Posts Tagged: Film
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Ngaben Cremation Ceremony, Ubud: July 2014
In Bali, as with other communities that practice the Hindu religion, it is normal to cremate the dead. Ngaben, the name for the cremation ceremony in Balinese, is the funeral ritual that is performed by the people of Bali to send deceased relatives to the next life. The ceremony itself is often very expensive, and, whilst it is normal for members of the upper castes to perform the funeral ritual within three days of the passing of a relative, lower social classes will typically wait until the next mass cremation ceremony, opting to bury the bodies for a number of months until the next mass ceremony takes place.
In Ubud, mass ceremonies take place a couple of times per year, and we were fortunate to be invited to such a ceremony during our travels. The cremation ceremony is not considered a sad event, as the Balinese believe in reincarnation so the body will only be temporarily absent as it passes on to the next life. The ceremony we attended was for around 80 deceased from three villages who had passed on over the previous couple of months.
Cremation is considered a family event, and young to old all take part in the celebration of the deceased’s life.
The exact date of a cremation ceremony is decided upon after consultation with a specialist in Balinese holy days. The ceremony itself consists of a number of parts. First the body is exhumed (in the case of cremations that are taking place some time after the time of death), and placed inside a coffin. The coffin is then put inside a decorative paper mache sarcophagus, or inside a wooden temple structure.
After this, the coffin is transported by relatives from the house to the location of the cremation. This can often be a couple of kilometres of walking, and, on a hot Balinese summer day, is hard work.
Additionally the procession never travels in a straight line in an effort to confuse the evil spirits and make sure they don’t travel with the deceased on to the after life. Watching, the procession almost seems choreographed.
Once the coffin arrives at the cremation, it is placed in line with the other sarcophaguses, and the family sit down to wait until the cremation starts. Whilst they wait the families feast, and wander around the food stalls and market stalls that are assembled.
It seems that in Bali the chicken has a very big role, and again chickens were being used as part of Ngaben. Poultry was tied to the sarcophagus, and released once the coffin had arrived. I was told that it was good luck if you were able to catch one of the released birds.
As soon as all of the coffins have arrived, and with the fire service in attendance, it is time to start burning the bodies. The ‘honour’ of lighting the first coffin is down to the relative of the most recently deceased – at this event this was a lady whose husband had passed away just the day before. Rather than using matches, the fire is fuelled by a complicated, and not particularly safe looking, gas installation.
It was certainly a very interesting experience, and, since it is seen as a celebration, we were welcomed by the locals. People didn’t seem to have a problem with me taking photos, and many were happy to pose. Out of respect I wore a traditional sarong and Balinese head dress.
Photos in this post were taken using the Leica M-E (digital) and Leica M6 (film with Portra 160). Lenses used were Summicron 28mm, Summilux 50mm, and Elmarit 90mm.
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Chapter Two: With the M6 in Amsterdam, and Scanning the Results
After returning from Japan and seeing the quality of the images coming back from processing, I was happy to continue using the M6. There were a couple of issues that I needed to overcome – firstly processing, and secondly post processing, aka digitising the images…..
In Japan it had been fairly easy and inexpensive to get a roll of film processed. I had been shooting mainly with C41 process black and white films such as the Ilford XP2 and Kodak BW400CN emulsions. The advantage of these films is they use the same chemical process to develop as ‘normal’ colour films, and this means they can be developed anywhere that still provides the C41 process. In Japan, this is very common place – in a big city like Tokyo most photoshops can still develop and print a C41 within the hour, and I was even able to find hour processing in smaller towns as well. However once back in the Netherlands it was not so easy. Whilst there are a number of professional labs that are still willing to take vast amounts of money to give you a personal (and very high quality) service, one hour labs have pretty much disappeared. After a bit of research, I chose to go with Hema – for around 10 Euros they will process and print the film for you, although it does take 3-4 days.
Queuing up to take a break, M6 with Summicron 90mm
Whilst Hema do offer to scan the negatives in as well, it typically happens at a low resolution, and this would not provide the quality that I desired, so I chose to purchase my own scanner. After a lot of research, my options were clear – either I went very high end with Imagon, and would end up paying around 10k for the scanner (not going to happen), or I went high end with Nikon, and would pay around 2k for a second hand and discontinued scanner, or I would keep my spend under 300 Euros, and would buy one of the Plustek scanners. These have been getting good reviews on line, so I decided to go with the Plustek Opticfilm 8200i. I also purchased a copy of the excellent VueScan software, using this in preference to the delivered software, and have been very happy with the results. Scanning definitely has a learning curve, though, and in particular keeping the negatives dust free is a hassle (another use for the Giottos Rocket Blower….).
Nieuwmarkt Amsterdam, 90mm Summicron
In early January 2013 I joined a Meetup photo walk in Amsterdam center, and decided to take the M6 along. I had also just purchased a very old (1974) and heavy Summicron 90mm lens, so it was an ideal chance to try it out. Compared to digital, I realised I was taking my time with the photos, and shot a lot less than I usually would have done on such an occasion. All of the shots were taken on that day on 400iso film (of course it’s not possible to change the ISO ‘mid film’ in the same way as you can with digital), so I was particularly restricted once the light started to drop.
Waiting for a hot dog, 90mm Summicron
I was shooting on colour C41 film (Kodak Portra 400), and I find it quite hard to get the colour balance correct on scanning, hence a number of these images were converted to black and white. Although personally I tend to prefer the use of black and white for ‘street’ photography anyway.
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, Amsterdam, 35mm Summarit
I realised once I got the film back that some of the results were less sharp than I had hoped, and after some later investigation I discovered that the 90mm lens suffered from some front focus. Hopefully something that will be fixed when the lens goes in for a CLA (Clean, Lubricate, and Adjust) with Wil van Manen at some point in the future, and then it will once more be a sharp lens.
Ice skating on Museumplein. Every year the Museumplein is covered over with an artificial ice rink. At this point of the day the light was dropping off pretty quickly
All the shots in this post were taken with the M6, using either the Summarit 35mm or the Summicron 90mm.
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Chapter One: Leica, the first steps
I began ‘serious’ photography back at university, when digital was only just getting going. At the time I didn’t have much money, so scrimped and saved to buy myself a semi decent analogue camera kit based around the Nikon F601. I was the picture editor/photographer for the college paper, so ended up spending a fair amount in the darkroom, mostly against a deadline, getting my black and white films developed and printed for inclusion in the following issue. As time went by and I got a reasonably paying job, I was able to upgrade the film gear to a Nikon D70, one of the earlier Nikon digital cameras, and I haven’t looked back since, progressing through the various models in the Nikon family up to the D800 that I have today.
Whilst the Nikon gives truly excellent image quality, there is one thing that frequently frustrates me – carrying a D800 with one or other of the pro lenses I own is just not a compact solution. Especially when walking around on a trip with my family, the camera stays in the bag to avoid getting in the way whilst pushing the pushchair or carrying my daughter. So at the end of 2012, and with an upcoming trip to Japan being planned, I decided to take a step backwards in terms of technological progression, and bought myself a film camera. But not just any film camera – my intention was that the chosen platform would be compact, simple, expandable, a pleasure to use, and above all something that I could slip under my jacket or into my laptop case when I want to travel light.
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Leica M6 with Summarit 35mm
Of course, I could have found myself any number of digital (compact) cameras that would have fulfilled some or all of those criteria, but I wanted something a bit different. Something that would make me stop and think before pressing the shutter button, to avoid returning home with hundreds of shots and having to sort through 10 of the same shot, looking for the one with the perfect smile or ultimate sharpness in the subject’s eye. My thought was that if I only had 24 or 36 shots per roll, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Researching beforehand on the internet I realised that there was still quite a following for various film models, even though the selection of films and the number of locations to get the films developed is reducing year over year. I’d previously toyed with the idea of buying myself a Leica digital rangefinder, so, with this in mind as a potential future upgrade path, I decided to look at the Leica film rangefinder cameras as a possible solution. One of the main advantages of the Leica rangefinder platform (the M system) is that all of the lenses that have been produced for the range of Ms, from the M1 to the latest M9 or MM cameras, are backwards compatible. There’s no problem about lenses not working with the latest AF system or not being able to stop down automatically – everything in the Leica world is manual, including focus and aperture control.
Taken with the Summarit 35mm at f/2.5 – at least I think so, since I don’t have any EXIF data to rely on ;))
Japan is a haven for secondhand Leica, at least in terms of second hand selection – one of the the store salesmen told me that many elderly Japanese had invested in Leica years ago, and were now offloading their gear to second hand camera stores on a consignment basis to get some money for retirement. My plan was to pick up both a camera and lens whilst we were in Tokyo for 5 days over Christmas, preferably on the first day, so that I could then spend the rest of the two week holiday using the camera and getting to know it. However, as luck would have it, I got a good deal on a Leica 35mm Summarit lens that I was bidding on on eBay, and picked that up a couple of days before I was due to depart from a seller in Belgium. The Summarit range of lenses are newer to the Leica range, introduced as a low cost (in Leica terms) alternative to the more expensive Summicron and Summilux lenses. It boasts a maximum aperture of f/2.5, and various Leica aficionados on the net rate them very highly, so it seemed like a sensible option. Ultimately, if I didn’t get on with the lens I would be able to sell it on to someone else for pretty much the same as I had paid, so it felt like a safe bet.
So I set off to Japan with just a lens and no camera, and a list of addresses to visit. (Actually, that’s a slight lie as I did have my Panasonic Lumix with me as a backup, but ended up not using it).
We were staying in the Shinjuku area, which is well known for it’s abundance of second hand camera shops, and, along with Ginza, is one of the better locations to head to if you are looking for something new or not so new. The evening of the day we arrived, I went for a walk around and started to look at my options.
As I mentioned earlier, Tokyo has a fine selection of (preowned) gear from all of the main camera manufacturers. Whilst the prices aren’t necessarily the lowest in the world due to the current exchange rate, this is made up for by the choice that a prospective buyer has. I had researched the various stores before hand and had an idea of where I would be going, based upon the great buyer’s guide by Bellamy at Japan Camera Hunter. I started wandering round the stores looking at row upon row of well cared for, and, in most cases, mint condition, M bodies. I already knew that I would be looking for a Leica M6 0.72x body, so that was my main target. After looking round various stores, I stumbled across Lemon Camera, and found what I was looking for – a boxed, as new condition M6, complete with the original box, strap, and paperwork. Even had the warranty card included, although this had long expired since the camera dates back to 1993. Luckily the guy in the shop spoke pretty good English, so we had a nice conversation whilst he let me test all the usual stuff when buying a second hand camera (if you’re in the market, check CameraQuest’s checklist before you buy), and I had made my decision.
Lemon Camera seems to be a really good shop and well worth a visit if you are in Tokyo. Most of the gear they sell is done so on consignment – meaning that the price is set by the owner, and then the shop adds 10-20% to the price and takes on the responsibility of selling the gear. This means that you typically receive the product with no right of return, and no warranty, although I was lucky that this particular camera was not being sold on consignment, but instead by the shop themselves. They had fully tested it and were even prepared to offer a 6 month warranty against failure (not that the older mechanical Leica’s ever seem to have problems, according to what I have read). I would never be able to use the warranty as I would be taking the camera back to the Netherlands, however it was a good piece of mind to have that the shop was prepared to stand by the condition of the camera. Lemon’s shop in Shinjuku is fairly small, but they have a much larger store in Ginza. I stopped in there later in the week, and as luck would have it was approached by the same guy who had dealt with me in Shinjuku when I purchased the M6, and he helped me choose a very nice Artisan and Artist leather half case for the camera. The Ginza store had over 20 M6 to choose from, as well as a similar number of M4, M5, and M7 bodies. Also a number of rarer lenses, such as not one but two copies of the revered Noctilux 50mm f/1.0 lens, although that is way out of my budget for now…..
Usain Bolt’s Nissan GT-R
My first impressions with the camera are very positive. Every aspect of the camera is a joy to use, from loading the film, to winding on in between exposures, to the flexibility that shooting with a fully manual camera provides. I found that people generally ignore me with the camera due to the discrete form factor, which is a welcome change compared to the angry stares you get if you hold a D3 with a 24-70mm in someone’s face to take their photo. I’ll certainly be writing more about my experiences with the camera in a future blog post, so, for now, stay tuned!
Self Portrait
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