Having settled on Tri-X in Rodinal as my go-to film and developer, my interest in experimenting with photo equipment, materials and process pretty much evaporated. When my cardiologist recommended brisk walks around my neighborhood to alleviate the monotony of indoor exercise I thought it would be an opportunity to take pictures too. I found that three months of cardiac rehabilitation have so accustomed me to continuous exercise that stopping even briefly to look at possible subjects threw me off completely.
It’s frustrating. Any advice will be appreciated.
Mere Film Photography 
Hi Doug, no idea what advice from a guy who didn’t take a film camera out in several months is worth but this reminds me of a certain Daido Moriyama. His modus operandi is to walk fast, to cover a léot of ground and to have some point and shoot camera at the ready!
You might try a simple (film) point and shoot, no?
BY the way, Tri-X (or HP5) and Rodinal are unbeatable!!
LikeLike
A point-and-shoot camera might work if I could make myself actually point and shoot, i.e., raise the camera to my eye, quickly frame the shot without moving my position, and press the shutter.
I can certainly do that from a hardware perspective with a 35mm lens and an external viewfinder on an LTM Leica. Choose a forgiving fast film like HP5, set the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 depending on the camera, set the aperture based on the prevailing light when I set off on the walk and focus the lens at the hyperfocal distance for that aperture. The result is the fastest point-and-shoot camera on the planet.
I’m going to give it a try. We’re leaving for a week of camping in the mountains of New York state. I planned to use some of my remaining roll of Silvermax 100 film for some tripod mounted shots of the landscape with the Visoflex on a IIIf. Now I’m going to take a second Leica set up as described and see what happens. Thank you. for the suggestion!
And I certainly agree about the Rodinal!
LikeLike