The 1990’s was a decade that found me experimenting with many different film types that ultimately, in 1999, led to me switching solely to transparency film. An ongoing project to digitise my entire film library has started bringing to light these experiments. Some amounted to nothing more than a very brief dalliance with specific emulsions that were soon forgotten about.

One of these experiments dates to 1994 and trying out Kodak TMAX 3200 black and white film. It could be rated at anything between 800 and 3200 asa and the higher the speed, the more its structural grain became apparent. Curious to see how large the grain would appear I exposed all rolls at its maximum speed, as I wished the results to deliver a ‘charcoal sketch’ effect.

Displayed here are some of the results marking not only an experimental phase in my photography, but a very special time in my life - the birth of Ethan. Some of these grainy works are from his very first weeks of life and have remained in the vaults, almost forgotten, until now. I was keen to try this film on diverse subject matter, hence there being no particular theme to this collection or the wider body of work it is taken from. Camera gear was an Olympus OM4Ti body with 24, 50 and 100mm Zuiko lenses. On reflection I wish I would have used this film stock more as I appreciate the results more now than I probably did when shot.