Street action times two

Batch developing is both interesting and challenging. Fortunately Mrs. Scoo wasn't home when I processed all roll films from July (upwards of ten rolls consisting of Ilford PANF & FP4 [iso 50 & 125] and Shanghai GP3 [chinese iso 100 film, copy of Kodak Plus-X]. That left some ten 35mm canisters.

At any rate, doing it all in one evening is easier when I use a developer which isn't diluted I think as I need to cool the chemicals in the sink as the ambient temperature in our flat is often during the summer 25-26°C.

Yesterday, having discovered a Minolta AL (1960s fixed 45mm f/2 lens rangefinder) in good shape, I bought it for street photography use. Its leaf shutter is very quiet in contrast to that of the soviet Zorki 4 which is just about as loud as a SLR, negating somewhat its advantage for stealthy photography.

On my way from the flea shop to the post office to collect a parcel of foma films (took an eternity to get them from a seller in Norway) I noticed blue strobes on the pedestrian street in Turku. A Norway Maple had lost a thick branch due to strong winds. The immidiate area was cordoned off with the fire brigade together with people from the city's "park & greenery department" preparing to fell it completely as it had been badly ripped when the branch broke off. As I had a roll in my bag the Minolta was immidiately put to service, its quiet shutter quite useful. Later I brought my DSLR too for some crowd and uniformed people shots (local news story on the incident; poor machine translated version).

In the evening I and Mrs. Scoo went out to see the "Night of the Arts" (can't think of any non-literal translation of it); the original meaning was that artists, musicians and the lot would display and perform long into the wee hours, nowadays its also a chance for downtown businesses to attract customers up until midnight. At any rate, inside a shopping mall in central Turku we chanced upon the booth of a local photo gallery/association (I've been idly thinking of joining). Several photographers' work was on display, amongst them a chap named Tommi Pirnes who I chatted a bit with. I can see why his "Cat and vine" inspired him to venture further in the world of photography.

I hope to get the rolls developed later today or during the weekend.