I see film has been making a massive come back, not just in this genre of photography but in every type. People are bored apparently of crisp clean digital images and like the look of film, that feel that digital does not give. I guess itâs the same with vinyl and how popular that is now, people like the crackers, the album covers, even just getting the record out of the sleeve and putting it on the deck and placing the needle on. People are just fed up with everything being easy and want to be challenged more. Anyway I like the look of film photography, never really done it apart from a point and shoot as a kid. So I remembered about eight years ago we had an old camera shop in Norwich. It was one of them old dingy little shops filled with stuff, it was great. The old bloke who owned it was a wealth of knowledge. I went in a few times and bought old broken cameras for display. He used to drag these old boxes out and start pulling out old cameras to look at. He use to sell them for about three to fifteen pounds. I remember him saying one still worked and I could not remember which one, but I had a feeling if it was one it would be the Olympus trip 35mm, that I paid a fiver for. Sadly I think the shop has now gone which is a shame. Anyway I dragged the Olympus out a little while back and cleaned it up, the basic functions of the camera worked. So off up to Wex I went, the main shop is based here were they started. And bought some Ilford 400 black and white film for a trial run to see if it works. I was debating were to go as I needed shots in good light. I thought Sculthorpe is a good bet, itâs big, plenty of externals, trashed but still photogenic. So up early with my film and digital camera I spent a good four hours here wandering the whole site. I have been about fifteen times here as itâs local and was my first explore back in spring 2013. Itâs getting more and more trashed every visit, though I ainât been for about three years. When I first went the old kids room you could still see the art work clearly on the walls. They have a heritage group up there which has grown and run by a very enthusiastic and knowledgable man. They are now moving the heritage centre next door into the old chapel. Back home after taking shots I wound my roll up and thought it had finished reeling and it had not. Opening the back I was dismayed to see it was not all in. Forgetting never open the back of a film, luckily it was in low light, slightly opened and quickly. I got them down snapppy snaps for development, not expecting anything I was surprised to find I got more than half back ok, a couple had ghosting in, but added them as well. I was excited and pleased to see the camera worked. Also realised that you save on black and white film buying, but costs far more to be developed ha ha. If anyone knows of a decent place to send film for development please say, as definitely got the bug. All photos are straight out of camera. Apart from two that needed a slight rotate.
Sculthorpe began life as a world war two satellite airfield. If you know how many world war two airfields worked you normally had one main airfield and two satellite ones. So in the case off Sculthorpe it was number three down the list to West Raynham, the second being RAF Great Massinghsm. The runway was laid out as a bomber airfield so the runway was built longer than your standard runways. Constructed by Bovis who did a lot of Norfolk airfield construction. The runway sat at 6,000 feet. It was used by several squadrons during the war. In 1949 America took on the base for the 20th fighter bomber wing. Then later on the 81st bomber wing. Both these had massive nuclear capability. The North American B-45 tornados were the jet bombers that would deliver this pay load if war ever broke out. Each plane was capable of dropping five tactical nuclear bombs. With the cold war fizzling out in the late eighties the site closed in 1992 and the technical and domestic sites sold off. The MOD retained the airfield side for training. The runway is used by American special forces in the evening's from Lakenheath and Mildenhall. It's quite an impressive site in a nice evening seeing the hercs landing there or dropping parachutes. Sculthorpe was quite a secretive airfield and think a lot of stuff went on there and landed there that was kept under the radar. CND protested at RAF Greenham common but if only they knew of what was stored here. My aunt met an airman at Sculthorpe in the 50s and married him and moved to America. I know during the Suez canal crisis all planes were fully loaded and on standby ready to go and called off at the last min.
The smaller accommodation blocks.
Looking over to the Truman block, this is a larger three storey block.
Main entry into the bar area of the recreation hall and dining hall. Is also some accommodation in here at the far end.
The baseball pitch situated a little way out from the accommodation block. You can still see the footprint of the court, with the cage here and a row of conifers in front of itin a curved line as a boundary. I also got in to the gym this time with swuash courts but just took them on my regular camera and lenses.
The guardhouse and gates to get on the airside part.
Another gate and guardhouse to get on the airfield part.
The operations and briefing block. The MOD were based in here as well.
Army and airforce exchange building..
Commisinary and exchange building.
The next batch were shot on my Fuji camera using vintage lenses. I used a Pentax Super Takuma 35mm lens and a Helios 58mm lens. On the Fuji you have what are known as film recipes, in which you adjust the grain, white balance, shadows, contrast etc and use it with the film simulations fuji have. They have literally dozens of recipes to choose from that replicate Kodak, Fuji, Polaroid etc. These one were shot on a recipe that replicated Kodak Porta 400. Again these shots are SOOC, and just a couple straightedge slightly.
Inside the the billeting, dining and rec hall.
Back to the the accommodation blocks.
Phone exchange in the briefing and operation block.
Operations room.
Back in the commissary and exchange block.
