An Era Fades But Never-Fading Experiences In Black & White..!!

Film Rolls In Black & White, Playing Off The Legends!An era of photography in film rolls was to end by the end of the 20th century,especially to that kind in black and white film rolls.It was at this time that I find my time (13 years back) to mingle with my old Minolta7SII which I had retrieved after a thorough service from an expert technician at my reach..and I started the operation with color film rolls at ISOs 100 and 200 in my family circles...After a few months,there came the festival season here in the south of Kerala (India) and I decided to capture some night performances on the stage in the Temple and thus planned to make captures on the performances of Kathakali (the classical dance dramma) that took place at night and which was one of my favourite items among the stage programmes during the festivals...Then I thought of experimenting the shots with black and white film rolls instead of color films so as to get the nights as such!!

My MINOLTA7SII as now, experiencing an Era of manual photography

So I bought a roll of black & white then available in the market (I think it was with an ISO range of 100-125)and went to the temple at night with my MINOLTA7SII having its compact 40mm wide angle lens loaded with that roll...the first shot was that of a combination of a male and female characters on a lyrical comversation...conceiving a shot just as per the apperture value and timing was not at all confusing as a beginner and I put my hand on the shutter release button and continued  winding up the camera several times regardless to the lights and the foreground effects...thus born several beginning shots on Kathakali at my firsthand black and white experince!!

one of my first shots in black & white

The main intention then was to take action shots of the performers live when the movements go unpredictable;I had awaited for the more vibrant moves of the dancers and it was rather convenient to capture solo performing characters in the play..;the wait was fulfilled successfully when I had the chance to get the random movements of the grand character of Bali (the wild king from the epic Ramayana). The entry of Bali in the play entitled as BALIVIJAYAM (the Triumphing Bali) is highly dramatic and visually enchanting...so I took it severally under the stage lights and under the normal flash light accessory provided in addition to that of the camera.When the negatives were washed out and the prints were made off,I felt it amusing to see the results in the well laid out lights and shades of the night, in many exposures and that were highly remarkable and as a beginner in black and whites then I could not forget the experience that made me tp pursue my Minolta7SII further for live action shooting and to subsist with manual photography for a long time and still at the high time of Digital Imaging Era...so it would be quite joyful moment to bring back my playful shots of that festival night playing a legend !!

The Vibrant Moves Of Bali At The Outset

The end of an era  of manual film photography along with 20th century was of course earmarked by the time but the efforts and enthusiasm oriented with film rolls are still  evergreen as the episodes in a  legendary  play, full of heroic antecedents !

The Thoughtful Hero In B@W

Juxtaposing the night in the dense backdrop of the night;the character of Ravana from Ramayana