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Sunny day in LA


Tags: film scala50 50mm

When I told a folks I was going to NYC, somebody suggested I stop in at B&H Photo, just to see their operation. I stopped by their film department and picked up a roll of Adox Scala 50, which is supposed to be pretty similar to Leica’s Monopan 50 (which I haven’t had a chance to try yet). It was cool to see it moved through their conveyor belts through the store.

But about this roll: it’s a very slow (ISO 50) black and white stock. Readers of this blog might recognize I love using T-Max 100 (as of now, my most-used film stock), and I was curious what an even slower film stock would be like. So far, great! It was fun that it was so slow that even on a bright, bright sunny day like this, I could shoot fairly wide open still and get nice shallow depth-of-field.

I shot this roll start-to-finish in on Saturday when I was in LA this last weekend. I wandering started downtown.

Blue Ribbon Garden at Walt Disney Hall

City Hall

City Hall again

Pigeons of Pershing Square

US Bank tower

I made it out to Venice Beach for lunch with my cousin, and wandered around on my own after that to finish the roll.

Delivery robot

Venice Canal birdhouses

I find my self photographing a lot more birds. Venice Canal was patrolled by many ducks calmly posting for photos (and likely breadcrumbs).

Pair of ducks

Four-duck gang

Monarch butterfly

I saw a pair of monarch butterflies floating around in front of me, and tried and failed to snap one in motion. After I waited patiently, one of them settled on this jade plant and was a very well-behaved photo subject. I was able to get a shot, then wait, then open up the aperture a few stops and get the shot above.

Concrete and grass driveway

Venice has tons of quirky and houses that made for some fun photos as well. I will definitely get more Scala 50 next time I find it!