Shooting Lomography Redscale XR film at Cars & Coffee

by | May 20, 2022


For another look at my experience shooting Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 film jump over to my photography how-to Blog to read my Film Review of Lomo’s “redscale” lfilm.


Today’s Post by Joe Farace

Red is the ultimate cure for sadness.—Bill Blass

The attendees and exhibitors of the May ’22 Cars and Coffee event at the Vehicle Vault in Parker, Colorado must have known it was Nation Photo Month! I haven’t seen this many cameras, and the inevitable cell phones, in use at a car show in a long time.

For the photographs of the show you see here and in my Film Review on my photography how-to blog, I attached a FD 50mm f/1.8 lens to my Canon A-1, the favorite of all my A-series cameras. All of the images were captured using the camera’s Tv mode. The A-1 has the most exposure modes of any of Canon’s A-cameras—Program, Shutter-Priority, Aperture-Priority and Manual. That’s not bad for a 35mm camera that was introduced in 1978.

I loaded the A-1 with a roll of Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 film. This special effects film is supposed to give the captured images an overall red-orange color cast, which, as you can see it does! The Xtended Range film was exposed at ISO 200 and the images you see here were straight-of-the-scanner and have not been manipulated in any way. The film was processed and scanned at Mike’s Camera in Lone Tree, Colorado.

This was the best and most diverse collection of cars at Cars and Coffee that I’ve seen since the events began many years ago. When preparing to photograph a spectacular looking Jaguar XK120 OTS and feeling smug because I was shooting with a Canon A-1 film SLR, I looked to my right and saw a guy with a big camera bag around his next unlimbering a Hasselblad 500CM that was as beautiful as the Jag. Any hubris was quickly dispelled.

In addition to the beautiful Jaguar at the event, there were many series of Corvettes, classic T-birds, beautiful Cobra replicas and at the other end of the spectrum there was Morris Minor convertible with the tiniest 1000cc engine I’ve ever seen. There was a lifted International Scout that was flawlessly executed, classic hot rods, restored classics, and even a brand new Rivian pickup truck!

After I finished shooting all 36-exposures of the Lomo films and walking back to my car, I saw what looked like a Subaru 22B. Some young dudes showed up and we looked it over trying to determine if it was a 22B; there are not many Subaru WRX STI’s with two doors. I knew had to photograph it so I walked back to Mary’s Crosstrek to get my Canon AE-1 that loaded with Adox 100 black and white film, and made my “Snap a Frame a Dayshot of it. When arriving home I did some research on what a 22B really looks like but can’t say for sure if that was one because that particular roll of film won’t be processed and scanned until the end of the month. Hopefully I’ll be able feature it as “Photo of the Week” on an upcoming podcast.

 

The Subaru 22B was a special two-door edition of the WRX that was built to celebrate three consecutive FIA World Championship Rally titles. This earned the car the right to pair gold wheels with a huge hood scoop and an even larger rear wing. The 22B has the wide body work of the 1998 Impreza WRC rally car, as well as special 2.2 liter engine, brakes and suspension. These cars are exceptionally rare, with just only 400 built. It has an output of 280 hp because of the Japanese carmaker’s 1988 agreement at the time to limit engine power to around 280 hp, which may or not be true dyno-wise. A recent example with 40,000-kilometers (24,854 miles) just sold on Bring a Trailer for $312,555.

 


Just a reminder: Podcast #3 is live now on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos, featuring a look at the Leica Z2X and my experiences shooting 22-year old Agfa color film in a 40-year old Canon SLR, plus some information on where I get my ideas for blog posts!