One Roll — June 2026

One Roll is a monthly film photography series. Each month I load a single roll of 35mm film into the Minolta XD-11, shoot it across whatever presents itself, and mail the exposed cartridge to Boutique Film Lab for developing. The best frames from the negatives end up here.

During the pandemic I bought considerably more film than I could shoot. Most of the stockpile has since expired. A few cartridges remain usable through 2026 and 2027, and One Roll is how I am working through them — one roll per month, one lens per roll, whatever I happen to find in front of the camera.

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I loaded the Kodak Professional Pro Image 100 into the Minolta earlier in the month and exposed nearly half the roll on a late-morning walk around the Blue Spring Road neighbourhood, mostly chasing light and shadow through the green spaces along Blue Spring Road and Salisbury Road. Then the camera sat untouched for weeks, until our afternoon “guys’ trip” into Fishtown, Philadelphia.

Blue Spring Road, Montgomery Township · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Blue Spring Road, Montgomery Township · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Salisbury Road, Montgomery Hills · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Blue Spring Road, Montgomery Township · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Salisbury Road, Montgomery Township · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Blue Spring and Salisbury Roads, Montgomery Township · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Salisbury Road, Montgomery Hills · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2

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The Hoagie Room at Pizzeria Beddia was the reason for the day — a 5:30pm reservation we’d built everything else around. Brazil versus Haiti was the late match, and with Philadelphia expecting chaos, we decided to arrive early and find somewhere to watch USA against Australia at three, mostly to fill the hours and dodge the worst of the traffic.

We parked under the train tracks on North Front Street and walked toward Piazza Alta in Northern Liberties, which had set up an outdoor viewing event with a proper block party feel — as good as a block party can be when it’s squeezed between two towering apartment buildings with ground-floor restaurants and shops. Online it looked ideal. In practice, the screen was smaller than the photos suggested, there was nowhere to sit, and the heat pressed down on the concrete. After a few minutes of standing around, Dipan and I looked at each other and made the call: we’d walk to Other Half Brewing instead. Dipan texted Mihir and Kamran, who were driving up from South Jersey, to redirect them to the new spot.

Other Half Brewing, Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2

That pivot turned out to be the right one. Other Half was also running a watch party, but it had the scale to match the occasion. Every screen in the place, and there were several, showed the match. The sound system carried the commentary across the beer garden, under those pale sail-shaped awnings, so you never lost the thread of the game whether you were inside or out. It was the same indoors, except indoors had air conditioning. Winning.

We found a small table indoors (the tap room was packed with people). The kids — Kamran, Rohan (my nephew) and Rahul — took the seats; Mihir, Dipan and I stood, beers in hand, watching the USA hold their own against Australia. Partway through, Sonali’s cousin — a different Rohan — turned up with a friend, both Philadelphia locals joining a crowd of visitors, which felt about right for a World Cup afternoon. I spotted a small group decked out in the green and yellow of the Brazil team, presumably saving their energy for the late match. Other Half was never the point of the day, but it did its job — somewhere to watch football, have a beer, and let the hours pass before the meal that mattered.

When the game ended we made our way to Pizzeria Beddia, and walking between venues gave the day its texture. The streets of Fishtown are a patchwork of murals and brick rowhouses, cars parked tight against kerbs, air conditioning units jutting from windows like afterthoughts. We passed Saint Lazarus Bar on Girard Avenue, its lotus-and-trolley mural bright against the brickwork, and later Kung Fu Necktie at Front and Thompson, guarded by a tiger painted three storeys tall. Somewhere near The Fillmore, a Box Office window long since bricked up had been reclaimed by an abstract mural, colour poured into a space that used to sell tickets.

Kung Fu Necktie, Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 The Fillmore, Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Saint Lazarus Bar, Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 Fishtown, Philadelphia · June 2026 · Kodak Professional Pro Image 100
Minolta XD-11 · ISO 100
MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2

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Technical Notes

Field	Detail
Film	Kodak Professional Pro Image 100, rated ISO 100
Development	Box speed, Boutique Film Lab, C-41, Kodak Flexicolor
Camera	Minolta XD-11
Lens	MD Rokkor-X 45mm f/2
Scanning	Epson Perfection V600 Photo via VueScan, DNG output
Processing	Negative Lab Pro
EXIF	Exif Editor by Martin Novak