Jeremy Strange: From London to Edinburgh with the Horizon Perfekt

London-based live music photographer Jeremy Strange decided to take a break from the madness of music photography and took the Horizon Perfekt along with him on a journey to London, Norfolk and Edinburgh and even managed a ride on the London Eye.

Hello Jeremy, tell us a bit about yourself?

I have been shooting for seven years now, first with digital SLR’s in live music, then more recently with film. I’m originally from Australia, and am making the most of travelling Europe while I’m over here. I went to 10 countries last year, and shot film in every single one.

What is it you love about film photography?

I originally started shooting film as I wanted a new challenge, shooting digitally and spending so much time in post became a bit of a chore. I love how shooting film slows me down and forces me to think more about composition and how to light my subjects. Yes, I’m aware that I could easily slow down with digital etc, but no matter how many presets or filters like Filmborn or VSCO come along, it’s just not the same. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive to develop and scan!

How did you get on shooting with the Horizon Perfekt?

The Horizon was a pretty fascinating camera to shoot with. The first surprising thing was that it doesn’t use batteries. While this technology is hardly new, it still impresses me. Loading the camera proved to be tricky, and took me a minute or two each time. The camera has a certain heft to it that lets you know that it's built very well. Not having a meter was a little challenging as it meant I needed to carry around another SLR with me to meter everything correctly. I was able to shoot three rolls with the Horizon, and am incredibly impressed with how it all turned out. Exposure was dead on in almost every photo, and sharpness was impressive at all apertures. I went into this project thinking that the swing lens would compromise image quality on some level, however I can honestly say that some of the architectural photos taken are among my sharpest taken on film. Distortion is apparent but pleasant, however I did notice some softness in the corners as well as some occasional flaring (although a lens that takes in as much as this does is almost certainly going to capture the sun at some point).

What did you choose to shoot?
I used a trip up to the top of the London Eye as an opportunity to capture as much of London as possible. I also shot half a roll up in Norfolk in a nearly abandoned fun fair, and some more while out and about in Edinburgh. To top it off I spent some time in some of London’s parks and of course some on the Underground. I’ve seen some people’s work who specialise in close-ups with a wide-angle lens, and that’s something I’d love to look into in the future. For these shots I tried to take in as much of the horizon as possible (no pun intended!).

What would you like to try next?

I came into this project not knowing much about Lomography other than the work they’ve done with cross-processing. I’ve since discovered the many different types of films they sell, not to mention their new instant film cameras. This time I used the Lomography color negative 800 film which gave stunning blues and greens, next time I’m interested in trying out some Lomo B&W Lady Grey film, or the plainer Lomo Color Negative 400. I’ve recently purchased a medium format camera, and am also looking forward to trying out some of Lomo’s 120 film. I would also like to pair one of Lomo’s new Minitar or Russar lenses with some Lomo film and my M6, or even try out one of Lomo’s instant film cameras.

For more of Jeremy's work visit his website www.jeremystrange.com

2017-01-18 #news #people #35mm #soho #edinburgh #london #uk #horizon-perfekt #panaramic #jeremy-strange