Chad Hill
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chadhill.bsky.social
Chad Hill
@chadhill.bsky.social
5.9K followers 1.4K following 4.4K posts
Archaeologist, photographer, dilettante.

Primarily posting nerdy analogue photography BS: 110-8x10. Photography = catharsis.

Co-Winner, 2022 #ShittyCameraChallenge - InstantRegret

(Avatar is the dad from the awesome kids book “Pokko and the Drum”)
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chadhill.bsky.social
Buttercup Cottage ruins (cont’d), Philadelphia 2025

B+J Grover 8x10, Wollaston 125mm f1.6, long expired Kodak paper negative (~1s@f8)

#BelieveInFilm #LargeFormat
A black and white photo of a doorway in a ruined building.
November 10, 2025 at 7:55 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
“Laura”, Buttercup Cottage ruins, Philadelphia 2025

B+J Grover 8x10, Wollaston 125mm f1.6, long expired Kodak paper negative (~1s@f8)

#BelieveInFilm #LargeFormat
Black and white photo of a decrepit doorway leading into the former tiled bathroom of a barn that burnt down 40 years ago.
November 10, 2025 at 12:01 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
beautiful old Beseler 45 to make nice prints for display of the museum of lots of cool stuff around the construction of the park by CCC and WPA. It was super fun and such a cool archive to work in/with. Pretty sure some of my prints are still on display there 25 years later. 😅
black and white photo of people bathing on a peach in a park in NJ in the 30s in the Hudson.
November 9, 2025 at 10:42 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Oh I know: Serious, non-flashy, pro. Maybe becomes a trend toward black in later bodies.

BUT: unlike cams like this orbit 4x5, which are this color because they are grey metal, the 8x10 is WOOD and they just painted it grey to look like the metal bodies, but it’s not!! 😬😬😬🤷‍♂️! So I think it’s lame.
Photo of an orbit monorail camera. Made of grey metal.
November 9, 2025 at 6:40 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
I know, the wood would be easy to sand down and refinish. I’m just not sure I want to mess with removing the bellows if it doesn’t need it.

I had a great outcome with my Seneca 6 5x7, but the bellows was in tatters.

No way am I replacing hardware. 😅😅
A refinished Seneca 6 Another view of the refinished Seneca.
November 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
This cheap B+J 8x10 monorail camera is WAY more portable than I would have guessed. So much more portable than my 4x5 monorail. The rail comes right off, and then the camera fits in my usual 8x10 backpack. It’s also made of painted grey (why???) wood, so it’s not heavy!

#CameraGear #BelieveInFilm
The b+j camera set up among my favorite test location and some fall foliage. The b+j with the rail removed and placed on my oversized homemade 8x10 camera wrap. The wrap closed up and ready to put in a bag. Big 5.11 backpack with all the gear for the 8x10 loaded up and ready to go. The hexagonal monorail is sticking up in the front pocket.
November 9, 2025 at 4:51 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Practicing, Philadelphia 2025

Burke and James Grover 8x10, Wollaston 125mm f1.6 (@~f5.6), Expired Kodak RC paper negative (single strobe)

More tests with the super wide meniscus, in my lair, playing banjo.

#BelieveInFilm #LargeFormat #WollastonLens
A blurry and partially out of focus black and white image of a man leaning back in a rocking chair playing a 130 year old banjo. The movement, light, and lack of sharp focus draws the eye to the banjo rather than the man.
November 9, 2025 at 4:36 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
These are rad, cheap, and challenging lenses. I was heavily influenced by the awesome results @behindthebluemotel.com gets with his, but wanted to try this extremely wide version. Possibly I would have been better off with the 335.

My Seneca unfortunately wouldnt focus this to ∞.

#CameraGear
View of the Wollaston 125 f1.6 meniscus lens mounted in my camera, showing the printed label showing the lens info. The slot for the aperture card inserts is also visible.
November 9, 2025 at 12:00 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
Testing (romanescu broccoli), Philadelphia 2025

Burke and James Grover 8x10, Wollaston 125mm f1.6 (@~f7), expired Kodak rc paper negative

Testing a new pairing with Reinhold Schables 19mm-equivalent fast LF meniscus at macro distance! 😅😅

#BelieveInFilm #LargeFormat #PaperNegative
A black and white closeup image of a weird vegetable. Head on view of a Wollaston meniscus lens. View of the same image on the ground glass. A setup shot showing the romenescu broccoli under the 8x10 camera with the camera propped against a joy of cooking book and the subject is lit by a bright directional light.
November 8, 2025 at 6:43 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
It would be incorrect to say I have ever been “cool”. But maybe the least (most?) uncool I have ever been is driving around in my ‘79 VW Westphalia camper with my handmade wooden kayak wearing a tie dye Calvin and Hobbes shirt and toting a Nikon f4.

Really miss that van. Still have the boat.

#TBT
A photo of a green vw camper with a wooden kayak mounted on the roof. A young man wearing a tie dye shirt poses in front of a green vw camper.
November 5, 2025 at 9:49 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Rules are rules, Bakhita, Jordan 2025

Nikon f100, 24-120 f4 vr, motipix 50d

#Fieldwork #Jordan #BelieveInFilm
A teapot with a fake wood handle sitting on the ground. A man with a camera is visible in the reflective surface of the teapot.
November 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Even more petroglyphs, Bakhita, Jordan 2025

Pentax 645n, 45-85 4.5, delta 100

#Fieldwork #Jordan #Rockart
A view of a bunch of rocks with petroglyphs. There is a wadi channel in the distance.
November 5, 2025 at 3:56 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
More petroglyphs, Bakhita, Jordan 2025

Pentax 645n, 45-85 4.5, delta 100

#Fieldwork #Jordan #Rockart
A camel and some other animals with some Safaitic inscriptions. Not camels and Safaitic inscriptions. More Safaitic. A bunch of camels and text on a large boulder.
November 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
I did the thing. Go do the thing!

#Vote #PAJudicialRetention
Selfie of a beardy man with a “yo vote” sticker.
November 4, 2025 at 5:52 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Look down, look up. Black Desert, Jordan 2025

Pentax 645n, 45-85 4.5, delta 100

#Fieldwork #Jordan #BelieveInFilm 📸🎞️
A shot looking down at my boots just before they gave up the ghost and fell apart. Looking up at a beautiful fluffy cloud in the spring sky in the desert. This was shot in March.
November 4, 2025 at 4:48 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
Flying drones, Black Desert, eastern Jordan 2025

Bessa L, Chroma Double Glass 24mm f11, Rollei IR 400

The tech has come a long way since I started doing this.

#BelieveInFilm #dronesforgood #Fieldwork
A quadcopter hovers in the desert while a man in the background takes a picture and another man sits on the ground. A drone sits on the ground. A different drone hovers over the desert.
November 3, 2025 at 2:30 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
Jordan: the sunshine state??? Mercedes truck in Ruweished, Jordan 2025

Bessa L, Chroma Double Glass 24mm f11, Rollei IR 400

(Not a short bonnet)

#FloridaPlates #BelieveInFilm #Fieldwork
A Mercedes truck in Jordan sporting a Florida license plate. A Light leak from an accidental back opening incident almost obliterated this shot on the roll!
November 2, 2025 at 2:49 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
Short Bonnet Trucks (#19) - Azraq, Jordan 2025

Bessa L, Chroma Double Glass 24mm f11, Rollei Ir 400

#BelieveInFilm #Fieldwork #Jordan
Black and white head on view of a white short bonnet Mercedes truck parked at a garage.
November 1, 2025 at 11:53 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Year 3 of my favorite Halloween costume. #BelieveInFilm #nikonf100
A mirror selfie of a man in a nerdy photog vest with a Nikon f100 and a hand lettered “press” badge.
November 1, 2025 at 1:13 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
Vittala Temple, Hampi, Karnataka, India 2025

IR panorama, Pentax 17, 720nm filter, Rollei IR 400

#BelieveInFilm #fieldwork #Infrared 🎞️📸
Black and white 5 frame 1/2 frame panorama.
October 31, 2025 at 7:46 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
A true horror story for Halloween:

“Our ai turned your article into a shareable comic”

Ffs.
A notification from academia.edu on my phone that reads “our ai turned your paper into a shareable comic”.
October 31, 2025 at 3:06 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Textures (cont’d), Hampi, Karnataka, India 2025

Pentax 645n, 45-85 4.5, Tmax 100, Pyro 510

#BelieveInFilm #Fieldwork #India
An architectural detail on the corner of an entryway at Hampi. Close up of a single panel of carved relief on the outside of the Hazara Rama temple at Hampi.
October 31, 2025 at 1:08 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Textures (cont’d), Hampi, Karnataka, India 2025

Pentax 645n, 45-85 4.5, Tmax 100, Pyro 510

Wall details in the Royal enclosure.

#BelieveInFilm #Fieldwork #India
Details of a well faced wall constructed of large but variably sized stones. A detail shot of the previous wall showing a single intersection of 4 large stones that has smaller stones filling the gaps.
October 31, 2025 at 3:44 AM
chadhill.bsky.social
Textures, Hampi, Karnataka, India 2025

Pentax 645n, 45-85 4.5, Tmax 100, Pyro 510

#BelieveInFilm #Fieldwork #India
A line of elephants at the Hazara Rama temple in the royal enclosure at Hampi. A shot of lots of animals being lead in different directions on the side of the Hazara Rama temple.
October 30, 2025 at 9:41 PM
chadhill.bsky.social
Around town, Ruweished, Jordan 2025

Nikon f100, 24-120 f4, Fuji 400

#Fieldwork #BelieveInFilm
Color photo of a closed garage with a Jordan flag flying out front Shot of a shuttered store. Another closed shop with a stray dog out front. A green door, wooden, on a sloped street.
October 28, 2025 at 5:23 AM