Falling in love with Film again

Sarah Carpenter tells Pentax User why she likes nothing better than wandering the streets of Soho with her Pentax Super Program SLR.

Posted: 17/12/2010 - 13:46

Contemplation Taken inside the Barbican. I think this is mostly liked for its tranquility and stillness. For me it’s the simple images that work best.

When Sarah Carpenter ventured into London’s Soho area with her, then borrowed, Pentax Super Program (also sold as Program A) it was the start of a relationship which rekindled old feelings and brought a whole new meaning to the streets.

Sarah moved from Ireland to London at the start of the year and, so far, her Pentax Super Program is the best thing she’s bought. She’s always been interested in the making of photographs, a hobby which began to develop when she was around eleven.

“From this age I was always looking at films and the framing of scenes, either on motion or still images, so it’s kind of something that happened without me even knowing I was doing it.”

Studying at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Sarah received a Diploma in Media Production and then went on to achieve her Diploma in Audio/Visual at Tallaght I.T. in Dublin. Even though she did this, Sarah regrets not really experimenting with the cameras she had available to her and when she found her trusted Super Program on eBay, she made sure this wasn’t the case. She started to relearn everything she didn’t know or understand while at college and really began to understand and appreciate the camera.

“The fact that the Pentax allows you to shoot in manual mode and still gives you a reading makes it a joy to use. It fits perfectly in the hand and the fixed 50mm f/1.7 Pentax lens is just lovely for people and street photography.”

Sarah’s passion for street photography soon developed as, with the camera, it seemed to go hand-in-hand. She really enjoys street photography as there’s a surprise around every corner. You never know what you’re going to get. Every day is a new challenge, it’s a great venture into the unknown and Sarah likes nothing better than getting lost in the city to see where the winding lanes lead.

She has her Pentax in hand with the 50mm lens and that’s it. She needs free hands, so the lighter she travels the better. This means carrying a tripod is out of the question.

“A tripod draws too much attention to you and you can’t be quick on your feet with one – less is more!”

When she’s out on the streets, Sarah uses manual exposure whenever possible, however, she does sometimes switch to auto exposure. One of her colleagues, whose also a street photographer, said that shooting on f/8 or f/11 will always give you good, sharp images from two to ten feet away which allows Sarah to be quick with the Pentax. She also likes the results she gets with black & white film and has taken a liking to Kodak T-Max 400.

“It’s nice and contrasty without being too contrasty and it’s apparently the world’s sharpest film, which is important for me; I think a lot of street shots work well in b&w and I suppose being influenced by old-time photographers. Their stuff is always in your mind in b&w, so that would largely influence me.”

For Sarah, a street photographer is someone who knows when the decisive moment is going to happen almost instinctively – before it even happens.

“A great photographer is someone who can capture an emotion or a certain look with his/her trained quick eye. They evoke a feeling in us; as our eyes linger over the photograph we can’t seem to take our eyes away from them/it, for some magical moment has been captured and we feel the need to absorb and wallow in it. Although there are some photographers who just seem to be in the right place at the right time – where everything just happens around them.”

“A good street photographer, I think, should never set out to achieve a certain shot, as street photography is spontaneous and therefore it would defeat the purpose if they already knew what they were going to photograph. Fair enough, you may hear about some event coming up and have an idea in your head of what shots you want to capture, but always keep your mind open and try to look at things in a way others wouldn’t.”

Half Thinking Of Not Taken outside the Barbican. The cross between the emptiness of space in the left of the frame in comparison to the full ‘living’ busy right hand side of the frame is what grabbed me to make this Photograph.

Pans Labyrinth Tube’s London. I thought this was a quirky shot as it’s not something you would generally see and I think the perspective suits it.

Impaired Vision Poland Street, Soho. First test roll to have gone through my Pentax camera. It’s a reflection through a window of a glasses shop. It was the 8th exposure I have ever taken on a manual film camera.

Always watching... never stopping Liverpool Street station. What drew me to this image is the two big brother ‘eyes’ that ‘look over’ this unfortunate homeless man.