Art Crawling - Leicester University

As I've mentioned on here previously, there's little I like more than exploring Modern Sculpture in all its wild and wacky forms. All the better if it's public art, as epitomised by the kind of modern art that was introduced for our betterment in the white heat of post-war rebuilding. Civic art designed for the people by some of the foremost artistic minds of the time. Sadly much of this is now gone, vandalised, removed from display, worse still destroyed. Sadder still given that there seems to be so little appetite (or available funds) for commissioning new examples of public art from our cash-strapped councils, so more often than not it's fallen to our seats of learning to champion the cause of publicly accessible modern art in the 21st century.

Loughborough University has certainly led the way in supporting modern sculptural art, their impressive Sculpture Trail is something of a jewel in the crown of public art in the East Midlands, albeit one that few of us seem to be aware of. Having spent a wonderful afternoon exploring the campus earlier this year (see here), I felt sure there must be something similar in the grounds of Leicester University.

In fact I knew there was something to be found, given that as a youth I frequently lounged with friends on the Henry Moore sculpture 'Oval With Two Points' that sat on the lawn at the front of the Fielding Johnson Building, or at least it did until it was 'borrowed' by the Henry Moore Foundation in the mid-80's and never returned! The space is now occupied by the equally impressive bronze sculpture Souls by Helaine Blumenfeld (detail, right).

I went for a walk to the campus with the Baldessa 1a and a roll of Fuji Color 200, choosing the day after graduation when all the students had gone home. So other than a few staff and workers I had the whole site to myself, ideal for exploring the nooks and crannies of the campus for notable artworks without the aid of a guide. In truth the main campus is not nearly as expansive as Loughborough's so it was easy enough to spot the handful of sculptures and other artworks on display.

The first subject was the striking Portico for the Adrian Building (top) as viewed from University Road, a familiar sight as it was something we frequently passed on the way to gigs and discos at the Students Union back in the 80's. We thought it had something of the look of an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars.

The first piece of actual sculpture I came across was toward the rear of this building, a bronze entitled 'Life' by Percy Brown (1911-1996), shown here against the backdrop of one of Leicester's most striking landmarks, the grade II listed Engineering Building (above) that's visible for miles around. From there the artworks kept coming...

The Astronomical Clock (1989) on the Rattray Lecture Theatre, designed and constructed by Allan Mills and Ralph Jefferson.

Hands of Freedom (2021) by Vishal Joshi on the face of the Attenborough Seminar Building, a celebration of difference, inclusion and unity.

Eye of Time (2006) by Allan Mills. An Analemma Calendar, the time of the year is indicated by a spot of light projected through a hole in the upper curve at midday.

Flight (2014) by Helaine Blumenfeld at the entrance to the David Wilson Library. Shown here against the Engineering building and monochromed for effect. There is another sculpture by Blumenfeld within the Library building.

The J Building, Wyggeston Queen Elizabeth College. I'd love to tell you more about this striking modern building, but in common with so much public art and architecture, details seem to be something of a secret known only to the few.

The grade II listed Engineering Building, University of Leicester, designed by James Stirling and James Gowan architects. I did cabling work in this and other buildings at the University in the late 80's and have little love for it given that almost all the steel cable ducts were rusted up and in some cases unusable. An extensive refurbishment of the building took place in 2016/17.

Brave Art - An Italian In Corby

So the big day arrived to take the little Bencini Comet II camera out for a spin, this year's annual Corby Highland Gathering for choice. A colour saturated jamboree of Tartan Kilts and gently swinging Sporrans just made for a roll of Kodak Colour 200, and usually blessed with very fine weather so ideal for a camera with very limited exposure settings.

Every precaution had been taken to ensure that only the light I wanted would find its way into the nether-regions of the camera, and I’m pleased to say that all that messing around with Viewfinder Attachments earlier in the year has finally paid off. The German made Prazisa I Rangefinder not only fits snuggly on the Italian Cold Shoe, but it's also calibrated for the same European standard 'foot' as the camera's lens. A triumph of post-war European cooperation I'd say! It also looks the part, almost as if it were made for the camera, although it does get in the way of the Shutter Release slightly so not all good. So how did the camera perform on the day...

The beauty of a fully manual camera with fixed shutter speed and just the two aperture settings, is there’s little to be gained from fiddling around with a Light Meter. On such a bright and sunny day I stuck with the f16 setting, and assumed the shutter speed was reasonably accurate at the stated speed of 1/50th sec, all the better to ensure that most subjects would be in focus. However, the position of the dial for the aperture setting on the bottom of the lens means I almost certainly moved it at some point, so some of these are more likely to have been at f9.

Another big plus on this simple little camera is the shutter release will only work when the Collapsible Lens has been fully extended. I do wish the FED had this facility because despite my very best efforts, not one of the precious 14 or so exposures on this cheap 24 exposure film was wasted by forgetting to extend the lens. I even managed to remember to unscrew the Lens Cap throughout the day, which is probably a first for me. All this lack of adjustment makes for fun-fun-fun photography, so much so that I'll probably repeat the experiment at some point.

I finished the roll on a walk later in the week, re-rolled the film back into it's canister, in the dark, and dropped the film into my preferred developer, who despite being a man down and rushed off his feet was almost as keen to see the results as I was. In fact he got straight to the job whilst I was distracting him with talk of much needed holidays, and the scans arrived later that day. Great service as ever!

First thoughts were, phew, not a total fail then. In fact I’m moderately delighted with the results, flaws and all. Focussing seems to be ok on most shots, and I’m putting those that are not quite as sharp as they could be down to me getting all excited and rushing the job, and/or the shutter speed being quite slow leading to camera shake. As for the focussing, here's a Top Tip: When using a Rangefinder Attachment with a Viewfinder Camera, don’t forget to actually transfer the actual range indicated to the actual lens of the camera… 🤦‍♂️!

As you can see I concentrated on all the Kilts, and the camera/film has given some lovely ‘vintage’ colouring that seems right for the occasion. The camera has also given some attractive Lens Flare (I’m not sure whether the lens is coated), and in one or two cases some inexplicable Leaky Light (above), which I’ll need to examine further when I get the negatives back.

So, decent focus? Probably. Over-exposed? Undoubtedly. All the horse in the frame?… Well, here we see the limitations of shooting 35mm film in a 127 camera. I recall stepping back a bit to get most of this horse in the frame, but until I get my negatives back I won’t know exactly how much horse there is across the whole 35mm negative. So what we have on all of these scans is the best fit for a normal 35mm exposure, so some of the image I framed in the viewfinder will be beyond the scope of the film, and much that did make it onto the negatives will be outside the scope of the scan.

35 into 127 Won't Go - Or Will It!

In most cases, loading a 35mm Film Canister into an old 127 Camera is really quite easy. If there's room in the camera for the canister, as there is in this old Kodak Brownie (right), you can buy or fabricate adapters to extend the Spool to 127 width. It’s then simply a case of taping the film end onto the Take-up Spool, covering the red window on the back of the camera with tape, and you’re good to go. You will of course be exposing the full film width, including the area where the Sprocket Holes are, but if you have the facility to scan the whole width it can give quite an interesting look to your photos. It may even work!

So why would we even want to do this? Well, the main reason is that there are a lot of old 127 cameras out there gathering dust, many of which are really quite attractive, possibly even good cameras. A secondary reason is that until recently it was quite difficult to get hold of 127 film rolls, and even now it's not a common film stock and therefore developing costs are likely to be higher.

Where things get more difficult is when the camera body is so small it won’t take a standard 35mm film canister, as is the case with this Bencini Comet II (left). There’s really no way I can think of to get around this problem, it’s a solid cast body so not easy to modify, and the canisters don’t take kindly to being squashed. Whichever way you look at it, if you want to use 35mm film in this camera you’re either going to have to re-spool it onto 127 paper backing, or as I've attempted here, directly onto a spare take-up spool… in the dark natch'.

So the first job was to acquire a spare 127 Spool for the film-load. A local charity shop came to the rescue here, and I now have a spare Kodak Brownie (above) if anyone would like it. Practice makes perfect so the next task was to put a scrap film through the whole process. This also gave me an opportunity to work out how much I'd need to wind on the camera for each exposure, two full turns as it happens (right).

As I'd be working in the dark, and under a large swatch of Black Felt for extra light-safety, re-spooling and attaching the film needed to be as simple a task as possible, so I attached a tail with a short tongue of Sellotape to the Wind-on Spool, and taped the film tail onto the Spool that I'd be winding the film canister onto (above). The wind-on went well, so I then needed to cut the film at the canister end, and carefully, blindly, stick it as straight as I could to the Sellotape on the tail of the Wind-on Spool. This also went surprisingly well, a few inches of careful wind-on confirming that all seemed to be working as it should do. So I closed up the back, put some extra black insulation tape around the seals to be sure, watched the last 10 minutes of the Football and went to bed...

The film seemed to wind-on reasonably freely, and whilst I wasn't counting I'm guessing I got around 14-16 shots out of this 24 exposure film. Cutting and re-attaching the film back onto the tail of the original film, ready for winding back into the canister, also went well, and it's now ready to drop into my preferred developers who'll hopefully deal with the unorthodox methodology and work out how to scan a full-width 35mm film for me.

Meanwhile, here are some photos from a bit of post-use maintenance on the (very small) Viewfinder window, which I found was really quite dirty and difficult to see through in the strong sunlight (right). The Viewfinder part of the camera is very easy to work on with an appropriately small screwdriver, accessed by removing just two screws (below), and entirely separate from the lens/shutter mechanism so there's nothing much to break. The Viewfinder glass has now cleaned up beautifully, and I find I'm getting more and more attached to this camera, assuming of course that it produces half-decent photographs...

Testing, Testing, 1-2-7

Purchased without any of the necessary forethought or online research required when buying vintage cameras, this lovely 'deco'-style Italian pocket/handbag snapper was very much a spontaneous purchase for Mrs Fed Kandi. Because she likes that kind of thing, and in truth it was never likely to replace her beloved iPhone anyway. Nevertheless this sweet little Bencini Comet II is a worker, and therefore something of a shameful disappointment to me that it's never been used.

So a 'pretty' little camera it may be, but it's also a pretty basic manual Viewfinder with little in the way of features, or so I thought!...

Almost every description I've seen of this camera suggests that it comes with a single fixed Shutter Speed of (approximately) 1/50s, and a (probably) 60mm Lens that's fixed at (somewhere around) f11. There's also a 'B' setting for flash and manual exposures, and it does have a satisfyingly smooth, fully focussing lens now that I've cleaned and lubricated it. So for normal daylight photography, not much in the way of exposure control.

I'm guessing that this example may be a slightly later model though, because it has at least one significant difference...

The main difference from the perspective of actually using the camera is the little serrated wheel at the bottom of the lens marked '9' and '16' (above). As can be seen in these two images, this adjustment introduces an oblong mask to the lens aperture, presumably stopping the lens down from f9 (left) to a huge depth-of-field busting f16 (below). Wow! My guess is that this was a short-lived modification on the way to the next Comet model, or perhaps Bencini's 1953 camera the Koroll 24S which also came equipped with these two aperture options.

Better optical experts than me will know what a horizontal oblong for an aperture might do for picture quality, but this seems like a step forward to me. Other less interesting differences on this model are the inclusion of a screw-on filter for the lens, type unknown but always welcome for protecting the lens at the very least, and for some reason that escapes me there's only the one red window on the rear of the camera when all the others that I've seen have two...

So a seemingly fully working camera, with the bonus of a potentially useful f16 aperture, and a cool retro design that looks pretty damn good in his/her hand. So why the lack of use?...

Well for those not familiar with this or other smaller cameras of the time (which includes 'me' at the time I bought it), the little red window on the back is the big clue. Through this window we're supposed to follow the progress of the film as it goes through the camera, a film that arrives on paper backing with printed numbers that conveniently line up with the window. Sadly it's also a film that until quite recently was very much a dead format, the once very common 127 Film that sits somewhere in size between 35mm and 120 'Medium Format' film stock.

127 film is available again if you know where to look, though I'm not sure whether my preferred developers can easily handle it (they're looking into this). There are also a number of 'hacks' for cutting down 120 film or re-spooling 35mm film onto a previously used 127 backing. These are all possible options, but in the mean time I'm trying an even cheaper hack that may or may not work in practice.

The diminutive size of these 127 cameras is certainly an advantage in use, this one comes with a collapsible lens that makes it genuinely pocketable. But unfortunately the dinky size is a definite drawback when it comes to adapting the camera for the more common (and cheap) 35mm format. Whilst some 127 cameras such as the old Kodak Brownies have big enough innards to take a standard 35mm film cassette with adapters, the Comet II is just that little bit too compact. I know, I've tried. So my preliminary plan is to re-spool a cheap 35mm film directly onto the 127 spool within the camera, and then rewind it back into the 35mm film cartridge when exposed. In the dark. Sounds simple enough...

The Monochrome Set Pt.1 - Baldessa

Kettfest 2026, Kettering Town Centre

 

Film photography is an expensive business, we all know that. But those of us who're relatively knew to the current revival (and it is a revival, my extremely busy preferred developer keeps telling me so) will have noticed that we're at something of a tipping point with regard to Cameras, and to a lesser extent old Film Stock.

If you're prepared to put in a bit of legwork (and most likely some CLA benchwork too), interesting and/or excellent vintage cameras can be found for a fraction of their true value. Antique Centres, Charity Shops, Car Boots, and Online Auction Sites are littered with them, albeit in varying states of repair. There's also enough abandoned film stock from the popular 'first age' of film photography to indulge in the risky business of shooting cheap expired film, probably the most expensive aspect of film photography right now.

If you're really lucky you'll have an 'early-adopter' friend, tired of all that tedious winding-on and postal developing, who's recently reverted to the old-fangled Digital format and is therefore happy to give you the last of his old (non-expired) film stock. Cheers Pete...

Spotted on walk in Burton Latimer

So here it is, the results from a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film. Now I can't say that I'm particularly enthused about shooting Black & White film. I much prefer a good accurate colour film, and I'm not so hardcore that I won't gratuitously 'monochrome' a shot in the edit if it works for a particular image. However, if I did feel the need to shoot B&W I'd be more than happy with this film. Much more 'Contrasty', and a fair bit less 'Grainy' than I was expecting, and quite forgiving of a slight overexposure from the Baldessa's slowish shutter (which I'm now compensating for by a half stop on the light meter). All of these were taken on bright sunny days and I really wasn't expecting to see any detail of clouds, which is nice!

Next up is another roll of this Ilford film as a test roll in the recently repaired FED, and it'll be really interesting to compare the results from the two cameras. As for the two rolls of Infrared I've also been gifted...

Horses and Railway Furniture on a walk from Isham to Burton Latimer

The Engine Repair Workshop at Rocks By Rail, Whissendine

Riding in the Brake Van at Rocks By Rail, Cottesmore

Oundle Vintage Festival 2026

Taking a Vintage Camera to a Vintage Festival has a a nice symmetry to it don't you think. It certainly saves the bother of having to dress for the occasion, although I was in fact wearing vintage Donegal Tweed.

I wasn't the only one who felt this way. On the walk into the town centre where all the vintage shenanigans were taking place I passed a chap with something vintage hanging around his neck, definitely an old film camera of some sort, a nice looking machine that we were both in too much of a hurry to swap notes on. Sadly that was it for the day, no war-era Leica's, nothing noticeably Twin Lens, in fact very few cameras at all. I feel the organisers have missed a trick here, Vintage Vehicles and Lindy Hopping are all well and good, but let's see a few Large Format photographers crouched under Dark Cloth and fiddling with ancient Mahogany and Brass Cameras next year.

We've been to this event before so I knew it would present good opportunities for photography. Good crowds and plenty to see, but not so busy as to make fiddling with a Rangefinder difficult. Here are some of the results from the Balda Baldessa 1a loaded with Kodak Kodacolor 100.