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# 72 Yeses
- URL: https://photopedagogy.ghost.io/72-yeses/
- Published: 2025-08-18T10:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-20T10:07:34.000Z
- Description: Half the frame; twice the fun.
- Author: Jon Nicholls
- Tags: Pedagogy

I’ve written before about how much I love diptychs and, in particular, those created by my [Olympus Pen FT](https://photothinking.com/2025-05-03-olympus-pen-ft-half-yet-double/?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) half frame camera.\* A half frame camera makes a lot of sense in a world of rising film prices. Seventy-two pictures from a roll of thirty-six. Pentax released [a new half frame camera](https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/blogs/film-photography-blog/pentax-17-camera-review?srsltid=AfmBOoo5IMQ5SLVZkA9Qxh3DBpwGtmE1KL1aCEyALIJjb1V5uCbuxWLH&ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) a while back but you can pick up a second hand Pen F or FT for about half the price.† There’s even a new [half frame style Fuji camera](https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm-x-half-retro-compact-camera-review?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) on the market. But this isn’t a gear review (God forbid).

Making half-frame photographs is fun. Knowing that I have seventy-two frames to play with helps me to loosen up a little. Yes, it’s still expensive (compared to digital photography) but I’m not bothered by technical mistakes or weak images, as much as I would be with medium format.‡ I reach for my half-frame camera when I want to re-connect with a more impulsive, low stakes kind of picture making. I think of these images as visual notes, ephemeral things I’ve seen and want to record, each one a “Yes”.

> *When you’re photographing and you’re walking through the world, something catches you, you notice something. You’re connecting with it and you’re responding to it. You’re basically saying “Yes” to it. You’re saying “Yes, it’s interesting.” You’re kind of like a free agent between your instinct, your anticipation and your intelligence and those things keep moving back and forth in a very fluid way while you’re photographing and that experience is really pleasurable. It’s really exciting and it’s the reason that I photograph. That and the way photographs look. The way they describe the world.*  
>  
> — **Henry Wessel**§

I’ve just finished a roll of Ultramax 400 in the Pen FT. It can take a while to make seventy-two photographs which means I often can’t remember what might be there. I get the film developed and scanned by a high street lab in pairs of frames.‖ It’s almost impossible to predict which images will end up to next to one another.¶ Looking through the scans is always an adventure. I don’t do any cropping. WYSIWYG. I even like the uneven size of the unexposed strip of film separating the two pictures. I sometimes try to imagine them as facing pages in a zine, the black line running down the gutter.\*\*

Here are some of my favourite diptychs from this latest batch, in no particular order. I hope you like them.

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F_Nt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f75873d-0d29-4eb3-98de-d9d83beb107d_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cIoE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0b21a3cf-7248-42a3-a627-7c7dc3cf50ce_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ByPJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fde9a6b00-d2ac-4484-bf17-50ef11ba7ae1_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QnhV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc85d4ec5-83ea-418c-8e57-1a3c1b1c1935_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4PhF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc40fc202-74a4-4583-89f8-a98be17369da_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pnnH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff948579-de7e-4421-9e85-0ccd1b6fa60d_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!axzc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56a02681-81ce-44a3-96e6-2593a6627b71_1278x847.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ROGZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F46602aba-7a93-4e4e-ab0e-0e50667e9077_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JmGl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63d4e402-3f0a-4206-8e33-7f7db1bf71e4_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HgrA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F38e8b736-6e14-4af8-afb5-9c2d9beb4ea4_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dd8B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fefc98b46-dc0b-4f89-9f7f-fda7dc6fed68_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_f0U!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e892b7-c5ab-45ec-86eb-aed78961951e_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xQJN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7824b875-3b55-453a-a369-c4c272425a84_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7eMm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe53dd1d0-02b0-4b65-ad62-e68d293a345e_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eYvn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a47416b-1dc3-4bcf-8639-c80f26c00d72_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YEOn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb1dce9d8-1b0f-4b59-8ae4-679e7f0023cd_1280x849.jpeg)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3JcI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F212b9cff-e122-46de-bd05-99a7fb30c37a_1280x849.jpeg)

Jon Nicholls - Half-frame photographs, London, July-August 2025.

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\* [Here](https://fotologic.substack.com/p/experienta-spatiului-letters-to-crina) and [here](https://fotologic.substack.com/p/experienta-spatiului-letters-to-crina-2e4), for example.

† A quick [eBay search](https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?%5Fnkw=olympus+pen+ft&%5Fsacat=0&%5Ffrom=R40&%5Ftrksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&%5Fodkw=olympous+pen+ft&%5Fosacat=0&ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io).

‡ Thirty-six half-frame diptychs cost me about 60p each (including the cost of the film, development and scanning). Twelve medium format pictures cost about £3 each. I could reduce the cost if I developed and/or scanned at home, but I can’t be bothered. I’m too impatient.

§

I’ve probably used this quotation before somewhere but I make no apologies.

‖ This particular branch of [Snappy Snaps](https://www.snappysnaps.co.uk/coventgarden/?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io), managed by the fantastic Stuart, is my favourite lab. I’m from the [Luigi Ghirri](https://matthewmarks.com/artists/luigi-ghirri?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) school of film development.

¶ [https://www.photopedagogy.com/threshold-concept-6](https://www.photopedagogy.com/threshold-concept-6?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io)

\*\* I have done a few zine experiments like this. Full bleed images work best, in my opinion. Printing double sided also means that the diptychs get mixed up, introducing another layer of chance.