Last week I took a day off from working on my MA assignments to check out Tatton Flower Show, just outside Manchester. I wanted to have a day to myself and to try out a second-hand Bronica I bought recently on something that didn’t matter to me at all. I just took the one camera – one of the first times since getting into photography that I’ve left my digital camera behind.

I never really experienced shooting with film when I was younger and have only used medium format a couple of times, so this was a different experience for me. It wasn’t a successful day photographically (I only shot about a roll and a half and most of them are rubbish) but I learned several things.

1. My camera seems to have a light leak which shows up on about half the negatives. Think I need to invest in some sticky tape.

2. I’m not really comfortable in Middle England events like this and felt very out of place. Give me the rough and tumble of Appleby Horse Fair any day.

3. I work much better when I’m interested in the subject matter (a no-brainer of course).

4. Shooting with medium format is quite hard. Light meter readings, manual focus, composing in a square….not easy things to do all at once.