[Leica] Delta 400, Italy, and photographing people

[Jesse Hellman <hellman@home.com>]

After reading the raves on the LUG about new Delta 400 I tested a few
roles in DDX, then took 20 rolls for a two week trip in central Italy. I
exposed it at 400 most of the time, and developed it in DDX 1:4 for 8.5
minutes, a minute less than Ilford says, and generally got easy to print
(7.75 x 11.5 inches) negs with more grain than I am used to from Tmax
400, but with a smooth and beautiful tonality. 

Two months ago there were posts about the tendency for highlights to be
difficult to print with the new Delta 400 (I have seen little posted on
this since - what are other's experience?). There were a few negatives
that were accidentally overexposed one and a half stops (and that
therefore required printing times one and half times more) but produced
negatives that printed easily, in which the whites looked fine. I was
amazed (but of course, I am used to Tmax!). I love this film. 

On this trip I wanted to take pictures of people, not buildings. I spent
a good amount of time on my own, particularly in Urbino and Spoleto, and
really made an effort to get closer to people, not be so surreptitious,
get direct eye contact. I have been studying Italian for several years,
and that has helped me feel much more comfortable, although my skills
with the language are still meager.

For me there can be a distance in this kind of photography that is hard
to overcome, particularly in my own culture. People can be really on
guard. But there, being obviously a tourist (but one who knows a bit of
the language) helps people relax - and I was surprised at how close I
could get.

I often spoke with people or simply asked if I could take their picture.
The conditional and imperfect subjunctive can be more useful than yet
another lens! Most of my pictures were with the M6 0.85 with 50 Summicron.

Last evening Dan Honemann came over and we poured over the prints for
quite a while. After I've reprinted a few we'll get together again. But
I can't wait to go back to Italy (off topic).

Jesse Hellman
Baltimore, Maryland, USA