It has my name on it!
As of July 20th, some new fun film became available in the U.S., thanks to the good folks at Kono! and Lomography. I was fortunate enough to get to test it out a couple of weeks ago, and I am thrilled to share the results so far.
Kono! The reanimated film is re-purposed motion picture stock, specially doctored and hand rolled in Austria (http://reanimatedfilm.com). They offer both 35mm b&w and color, but my eyes have been focused on color this summer, so it seemed like a good idea to keep that going in my test work.
It's hard for me to describe how I felt when a friend I have not met (yet) offered to send me a sample pack of a new / relatively unknown film, for me to try out and write about. Kinda like all my birthdays came at once! I checked the mail obsessively every day, since of course something so precious could not be left to languish in the Texas heat. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the right moment. My little personalized pack contained the Kolorkit 125T, 250, and 400, and first up to bat was the 125T. I loaded it into my Nikonos, set the camera for ISO 100, and prowled the water park. I'm excited to have these images as an addition to the American Summer project I've been working on this year.
Keeping in mind that my method of testing anything just involves me using it as if I know what I am doing, and that I am hardly a pro at scanning color negatives, here I present to you the results of this roll. Obviously I chose to ignore the fact that it is a tungsten film, but hey why not? Look what it can do outdoors on a summer day! I played around with the color balance a little bit, and I'm impressed with how little adjusting it needed in terms of the temperature, considering it was originally intended for use in artificial light. . . . I'm thinking I need another roll of this to try out indoors.
All photos: Kono! Kolorkit 125T at ISO 100 in the original Nikonos, lab processed C-41 and home scanned.
This was the first shot on the roll, which is why I think it has a slight light leak. I've included it here to show how the film responds to this, since light leaks can have a beauty & purpose of their own.
Just as an aside, now that I am looking, I have noticed just how many people like to hang out in the stars & stripes. I think I may end up with a whole series of patriotic britches after this summer.
If you like what you see, head on over to Lomography for a few rolls, or some of Kono!'s other partners in Europe. Soon I will have the results from the 400, which is quite happily inside my Nikon FM2 right now, and then the 250 will follow.
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Texas photographer, Amy Jasek, is obsessed with all things film. Connect with her on Instagram, and Facebook.
