Nothing evokes nostalgia quite like shooting with analog film, and Ilford is among those brands whose film stock I enjoy loading. What I didn’t realize until today was how much history the company has behind them. This year, Ilford Photo celebrates 145 years since founder Alfred Hugh Harman began making gelatine dry plates in the basement of his house in Ilford, UK. To commemorate this, the company has launched a limited range of 120 and 35mm format films in specially designed retro packaging.
The lead image and the pictures in the article are courtesy of Ilford Photo.
145 years is a massive amount of time to be involved in the field of photography as a company. It’s even more thought-provoking when you realize that the first recorded instance of a photograph being taken was only a handful of decades prior to this. Ilford has been one of those brands that consistently delivers a wide variety of film stock, appealing to analog enthusiasts across all genres. To commemorate the 145th anniversary of the company’s founding, Ilford Photo has announced a couple of special edition retro-packaged films. These are the 1950s & 1960s-inspired retro packaging for their popular HP5+ and FP4+ films in both 35mm and 120 formats. Ilford says these are based on the colors and styling of HP3 and FP3 packaging from those decades.
HP5 Plus is a film that can appear washed out in low-contrast situations unless you slightly underexpose it. In high-contrast lighting it helps to balance the scene, especially when shooting outdoors. It’s a great film stock for creating moody images rather than capturing the mood of a scene.
Images taken on HP5+ stock by Editor-in-Chief Chris Gampat can be seen above.
Ilford FP4 125 is a film best suited for high-contrast shooting, though it naturally opens up the shadows regardless of how you shoot it—that’s its defining characteristic. To preserve more highlight detail, underexposing it slightly is often recommended. Achieving deep, dark shadows is challenging, as it tends to soften them. For landscape photographers, this makes Ilford FP4 Plus 125 the ideal black-and-white film for any project.
To see what results FP4 can produce, check out the images below:
A Collector’s Item
There’s no word on whether these special edition stocks have a unique formulation, and I think they’re just packaged in an old-fashioned way. This limited-edition retro packaging will be available worldwide over the coming weeks while supplies last. Visit their store locator to see which stores near you might stock them.
I will probably buy more than a couple of these retro Ilford films in each format. While I’ll make the most of the 120 rolls, I know I’ll save one each of the 35mm rolls for later, hoping that my grandchildren can stumble upon them in the future. I have no doubts over the fact that analog photography will still be thriving and kicking over half a century from now. And maybe then, they’ll be able to get commemorative editions of the 200th anniversary of this brand, that keeps this amazing medium alive. Collecting limited edition film stock often appeals to nostalgia. You will shoot more conservatively than usual, with a deeper appreciation of each frame. The simplicity of this packaging also evokes a longing for simpler times, even if it evokes styling from a few decades before I was born. This digital world is too fast-paced for me to completely appreciate it, and I certainly enjoy it when photography brands bring some awesome throwbacks like this.
For more information, visit Ilford’s website.
Images of packaging seen in this article have been supplied by our Ilford Photo rep.