For a special event in a special place, I needed special films — the most light-sensitive ones I had. No accidental choices. Or, for that matter, no deliberate indulgence in an expensive designer film simply for the sake of admiring myself. I had just one take, with no room for error.
We were capturing a scene from real life, not from a film — one that could not be repeated on a second attempt. So I chose the finest stocks.
Ilford Delta 3200*
A professional black-and-white film designed for low-light conditions. InVino has an intimate, warm atmosphere, and destroying it with bright artificial light would have been a crime. Delta handled the task beautifully. The photographs came out sharp and precise, while the grain — quite characteristic of such a high ISO — added barely perceptible “pores” to the frames and, with them, a sense of air.
I would compare Delta’s character to a drawing made with a hard-soft pencil. Try shading a small piece of paper with one, without pressing too hard. Then compare it to one of the photographs. You will immediately understand what I mean.
Kodak Portra 800*
A professional colour film that allows the lens to see colour even in an intimate, warm atmosphere with subdued light. Portra is rather particular about the temperature of light. Which is only natural: royal blood comes with high standards, especially when the goal is to capture every colour of an event. To prevent the film from shifting the shadows towards green, I used an additional light source, occasionally disturbing the intimacy of the atmosphere. But the decision proved worthwhile. In the photographs, we can see the warmth cast by the enormous lamps and emanating from the InVino team.
Perhaps you will say: — Noisy! Yes. But so was the event. Scroll through the album of sketches via the link: annaheiter.ru/invino
*3200 and 800 refer to the films’ ISO ratings.
Cover photographs: Alexey Lukavsky