50s Fair

a few weekends ago i went to the annual 50s fair at rose seidler house. you can see my digital photos from last year here and my 35mm ones here. this year i didn’t feel like lugging around both a film & a digital SLR, so i decided to go all film & brought my 35mm SLR & my diana f+ with its 35mm back. i also decided to use three different types of film because i wasn’t sure what to expect from one of the rolls. i’ve used plenty of expired film in my time, but this one in particular was an unfamiliar kodak roll i think i bought in a bulk mixed lot a few years ago. unfortunately all the photos i shot on that roll turned out super grainy and the reason it’s taken me so long to post photos from the fair is because i have been so depressed at the thought of trying to edit them back to life!

i didn’t succeed to a standard i was happy with for most of them, and i think the difference between expired and fresh film is clear from these photos. the darker, more saturated ones immediately below came from an expired roll of fujifilm in my diana, the few really grainy ones i’ve posted are from that awful kodak roll in my SLR and the bright, clean, fresh shots all came from NEW film in my SLR, which is something i think i’ll be buying more of from now on!

as for the actual fair, i had a really lovely day wandering around the stalls and taking photos of people or having photos taken of me wearing my henry lee dress for the first time. i even met a reader of my blog (hi if you're out there) :) the only downside was how crowded it it got, but i suppose it's better to be full because it wouldn't be much of a 50s fair if no one turned up. and of course there were lots of beautiful dresses and men with good hair to look at, so dealing with the crowds was worth it!