April film

As is the way with analogue photography, I'm about a month behind sharing photos I've taken with film cameras recently. In April, a sunny Edinburgh was bursting with cherry blossom. It really lifted my spirits after a bleak winter and a difficult (for personal reasons) start to spring this year. I couldn't walk fast or far in April, but managed to take my Holga to the Meadows to photograph the cherry blossoms there - something that thousands of locals and tourists do here every year.

On the walk back from the Meadows I had one photo left on my roll. Looking around for candidates, I spotted a random cone left next to a tree. I walked past it but something was nagging my mind about it, so I went back and took this photo.

The other film camera I used in April was my Nikon Zoom 310 AF 35mm point and shoot. I've enjoyed using this camera. It's small enough that it's easy to carry around; the zoom gives you a bit more versatility for composition; it's also been fairly reliable and usually the pictures are in focus and properly exposed. The downsides are: it's quite noisy for a 'discreet' camera; you can't expect much from the autofocus (it struggles with small things); and, even when the photos are in focus, they're not particularly sharp. But those things don't matter too much if you accept this camera for what it is: a snapshot camera. If you want analogue snapshot photos with a soft, nostalgic glow, this is a great and affordable little camera to do that job.

Anyway, because it's lived in my bag a lot recently, I sometimes use it for one-off random photos here and there. These first two are a couple I took on a walk to Stockbridge one sunny spring day.

I also took it round the Botanics one day. I visited the alpine gardens for the first time in a while - these had been temporarily closed until recently. A taste of what's to come when the big glasshouse reopens (I'm looking forward to that!).

This tree (below) is one I always admire. There's something about it, and its surroundings, which is very pleasing to the eye. On this day, the light was catching it beautifully. I stood on the path for a few minutes and waited for a gap in the passing traffic (it looks like I had the place to myself, but the reality was quite the opposite). I love how these turned out.

Finally, another 'end of the roll' photo. Our cat Louis was relaxing on our spare room bed, as he often does. He loves it there when the sun shines through the window onto the bed.