Exquisite Portraits by Robert Vincze With Lady Grey B&W ISO 400

Cumbria-based Robert Vincze is a creative who enjoys the whole process of film photography. He has a talent for shooting portraits so we sent him some rolls of Lady Grey B&W 400 35 mm and some expired Lomography Color Negative ISO 800 120 film for him to test out.

Hi Robert, please tell us about yourself.

Hey, I’m Robert, a Hungarian guy in his 40s, based in Cumbria, England. I have an 8-4 job as an engineer but my passion is photography and filmmaking, especially analogue photography. I have been taking portraits for about eight years now. That is what excites me the most. I also love travel, good coffee and pizza. 

How did you get into shooting with film and what's the appeal for you?

My father influenced me when I was in my teenage years, he always had a camera on him, and his photography magazines and books were all over the house, I was surrounded by them.

He also had a darkroom in the basement where I liked to sneak in and watch how the images appeared on the paper in red light. I love everything about film photography, the colours, the depth, the textures, the smell of the negatives and chemicals and the whole process overall. Oh and not to mention the beautiful cameras and lenses.

How did you find the Lady Grey B&W film?

It’s a very versatile film, with lovely grain and contrast. Black and white film stocks are my favourites because of the tonality and grain structure, when the light hits the silver bromide crystals it creates something magical. It’s just not comparable to digital. 

You also took some Lomography Color Negative 800 shots which had some unexpected light leaks. How do you prepare yourself and your shoots for the unpredictability of film?

I mainly shoot on expired films so I have gained experience in how to expose and develop different film stocks to get nice results. To be honest I only had bad experience with cheap photo labs, ruining my films so in order to avoid that in the future I learned how to process and scan 35mm and 120 film myself. Most of the film holds up really well  over time if it’s stored properly. I like the imperfection of it, don’t mind a light leak at all. In terms of preparing for shoots I always take less expired and fresh films with me as well, in return of less grainy and colour correct photos. When I shoot on medium format it makes me really concentrate on what I’m doing, put me in the zone where I can really focus and enjoy to create.

To see more of Robert's work visit his website and Instagram page. Thanks to models Lucia, Stefania, Cris, & Talia

2023-01-07 #gear #people #black-and-white #uk #b-w #portaits #color-negative-800 #lady-grey