The oldest Jazz band in Spain playing in a restored church in rural Spain made a great backdrop for trying out some new film and bringing along a few favourites. Come join me for some good old Dixieland Jazz!
My Dad's band (the Canal Street Jazz Band) has been going for quite a while now, since 1966 to be exact - that's over 50 years! They are legends of the Spanish Jazz scene and every now and then they play in the most spectacular settings - and Huete (Province of Cuenca) was no exception. After hearing they were going to play in such a special venue, I immediately booked a flight to come over from Frankfurt - armed with copious amounts of film of course!
About the film
I had been keeping Lomography Lady Grey 400 black and white film for a while, saving it for a special occasion. I have always had good experiences with Lomography branded films, and figured this one would also have its own personality to it.
Lomography Lady Grey B&W 400 35mm is the perfect film to use if you’re looking for high-resolution, monochromatic fun. This lady promises smooth grain, stunning tones and all the speed you need to shoot even under unfavorable lighting conditions. This ISO 400 film adds class and elegance to your photos and is perfect for capturing action and great low-light shots.
With the above description in mind I thought it would be good to use this film during their sound check and as they started the concert, when it was still not fully dark outside (given this was an outdoor concert). For the nighttime shots I had some secret weapons in mind, to be precise: Cinestill 800, Portra 800 and Ilford Delta 3200. With that amount of film I certainly had enough to go around - so off we went down to Huete, a small town about 1.5 hours from Madrid.
About the Canal Street Jazz Band
Given my Dad has been in this band longer than I have been alive, I've had the pleasure to grow up listening to lots and lots of Dixieland Jazz. But no two concerts are the same, and these guys still keep things fresh and audiences entertained. But don't take my word for here - one of many videos below!
About Huete
So, back to the venue. Located in a small town (population c. 2,000) about 1.5 hours south-east from Madrid in the province of Cuenca, you will find Huete, a typically Spanish town surrounded on by a rather large gorge. The band was hired by a community foundation that restored the wonderful church, turning the remains into an open air venue for music and other performance arts. I cannot stress how amazing of a venue this is, along with the usually predictable warm summer Spanish weather. More on Huete here (in Spanish).
As usual, all photographs clickable for full screen view - enjoy!
First song. It was a bright day and I didn't use filters with my Hasselblad, probably leading to such a bright white sky.
Location of Huete.
One of my favourite shots - I managed to get this during the soundcheck. I'm impressed by the clarity of this shot, its sharpness. I have seen this before on Kodak TMax or Tri-X, both films more expensive than this one.
Antonio the bass player - definitley a winning shot!
I really like this angle - only black and white can really focus in on the subject, if shot under the right lighting. Another great shot.
Again, I'm very impressed by how sharp this film is - really well done Lomography! Great shot of my Dad, too!
Slightly out of focus, but still works. Hasselblad lenses have a maximum shutter speed of 1/500th of a second, which is not that fast when you come across movement, especially a drummer!
Group shot. Probably would've worked better with a tripod, but not bad overall. Looks like they have a white screen behind them, this film really renders a clear sky very white!
The quintesentially Spanish town of Huete.
As we moved into darkness I used other films (Cinestill 800, Portra 800, Ilford Delta 3200). Group shot of the band on stage, I really like the lighting here.
Great in action shot - I managed to take this from the side without disturbing too many people - the Hasselblad is not a camera that hides itself easily!
Another group shot - really nice colours again.
I didn't quite get the angle right, but decided to put it up anyways!
Ilford Delta 3200 film - that is some lovely looking grain!
What a venue!
More Ilford Delta 3200, what a wonderful film. I got the focus wrong here with the back of the church being more in focus, but you can kind of get away with it in black & white shots.
The audience getting involved (or being directed to, rather!).
The trombone foot trick - it never gets old!
Overall impressions
Well, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this particular week's shooting. I definitely overdid it a bit on the number of films, but it's all for fun, right?!
In terms of the Lomography Lady Grey 400 film, which I was shooting for this week's review: very impressed overall. I was not quite sure how the shots would come out as some of the photos I have seen online have not been as sharp. All of the photos (I shot 3 rolls in total) came our really well, being much sharper than I expected. I also liked how well they isolated subjects with the right dark background. A very good effort overall, competing against the likes of Kodak TMax and Tri-X varieties, and at a very reasonable price point. I would like to shoot this same film on 35mm film to see how it comes out. Interesting how it made the sky so white, I have never seen that before, but that also may have been down to the bright Spanish summer sky!
So, I hope you enjoyed come along to see the Canal Street Jazz Band, they have loads of videos on youtube so do check them out! If you are ever in that part of Spain, the town of Huete is worth a visit it has a lot of history and character.
Another week gone but plenty more to come. I have been busy shooting over the last few weeks so have a few more coming that I will post in the next week, including more Rollei colour film, a go at macro photography, and a wonderful Ilford film!
More very soon...now get back out there and start taking some photographs!
Cheers,
Neil
