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Julian Tanase Photography

My Minox journey continues…

Minox photography – b&w or colour?

Minox photography – b&w or colour?

This question, if asked some 10-15 yrs ago would’ve made me smile. Not anymore, given the new world we came to live in nowadays. Back in the day, I had no such conundrums whatsoever; I shot color, I shot bw, I shot the heck of any film I could lay my hands on, and then some. My only worries were “what to photograph”, “how do I get there”, “what should I use, color or bw film” and of course, the capital question “why the blazes I have wasted my film on such meaningless landscape/building/whatever”.

But, as said, world is not anymore what it used to be, generally speaking. And if we narrow this affirmation down to photography, is self evident that what it used to be a walk in the park, has changed to a furtive dash through a dark wild forest. OK, perhaps not so frightful, but you get my meaning, don’t you?

I am not going to discuss here the current prices for either colour or bw film negatives, or the silly costs for processing C41 films in the labs (fewer as they are now), nor am I going to rant and whine about the films which have disappeared in the last few years. Although these are all valid points in a discussion such as this one, I am not going to go over any of this, much as I want to.

No. The reason I am not shooting much Minox color these days is that, for me at least, shooting colour went down a notch or two on my scale of interest. And this is not because I have stopped processing my own C41 negatives, but because I reserve the colour negatives to special occasions such as Xmas time, a really nice holiday, a birthday of someone dear. I always keep a few ready for such events, so no shortage here.

And anyways, what do I mean by times have changed? Well, the available choices of colour and bw film negative are fewer than they used to exist. I miss that colour 800 from Agfa, that APX 25 from Agfa, the Techpan and Plus-X from Kodak, and while the market is providing plenty of other films, I am not really into experimenting again. I just want to enjoy my photography, and not start again with zillions of trials of various film negatives. Too tiresome for me, and to be honest, it wastes what little time I have for photography these days. There you have it.

Minox 8×11 photographs – BW and colour film

So, colour or bw? I do not know really, but I can tell you this: I prefer bw films because they offer me the possibility of tweaking with processing times and dilutions, and so try to extract from the negative the best I can. Whereas colour films I usually send to various labs abroad, and I have no control over what they do to/with it. I have had my fair share of ruined negatives, from my own fault or not, so every time I shoot colour and send to a lab, I cross myself in the hope that the outcome will be a pleasant one for me. And it usually is, but I came to hate this feeling of uncertainty. Too tiresome for something that should be pure Minox fun.

For you, things may be different, and if you have an opportunity to shoot colour in your Minox camera, go for it by all means. It is fun, if you find a lab that you can establish a good communication with and is personable. I haven’t, but this does not mean you should not try.

If bw is the thing you go for, this is going to take you to a more creative path, because you will be able to be more diverse and imaginative in your Minox photography. At least this is my opinion.

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