The Kingston Grist Mill and the Snow

It's mid-February as I write this.

It's mid-February as I write this, and I've just realized I haven't posted any new photos on the blog since October. I've been feeling a bit down lately. Between health issues in 2018 and 2019 and the pandemic lockdown, it's been a rough few years. I'm feeling pretty burned out. My last real break was a spring break trip to see my dad in 2017.

Career-wise, things haven't been going as planned. Finding work in security architecture locally has been tough, and it looks like I might need to start commuting to New York City again.

The pandemic has hit me harder than I'd like to admit. My social circles, which used to meet up in person, have gone virtual, and it feels like we might not meet face-to-face again. I miss those casual pub gatherings after meetings. To be honest, life has been quite challenging lately, and I can't help feeling a bit bitter.

I've mostly stayed home, binge-watching shows, except for my weekly brewery visit. But staying indoors isn't good for me. Without getting outside, how will I find inspiration for my photography? This Saturday morning, I decided it was time for a change. I grabbed my tripod, attached my XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR and L-bracket, and went out for a drive.

My first stop was the Kingston Grist Mill in the Kingston Village Historic District. As I positioned my camera, the contrast between the rich, red facade of the mill and the snow-draped surroundings was too enchanting to pass by without capturing.

The mill, with its deep crimson wood, is one of my favourite subjects. Its dark shingled roof, sprinkled with a light dusting of snow, houses a row of dormer windows. Their white trim reflects the day's soft light, providing a (false) sense of warmth against the cold.

The wooden bridge leading to the mill is a remnant of Lincoln Highway (now Route 27). The Lincoln Highway, one of the earliest transcontinental highways for automobiles across the United States, stretches across many states, from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

Beside the bridge, the remnants of snowfall cling to the rough bark of trees, and beyond the mill, leafless branches reach toward the sky, forming silhouettes against the clouds. The sky itself is a dynamic backdrop, showing a brilliant blue with clouds that are fluffy and white.

There's a calm in this scene, a gentle reminder for me to enjoy the slow pace of winter days.

Ilford FP4 Plus 125 at the historic Canal Lock at Kingston

I exposed a cartridge of Ilford FP4 Plus 125 at the historic Kingston Lock on the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

This is my first time using Ilford FP4 Plus 125, and I wish I had only bought more than one cartridge. I loaded the cartridge into my default film photography kit, my Minolta XD-11 with MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 lens. I also brought my Manfrotto tripod.

I drove again to Kingston Village Historical Village, where I had exposed a roll of expired Fujicolor Super HQ 200 the day before. I focused (no pun intended) on the Kingston Lock, the Locktender's House, and the Lock tollhouse. The early morning sun shining through the trees cast distinct shadows on the north-facing side of the Kingston Lock Tender's House. This would be a great way to test how well the film stock handles light and shadow.

The Lock Tender's House at the Delaware and Raritan Canal Lock in Kingston is a historic building that dates back to the 19th century. The Delaware and Raritan Canal was an important transportation route that ran through central New Jersey, connecting the Delaware River to the Raritan River. The lock tender's job was to operate the lock, allowing boats to navigate the canal by raising or lowering the water level.

The Lock Tender's House was built in the 1830s and served as the residence for the lock tender and his family. The house is a small, one-story, clapboard-sided structure with a gabled roof and a chimney. The building is now the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park headquarters, which manages the parkland surrounding the canal.

Today, visitors to the Lock Tender's House can learn about the history of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the role of the lock tender in maintaining the canal's operation. The house is open to the public during park hours and features exhibits and interpretive displays about the canal's history and ecology.

The Tollhouse was the collection point for tolls charged to boats passing through the lock. The Delaware and Raritan Canal Company charged tolls based on the cargo's weight. The Tollhouse was strategically located near the lock, so boats passing through it would have to stop and pay the toll before continuing their journey.

Ilford FP4 Plus 125 is a high-quality black and white film designed for 35mm cameras. It is a medium-speed film that offers a classic, versatile look with excellent sharpness, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude. This makes it ideal for various photographic applications, from fine art and portrait photography to landscape and architectural photography.

According to Ilford, the film is coated on a polyester base and features a silver emulsion optimized for use with traditional black-and-white development processes. Its ISO rating of 125 means it performs well in high-light situations and provides good detail and contrast in both highlights and shadows. I sent the exposed film to Boutique Film Lab for development. I scanned the negatives using VueScan 9 and my Epson Perfection V600 and used Negative Lab Pro to convert the scans. I did some perspective corrections and moved the exposure slide -1/3 inpleasedhtroom. The film also has a wide exposure latitude, which means it can be over or underexposed by a few stops without significantly affecting the final image quality. I am very happy with the results.

Ilford FP4 Plus 125 produced rich blacks, bright whites, and a full range of greys. The fine-grain structure helped to create sharp, detailed images with good edge definitions. I've had some issues with getting sharp images from the film, which I chalked up to the challenges of manually focusing the lens because of my eye surgeries. But the pictures from the scans of Ilford FP4 Plus 125 were sharp, which makes me wonder if my previous experience is due to the film stocks I have used.

Name Ilford FP4 Plus
Format 35mm
Features chromogenic black and white negative
Native ISO 125
Lab Boutique Film Lab
Process B+W
Scanner Epson Perfection V600
Software VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125
Monday 6 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 125

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 - Expired

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 35mm film was a colour negative film produced by Fujifilm. This film was popular with photographers seeking an affordable yet high-quality option for their 35mm film cameras.

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 offered a medium-speed ISO rating of 200, making it versatile enough to use in various lighting conditions. It produced vibrant, true-to-life colours with fine grain, providing sharp and detailed images. Its colour balance was optimised for daylight conditions but could perform well in mixed-lighting environments.

This film was designed for outdoor and indoor shooting scenarios, from portraits to landscapes. It was compatible with a wide range of 35mm film cameras and could be quickly processed using standard C-41 colour processing.

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 was also known for its high exposure latitude, meaning it could handle a wide range of exposure settings without sacrificing image quality. This made it an excellent choice for photographers of all levels, from beginners to professionals.

I grabbed the film box from the box of expired 35mm film I received from my friend last summer and loaded the cartridge into my X-700. With my MD Rokkor-X 35mm F2 lens attached, I drove off to a nearby area I know well and have photographed often, the Kingston Village Historic District.

It was early morning, and the sky was bright and sunny, giving me plenty of light to ensure I could expose the film at ASA 100. The film's expiration date indicated that it was about 20 years old. Had I known then what I know now about exposing expired film, I might have exposed the film at ASA 50.

When exposing each frame, I mounted the X-700 on my Manfrotto tripod to reduce camera shake. I first focused on the historic Kingston Grist Mill, later moving to the historic buildings around the Kingston Lock. My goal was to capture the light and shadow cast by the trees.

The Fujicolor Super HQ 200 was developed at Boutique Film Lab using the C-41 process, scanned at home using my Epson Perfection V600 and VueScan 9, and processed using Negative Lab Pro and Adobe Lightroom using my standard 35mm film scanning workflow. In Negative Lab Pro, I set the colour balance to "Auto-Neutral". This is the best setting, but I wanted to keep things simple. I adjusted the exposure in Adobe Lightroom by -1/3 EV. I also corrected for alignment and cropped in to remove the frame borders. I exposed the subject once or twice for some of the frames, just to be sure.

The results are better than I expected. While the colours may not be as vibrant as what might get from the unexpired film stock, the process produced usable results. This is my third time using expired Fuji film stock and my second success. The first success was using Fujichrome PROVIA 400F – Expired. The victory gave me the confidence to keep trying the expired 35mm film. At this success rate, I may give up buying and exposing fresh film stock unless the situation requires being sure I captured an image. But if that's the case, I would use my Fuji-X camera system. Digital is significantly less likely to fail1.

I got 22 usable frames from the 24-exposure cartridge. I have uploaded the ones I think are the best of the 22. I have three more cartridges from the box of expired 35mm film I received from my friend.

Name Fujicolor Super HQ 200
Format 35mm
Features vibrant, true-to-life colours with fine grain
Native ISO 200
Price FREE
Exposed ISO 100
Lab Boutique Film Lab
Process C-41
Scanner Epson Perfection V600
Software VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom
Kingston Locktender's House · Minolta XD-11 · ·
Kingston Grist Mill · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Grist Mill · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Grist Mill · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock Tollhouse · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Lincoln Highway (Route 27) · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Grist Mill
Kingston Village Historic District on the Millstone River · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock Tollhouse · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock Tollhouse · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100

  1. I have six batteries for my Fuji, which can shoot at ASA 80-12,800, with a maximum shutter speed of 132000 second at 22 frames per second. I have a 64GB memory card in the two slots, and the camera is configured to save a duplicate RAW image to each card. I can safely record 2000 images before the card is filled. ?