In an effort to shoot more film, and integrate that effort into my daily routine — as well as sharpen my general photography skills — I picked up an original Olympus XA , a Japanese compact 35mm film camera in a clamshell housing from the late 1970s / early ‘80s. The XA’s small size, manual controls, and silent operation are what made it attractive to me as an every-day-carry film camera, and stealthy street shooter. It’s also nice for capturing candid images while hanging out with friends and family because it’s so low key (it almost looks like a toy) so it’s pretty disarming.
When I got it, back in mid September, I shot four test test rolls right away — three Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white, and one Kodak Color 200 — to make sure the camera was up to snuff (you never know with eBay buys). I’m pretty happy with the results. Despite getting used to using the camera, I was able to make a few photos I’m happy enough with to share…
From early to mid October, I was in New York City and then Berlin on vacation for a couple weeks (that trip, plus work/life stuff, explains my absence from posting to this site), and the XA was the perfect extra low-profile companion to the Fuji x100f. I came back from that trip with nine spent rolls of film (color and B&W) and about 700 digital shots on the Fuji, so that’s where my downtime has been going lately. More on all that as I continue to get my shit together from that trip.
Coincidentally, though, as I was getting ready to leave for NYC, I ran across a lost roll of Tri-X 400, which was knocking around in the bottom of an old bag. I had it developed right before I split town, and it turned out to be a bunch of shots I’d taken on a Yashica MicroTec 120 in NYC back in 2017. I don’t know what insanity lead me to forget about the roll entirely — I distinctly remember making a lot of these photos at the time, and looking forward to seeing them. Looking back now, I don’t know how I could have subconsciously just written off that roll. Anyway, I’m glad it turned up. Here are some keepers from that one…
More on NYC and Berlin in the coming weeks. I still need to get those rolls developed, and I’m working though all the digital stuff in the meantime. Stay tuned…