My barber at work. RPX 100. Pentax ME Super. Check out IJM Photography for more…
My barber at work — Rollei RPX 100 in the Pentax ME Super. RPX 100 is a fine-grain, moderate-contrast film that handles indoor available light well when you’re careful with exposure. The barber’s shop — a mix of tungsten and window light — creates natural directional shadows across working hands. A portrait of craft and concentration. See the full article on the Pentax ME Super on IJM Photography.
I think, as photographers, we all have a fetish for a particular subject for our photos. I have a friend in Denmark that admitted to always taking shots of empty park benches. And if i’m going to be honest with you, he did it rather well.
Mine is about the quasi obligatory bike shot. Firstly in these environmentally aware time, people are wanting to reduce their carbon foot print and their impact on the environment. What better than cycling? Well it means that there are quite a few bikes around town. And it’s just something that shouts out to me. Well this photo shouted so loudly that I just had to press my shutter button.
The photo was taken in Nantes, using the Pentax ME Super (which is indeed pretty darned super) with Rollei RPX 100 black and white negative film.
And if you’re interested, have a peek into my world on IJM Photography. Who knows, you might even enjoy it.
Shot on the Pentax ME Super with Rollei RPX 100 film in Nantes. The high-contrast grain structure of the RPX 100 suits street detail beautifully — the spokes and chain become a graphic web of lines rather than just a bicycle. Metering for the mid-tones let the shadows crush naturally, reinforcing that geometry. See more from this camera on IJM Photography.
Some people see in colour, but I tend to see in black and white. I don’t know if it’s because I come from the world before digital, where “serious” photography was always monochrome. It just resonates with me more, and with you too, Dear Reader. Or at least I hope it does because in all the posts on this site there is a theme. Apparently. Subtle. But if you look closely enough, you might just find it.
Believe it or not, when I use black and white film, well, this conversion doesn’t even enter my mind. I learned to “see” in black and white while learning my craft back in the day. Nowadays we have digital cameras that can convert your image to black and white in-camera, but I still prefer doing it myself in post-production.
I just wanted to show you the differences since here we all deal in Monochrome, hence the name Monochromia. It might also help those of you who are new to black and white photography and wish to see what can be done to a colour image.
For info, the photo was given to me by a friend on Instagram asking me how I would edit her self-portrait. I don’t think I did too shabby a job.
For those of you wanting to explore black and white photography for yourselves, I would suggest buying a film camera, loading it with the black and white film of your choice, and sticking to it for a whole year. Same film, same camera. Like this, you too will start to see the beauty of black and white, and you will get to know your film stock and camera. Just an idea, and it certainly worked for me.
For more ideas, have a look at the photography tutorials on IJM Photography, or the HP5 Plus 100 ASA experiment — film photography at its most deliberate.
The conversion shown here illustrates the core principle of monochrome work: it’s not about removing colour, it’s about redistributing luminance. A dedicated black and white conversion (rather than a simple desaturate) lets you dial up contrast in specific tonal ranges — here the skin tones were pulled toward the mid-greys to give the portrait a timeless, film-like quality. Explore more techniques at IJM Photography.
Please welcome our newest guest contributor – Ian Myers
A musician, a photographer, a writer, a lover of good food, with a particular weakness for a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake. Originally from the UK, but I drifted, and have been living in France for the last 30 years. The first 20 are the hardest, and then you just stop fighting it, man!
On a more serious note, I am 52, have been into photography since childhood, and things got serious in 1987 when I bought my first SLR, the Praktica MTL3, that I still have. It was what I learnt my craft with. Old School, for some, and normal for others. Digital came along, but film remained a constant. And now I do both. A camera is but a tool after all. Some do certain things better than others.
Since 2019 I have been blogging about my photographic journey, and have lately written articles about how to. More what kind of approach to have (in my opinion of course), and aiming to demystify this passion that we share, whilst drawing on 40 years experience as an amateur photographer. The ethos being something along the lines of, if I can, then you can.
The Château de la Preuille image was shot on the Canon 6D Mark II with the 16–35mm f/4 L lens and an ND filter to achieve a long exposure of the sky. Slowing the shutter to several seconds transformed the clouds into smooth sweeping streaks — the ND filter is the key tool for this effect in bright daylight. Read more about long exposure and landscape technique at IJM Photography.
Monochromia 
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