Have you ever cross-processed film? // ISSUE 4

A forgotten roll of cross-processed Ektachrome 64T shot on my Konica Big Mini

I love everything about cross-processed film.

I love the colour shifts. I love the grain. I love the accentuated vignette.

Though I didn’t always feel like this.

My early experiments with the Lomo LC-A and colour slide film circa 2010 were unimpressive. So unimpressive that I stopped doing it. Until I saw a brick of film going cheap on eBay in 2018.

Kodak Ektachrome 64T

I’d never shot a roll of tungsten-based film before, but I threw caution to the wind and bought a 20-roll brick of Kodak Ektachrome 64T. Quite by accident, I started shooting it with a camera that really seems to suit the cross-processed look - the Konica Big Mini. You can see the results of the first roll on my website. I shot a couple rolls of it, gave a few away, and then moved on to other things.

Forgotten roll of film

Last September I went on a 1 day roadtrip to Queensland’s Granite Belt. It’s over 3 hours drive from where I live, so going there and back in a day is not particularly fun.

I took 10 cameras in my car, including a roll of 64T in my Big Mini. I finished the roll and sent it down to my lab with 6 or 7 other rolls. When I got the scans back, other rolls got my attention and I forgot about this one.

This week I found the digital contact sheet my lab did. My first reaction was “Wow, which roll of film was that?!” It was the 64T of course.

Some of my favourite images on the roll are from that 1 day roadtrip.

Just over an hour into the trip, the first stop is always the bakery at Aratula. After all, who can resist a coffee and a lamington?

The second stop is always the Maryvale Roadhouse, an abandoned petrol station and restaurant. I’ve shot this location at least 8 times - I can’t drive past without stopping and taking photos.

Every time I visit the roadhouse seems to have fallen more and more into disrepair. There was a Coke sign on the roof, but it’s now gone.

I was quite surprised on my last visit to see 2 old buses parked there. The really odd thing is that the bus below is from North Stradbroke Island, not far from where I live, but nowhere near Maryvale.

With the Big Mini I can’t set a film speed, so all of these shots were at box speed. There’s not much detail in the shadows but overall I love the look.

We drove on to Warwick and then headed towards Stanthorope. The third stop was Applethorpe. I wanted a photo of the lush fields that abound in the Granite Belt. This area is famous for fruit and vegetable growing, especially apples.

We went into Stanthorpe, a nice little country town not far from the New South Wales border. There are some lovely historic buildings in the main street.

The road trip was to hunt for cherry blossoms. Unfortunately they hadn’t flowered yet, but these beautiful white blooms were looking good.

So there you go, some cross-processed photos that I love from last year. Makes me wonder what other cool film photos I’ve forgotten about in my archive.

Xpro competition

In the past I’ve run community collab film photography competitions via my podcast:

• Pantastic (cheap plastic pano comp)

• Lomo Purple

• Pantastic 2.

I love cross-processed film so much, I decided to make the fourth competition Xpro (cross-processed film). It’s now closed for entries, and I’m hoping the final judging episode will be published soon. Make sure you check out the entries page, there are some cracking xpro shots from all around the world.

Ricoh cross-process film simulation

Last week I told you about my Ricoh GRiii Diary Edition camera. For the next few weeks I’ll share a photo I’ve taken with it in each newsletter.

While I was playing around with it, I was delighted to see there was a cross-process film simulation. I used it for the photo below taken at dusk at the end of my street. I really like the image, but compared to the xpro photos above, the colours are quite restrained.

Newsletter poll

Last week’s poll

Wow, I’m impressed by the restraint you all have with your camera collections, bravo! Thanks so much to everyone who listed the cameras they couldn’t live without in the comments.

That’s all for this week. See you next week! Matt :)