a bit more. Some of these worked out alright, but much of them just aren't interesting. To avoid just taking photographs of these isolated areas, I still tried to find something interesting in the more populated parts of the streets; this was a much larger challenge for me as I actively avoid having people get caught in the frame when I shoot things. So having crowds of people walking around me and absolutely going to end up in the shot, I just accepted it and figured either things turn out, or they don't. Either way I'd be getting the roll developed and getting the images I really wanted.
It was even more difficult finding areas that didn't just seem utterly miserable. There were so many buildings boarded up or just left to rot. Companies moving to other locations or just leaving entirely and giving up. Much of this a result of the pandemic making things harder, but also the decades of British highstreet culture dying as the Internet just becomes much more appealing in regards to shopping.
I don't think I'll do anything with these images beyond just posting them here. I don't really feel anything towards them. But it was a bit fun treating the analogue camera more like a digital one, as if I had an unlimited number of shots to take and wasn't just essentially throwing money away. And I think it might end up being interesting to use them one day to show people the reality of England rather than the marketing London wants you to see.