Between Softness and Sharpness: Potsdam Kino Film, Reviewed By Social Media Testers

For our second installment of Postdam Kino first impressions, we bring you three creatives who responded to our open call via social media. It's an interesting mix — one of the photographers shot in black & white for the first time, the second one stepped out of his usual style to document still life, and the third one successfully expressed beautiful shots despite stormy weather!

Maya Beano: Monochromatic Haze

Maya Beano is no stranger to the Lomography community. Her photographs emit an ethereal look that has endeared a lot of analogue photography fans. Testing the Potsdam Kino film is quite memorable though, because it's her first time shooting in black and white. Maya shot the roll in Epping Forest just outside of London with some friends and walked through the forest for hours.

I'm not gonna lie, it has been a strange experience. Maybe strange is the wrong word - I think I mean to say it was challenging! After many years of shooting colour film, I'm used to visualising how the colours are going to turn out in my final images. With black and white, it's a different story. I can't rely on the colours anymore! Shooting the Potsdam Kino 100, my whole attention was focused solely on the scene and the light. With no colours to guide my shooting, I was a bit apprehensive about how the photos are going to turn out, but I was very pleased with the results. It was the cloudiest, windiest and most miserable day in a long time, but I was excited to be trying out a new film. My shoes got soaked in mud within minutes, but I was in my happy place. To round off an active day of walking and shooting, we decided to grab dinner at a nearby restaurant. They had one of those limitless soft drink fountains. Having never tried black and white before, I can't compare it to others, but I do think it produced pleasantly soft photos. It's got a bit of an ethereal look going on, which I really like.

Koji Sese: Still and Steady

It was after high school when contemporary portrait photographer Koji Sese decided to pick up a camera, after watching his friends take pictures of their cars. He started by taking photographs of his dancer friends and hasn't stopped shooting ever since, preferring to pair his subjects with locations that he feels would best suit their personality. Last year, he sold all of his digital gear in favor of film photography. For this photo shoot, Koji used his Mamiya RZ67 Pro II.

I wanted to shoot something I don’t normally shoot, still life or everyday things. The shots I took are random environments that I drive past every day with the intent of shooting but never do. I love the Potsdam Kino's tonal range and I also love that it’s panchro. The box speed of 100 makes it a great film for sunny days.

Lauren Woods: Intimacy in Analogue

Film photographer Lauren Woods has been busy lately with her creative endeavors. Currently, she is preparing for an art exhibit that includes visual and performance artists. Following this showcase, she will be spending some time with director Maggie Daniels on her upcoming film, "Tanglewood", which will mark Lauren's first time to work as a photographer for a movie. Despite her hectic schedule, she was able to give the Potsdam Kino a try. Here, she tells us more about the photo shoot and her first impressions.

Alex and Tim are friends of mine that I have known for a while during my time as an artist. They have been two of my favorite people to work alongside. What I really love about them is their heartfelt energy with each other. They’re so natural in front of the lens but also overwhelmingly hilarious behind the scenes. They’re also a very unique interracial couple (Black/White and Mongolian) which is very unheard of living in the south. It’s always been important to me to showcase and celebrate diversity. Especially living in a predominantly conservative and white state. Creating intimate worlds of diversity has always been my favorite story to share. It’s the kind of stories that need to be normalized more and appreciate their value. I loved the textures and the gentle contrasts of the Potsdam Kino film. The tones are soft which I appreciate a lot as an artist whose main focus is mostly “nostalgic”/“personal” pieces. Despite being 100-speed film, the light developed wonderfully on the relatively stormy day of when I shot this film outdoors. It definitely gets a 10/10 in my book and I would love to shoot with it again!

Here's the first part of the series in case you missed it. We will be featuring more photographers who tested the Potsdam Kino film including the medium-format version, so watch this space!

2019-04-19 #film #35-mm #potsdam-kino