The Thoughtful Cliff

  So despite saying in my previous post that i was going to update more i haven't updated in over two weeks!  Sorry!  But, good news - i have made my first print from my recent holiday to the north east coast of England, and here it be:

  I shot this on a very sunny day in the town of Saltburn.  It is printed onto Ilford MGIV FB Warmtone paper using Ethol LPD diluted 1:4 and toned using selenium 1:9 and a bit of sepia.  This is my first time using a non-neutral developer and i have to say i loved it.  If you are unfamiliar with LPD it is a wonderful developer which allows you to change tonality (not contrast) using dilution e.g. use it 1:1 for cool tones and around 1:4 for warmer tones (obviously tonality will depend very much on the paper you are using too). 

I like to think of the clouds as little thought bubbles coming out of the cliff. 

  I'm pretty pleased with this print, i really feel like i am starting to get into a rhythm and personal style with my printing.

  I made this print using the split grade printing technique, as i have done with so many others.  I did a soft exposure test strip, selected the best exposure for highlights (remembering to go a bit heavy as the sepia toning i had planned would lose a little highlight detail), then i did a hard exposure test strip and selected the best exposure for that (again, taking into account the added density that selenium toning would yield).  It's always good to have a good think about toning either before printing or during proofing so that you can account for any lost/added density that may result form the toners you use (that reminds me - i should really do a few tutorials covering toning).   I knew with this print that i wanted a selenium/sepia split so i deliberately overexposed the highlights and very slightly underexposed the shadows.

  So, after making a base print of my combined soft and hard exposures it was time to think about dodging and burning.  The cliff was looking pretty blocked up so i did a bit of a burn on the soft exposure and a dodge on the hard exposure - this evened out the contrast a little whilst maintaining the "pop" of the cliff.  Then i did a very slight hard exposure burn on the sky to add a little extra depth to the clouds (the use of a grad filter at the time of exposure had already helped darken the sky to a pleasing tone).  Then i did a bit of an edge burn around the sides and base of the print to draw the eye into the centre (i did this on both the soft and hard exposure).  I think this really works on the base of the print as if the sand was all the same mid tone the eye would be drawn off the bottom of the image.

  To finish off the print i did some very very light bleaching (followed by a fix) of the cloud highlights and the band of light across the sand (i used potassium ferricyanide/potassium bromide bleach from a sepia kit diluted 1:9).  This helped add a bit more "pop" to the highlights but i had to be carfeul that this combined with sepia toning would not cause any highlight detail to be lost.

  After a good wash (in my newly constructed print washer) i bleached back the print until the upper midtones were just starting to be affected and then toned in standard sepia toner.  After a quick wash i then transferred the print into selenium toner mixed 1:5 for a few minutes which added a nice dark purplish hue to the print.  I then did a final wash and left the print to dry before scanning.

  I'm really pleased with how this print turned out and i am loving Ethol LPD as a print developer.  I'm going to try some coldtone papers with it soon and a stronger dilution and see what effects i can get.  In the meantime i've still got plenty more frames to be printing from my trip away.

  I hope some of you have found this post useful and, as always, keep printing.

Halfway There

   Finally (after many, many, many sheets) I have got a result I am happy with from Slavich Unibrom in lith developer.  I haven't been out shooting much lately so the majority of my darkroom work has been in revisiting old negatives from the time when all I had was my scanner.  I remembered I had shot a few rolls inside an abandoned power station some time ago using my old Lubitel 166b, one of my main cameras before I bought my Bronica SQ-A.  I thought the decay and dereliction inside the station would work well with a cold, stark lith effect so I decided to give it a try.  If I could get the Unibrom to work then I knew it would give me the look I wanted, the problem was that ever since opening the packet I have been plagued with uneven develolment.

  This time, however, I had a plan.  After a hefty amount of googling I had come accross a few people who had soaked their print in warm water for a minute or so prior to developing.  I decided to give it a try, after all - if it messed up I could just add it to the pile of other failures!

  As it so happens the presoak worked a charm! Development started in the darkest areas of the print as opposed to the edges and continued as with any other lith paper.  I let development continue until an appropriate snatch point was reached.  

  The only problem I am still having is in retaining highlight detail, I just cant seem to get that extra bit needed before the blacks get too dense.  Ah well, keep trying I guess!  At least im getting consistently better results now.  Im looking forward to trying out the unibrom again in my next printing session, perhaps with some second pass lith...

Borrowdale Camping

  A month or so ago i went camping with a small group of friends up near Keswick in the lake District.  Despite the flies and the dodgy weather we had a great time (especially since Jess had taken it upon herself to buy more meat than any couple could ever require).  Camping in the Borrowdale Valley is very peaceful as its basically a massive cul-de-sac bounded on all sides by hills and mountains.

  I had decided to take my Bronica SQ-A kit with me as i love it and Jess had bought me a huge Tamrac bag to keep it all in for our anniversary and i wanted to put it through its paces.  I really wanted to get some good mountain shots using some black and white but i brought a few colour rolls too for some general shooting.  Saturday morning was spent relaxing at the (very midgie'd) campsite.  The sun was shining and the bacon was tasty so i decided to load up some Fuji 64T II which i haD won on Ebay some time ago but never shot.  I got 15 rolls for an absolute bargain price and now seemed like a good time to use one.

  Later on we decided to go on a nice walk up the mountains (i forget the name of the one we went up).  Let me tell you now, medium format kits are heavy.  Especially when on a long hike up a big hill.  But i persevered, stopping to take a few shots when the light was right and the composition seemed good.  It was nice to just stop and take my time setting up the shot, choose what settings i wanted to use and think about how i wanted the final print to look.  We stopped just short of the summit as some were getting tired.  On the way back down my friend Keir and i lagged behind to shoot some photos of the river we were passing.  We found a really interestingly-shaped tree and fallen log that we spent some time shooting (im still working on the tree print-it is proving to be difficult to get it to look how i want it to) before re-joining our group shortly thereafter.

  All in all it was a really nice weekend and i had great fun shooting these 2 rolls.  I find it very peaceful to be on my own sometimes, taking my time and just shooting photos.

  I havent finished printg all my landscapes yet but here's my cross processed 64T II photos for you to look at.  I'm pretty chuffed with how they came out as a little research before-hand showed they tend to go very green/blue indeed but i think the colour cast on these is quite nice.  What do you reckon?

Climb, Shoot, Fail, Win!

  I used to rock climb a lot when i was young and single.  I’ve travelled all over doing it – France, Spain and even Switzerland.  As soon as i started going out with the fine lady who is now my wife though i kind of got out the habit.  It’s probably been about 2 years now since i properly climbed and most of my strength has gone and great expansion has taken place on my midsection.  

  I went out a few weeks ago with the lovely Gavin Grey for a trip to a crag i hadn’t been to before called Thorn Crag – he wanted to climb and i wanted to shoot him doing it.  I decided to pack all my climbing gear and have a go at some easier stuff to see how it felt.  A short drive north led us to a tiny rural village where we unpacked the car and started the 40 minute walk up the hill to the boulders.  Despite many hours spent in the gym lately i was still shattered about 10 minutes in, but then again i was carrying my bouldering mat (a large mattress like device which is good for landing on when you fall off rocks), my bag full of climbing gear AND my camera bag loaded with my Bronica system!

  It was absolutely worth it though – the place was deserted and there was no sign of anything man-made.  You couldn’t even hear traffic.  It was so pleasant to be out with a good friend in the middle of nowhere.  We started climbing and shooting, Gav sending a V6 pretty sharpish and me happily shooting away.  A little later we moved round to a beautiful V5 route called Elemental.  After getting some shots of Gav on it i decided to pull on and have a go.  I nearly did it on my first try – i just dropped the last move as i didn’t grab the hold right. I sent it on my next go – i was so chuffed!!  The rest of the day was spent with Gav on a V7 called Mothership Reconnection – fortunately he managed to top it out on his very last go!

  As i headed home i couldn’t wait to get the film developed.  I had shot both colour (Portra 160nc) and black and white (HP5+).  I could do the HP5+ as soon as i got home as i had the chemicals and so when i got home that’s what i did.  Well, kind of.  As most will know 120 film has backing paper on it.  Now i am going to tell you all the secret to developing black and white 120 film.  Listening carefully?  When putting the film on your developing tank reel in your changing bag don’t ever pull the film out instead of the backing paper.  I was furious – an entire roll lost!! Livid was an understatement!  Eventually i calmed down, but even now im still gutted that i lost all those shots.  A few days later i ordered some C41 chemicals and developed my colour roll and i was really chuffed that this picture came out exactly how i wanted it to:

I guess we live and learn...

Fleetwood Marsh Wrecks

  Don’t ever go to a marsh when the tide is in.  And if you do go don’t take your wife who, although lovely, has no balance whatsoever.  Such was my lesson learnt after a few hours at Fleetwod Marsh Nature Reserve one sunny Saturday afternoon a week or so ago.  The marsh is located on the west coast of the UK, just north of Blackpool and aside from housing a variety of wildlife contains multiple wrecked and rotting boats which i had seen online and was rather keen on shooting.  When I, my wife Jess and our friend Paul went the tide was in and the water had filled the metre or so deep channels that ran from the coastline inland towards the footpath full of very cold water.  These are what Jess kept falling in up to her waist.  I really felt sorry for her as she isn’t warm at the best of times and this water must have tipped her over the edge.  She braved the outside for a further hour or so after her final fall though – all credit to her!  It was a bit of a rushed shoot as i wanted jess to get somewhere warm so i shot a quick roll and we piled back into the car with the heaters on full blast on the journey home.  When i developed the film at home i discovered my developer had expired so my negatives were covered in streaky blues.  Useless.  Jess on the other hand had had taken a beautiful shot of one of the wrecks - the colours were fantastic and the composition spot on.  She really does have a superb eye for photography and you can see her shot here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindymooface/6782584991/in/photostream

  Following my C41 failure I decided to take a Friday off work and head back to shoot in black and white.  I checked the weather and i was promised sun so when Friday came i packed my bag and headed out.  The weather was just as good as my first visit and i had timed it so that the tide was fully out.  Having been there before i had a good idea of some of the shots i wanted to take and what gear i would need.  I love shooting with other people but sometimes its nice to be alone to really take your time and get the exposures and compositions right.  With the water back out to sea the land was mostly very soft mud which prevented me from getting right up to the shoreline so i stayed a little inland.  Getting up to the wrecks took a little manoeuvring but it was so much easier with the channels empty.  It was nice to have the time to picture the finished shot in my mind and compose/expose accordingly. 

  I developed the film as soon as i got home and im really happy with the results.  I’ll probably head back at some point soon-im wondering how the shots will turn out with the infra red film i have in my freezer... 

Flashy...

  As my new flash (a vivitar 285) had been sat in my bag unused for weeks i finally managed to get my wife to pose for some portriats for me.  This was my first venture with proper flash photography and it was highly enjoyable.  Mistakes were made though, i need to use my reflector better as most of the shots had a great big shadow off to one side.  But we learn through mistakes so it didnt bother me too much.  I like some of the shots that came out though:

  Portra is such a good film.  I hadn't used it for portraits before but the skin tones have come out great, ill be using it a lot more in future.  I had a fiddle in photoshop with one of the images, turning it into a cyanotype.  I can't decide whether i rpefer this or the original, what do you think?

Roddlesworth

  Although the afternoon had turned a bit grey and dreary (after a gloriously sunny morning) i headed out to do some shooting.  I had last minute booked the afternoon off work and wanted to head to my newly found favourite shooting location of Roddlesworth in Tockholes, Lancashire.  Roddlesworth is an area of beautiful woodland with paths leading throughout and even venturing by reservoirs and a small stream with numerous waterfalls of various sizes.This makes for a photographic utopia!  I only had an hour or so to shoot before sunset by the time i got there but it was nice to wander round the many trails and be among the beauty, taking my time shooting.

  I developed the film immediately when i got home.  the negative didn't turn out the best but i'm getting better at measuring my exposures and shooting accordingly.  I have every intention of returning to Roddlesworth as soon as i can, hopefully with some sun this time!

SQ-A First Roll - Derwent Water

  Although i have posted shots from my Bronica already the shots below are from my first roll with my SQ-A.  The only reason they haven't been posted earlier is that i have only just got the chemicals in to develop them.

  My wife and i decided to head up to Maryport in the Lake District very last minute one Friday evening a month or two ago.  We had friends up there who said we could stay over and the plan was to get to Derwent Water near Keswick before dawn to catch some sunrise shots over the water.  Sure enough after 4 hours sleep there we were on the lakeside waiting for the sky to brighten.  It was a joy to use my SQ-A for the first time and i cant wait to get back up that way again for some more shots.  Tiring but fulfilling.