My Fujica with the wide-angle lens on Wells beach. Following our evening with The Hu, we woke early-ish in a Premier Inn off the A47. We grabbed some bad coffee and drove an hour to the coast, aiming to retrace the walk we enjoyed in spring 2023 along the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea and back via the edge of Holkham Nature Reserve. The forecast was for a cold, blustery, wet day, but it was hot, calm and mostly sunny. Lucky us. It’s a good time to be in Norfolk, with the autumn migration well underway. We saw several flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings undulating over the marsh, and hundreds of Pink-footed Geese flying in from Greenland and Iceland. And, for the first time in decades, I carried my SLR camera. I recently scanned some cherished 35mm photos for a project and felt inspired to dig out my Fujica STX-1, which my parents bought for me second-hand in the 1990s. The body and lenses are still in good condition, and it’s entirely mechanical, so I only needed to replace the battery in the integrated light meter. The process of taking film photographs is half the fun, but I need to make sure the lenses are still OK and the body doesn’t allow any light in (I’ve a vague memory that it might leak), so I’ve loaded a new roll of Kodak Ultramax for tests. I shot half the roll at home and in the studio and decided to shoot the rest on today’s walk. It’s a powerful feeling to be totally in control of the photography process, judging conditions, making choices and composing shots like I did in my 20s. In fact, I was so excited to reconnect with my SLR that I pretty much forgot to take any photos with my new iPhone Pro. It’s funny that upgrading to perhaps the most advanced mobile digital camera ever has coincided with a possible return to film. I’ll write more about the SLR if my test prints are encouraging. Reply via email