The Curse of the Big Print

  Months and months ago i made a 16 x 16 lith print on a sheet of Afa MCC 118 paper which turned out perfect.  I plan on framing it and (hopefully) getting it into the Harris Museum open exhibition which is where "artists" in and around the Preston area get to submit a piece of their work for display in the museum.

  Meanwhile i have literally spent the past two months trying to get this print scanned.  Big print and small scanner is not a good combination.  I am using an Epson V500 to scan with and i will take a sheet of A4 size paper, so i'm having to scan the print in several separate sections.  The problem comes when trying to stitch them together in Photoshop.  I have been having computer issues lately (its getting old and i think i just need to wipe it an reinstall everything again) and so Photoshop keeps having a sulk whenever i try and do anything with large files.  It's a shame really as the negative i made the print of is one of my favourite ones to print, i love everything about the image; plus, it works great in lith.

  Anyway, in the end got so fedup im decided to relith it using some smaller paper (7 x 7 Orwo BN 118 to be exact) and post it here and on Flickr.  So here it is, finally online:

  The print on Agfa paper has a more yellow colour to it than this pinkish one but i think it still works.  Im looking forward to framing it and getting it displayed.

Large Small Things

  After much 'um'ing and 'ah'ing i decided not to get a macro lens but fork out the vast sum of £11 for a set of close-up filters for my Bronica SQ-A.  While i can focus up to half a metre with my lenses i have always been keen to get that little bit closer.  I wasn't sure how sharp these filters (lenses to picky people) would be so i thought id run a test roll of black and white through the camera to see.  Armed with my £3 Ikea lamp and a huge reflector from ebay i setup my tripod.

  And i was rather pleasantly surprised.  Whilst a little blurry in places due to my own focusing error i really like how the shots came out.  It was fun to play with such a narrow depth of field, and the depth of field preview switch on my lenses was invaluable to say the least.  Im hoping to use the filters lots, especially for close ups in portraits.

My City

  I  suddenly found myself with a free evening as my wife had been reminded of a tea party she was meant to attend after work.  As its winter and the night comes ever earlier i decided to do one of my favourite things which is wander around the city in the dark with my ipod on and my camera in hand.  It's not as scary as you might think, i have never been hassled my yobs or anything so as long as im careful i can seem to avoid harm.

  I loaded my Bronica SQ-A with some Ilford FP4+ and headed out to some of my usual spots.  For some unknown reason i am always drawn to car parks at night.  I just love the contrast you can get shooting on the different floors, and if you make it to the roof theres always something to shoot. Whilst wandering round the Fish Market car park i stumbled on a police car parked up in a corner with a snoozing officer inside.  I wonder what he thought when i pulled a huge black cube out of my bag and mounted it on a tripod...

  After spending some time in the car parks i wandered the streets for a bit.  One enjoyable experiment to do is have your earphones in but without music playing.  Its amazing what people say when they think you cant hear them.

   Just around the corner from the Fish Market car park is the fish market loading bay where all the fish is taken off the lorries daily and put on display in the market.  I had never shot here before but though id check it out.  I quite liked it in there apart from the smell and a ridiculous amount of litter strewn all over the floor.  I took a shot looking along the loading bay and then got down onto the floor to try out the f2.8 aperture on my lens.

   When i got home i realised i hade made a slight error as Ilford FP4+ (an iso 125 film) cant really be pushed to 400 iso using Rodinal.  So after some research i decided to stand develop for 2 hours at 1:125 and hopefully id get useable negatives.  And above are the results, no alterations in the scanner or photoshop or anything like that.  I love how they have come out.  Maybe not the best pictures in the world but i love the tones and i love the high contrast.  I may stick to stand developing all my black and white films in the future.

  So next time you find yourself with a free evening why not head out onto the streets and see what you can find.  Contact me when you have something, id love to see your results.

Bronica SQ-A Test Roll

  I recently bought a Bronica SQ-A system and shot a few rolls of colour film.  However, since my chemicals always expire before i have enough film developed i have decided to store my exposed film until i have enough to develop over a period of a week or so, thus ensuring i dont waste precious chemicals.  This has meant, however that i havent yet seen any results from my new camera!  So a few nights ago i decided to shoot and develop a roll of TRI-X 400 to see the results.

  Now im not really a massive fan of TRI-X.  i have used it once before and the pictures came out very grey; i  prefer to use Ilford HP5+  as i like the tones and contrast more.  But this being a test roll i didnt want to waste any so in went my second roll of TRI-X.  I set up my camera on the tripod, plugged in the cable release and started firing away.  Heres the results:

  Im pretty chuffed with how they came out to be honest, considering i blasted them out rather quickly.  I still think im going to stick with the HP5+ though.

Return To Huncoat

  Another trip back to Huncoat Power Station, this time with my good friend Paul in tow.  Paul had never been before so i said id take him round and show him the sights.  The man was keen.  He was clearly into it when we got there, kneeling in all the crud on the floor just to get the shot he was after.  I had a great day there to be honest, i saw so much i had missed on previous visits.  You should check Pauls shots out; he shoots digital but i suppose we can let him off this once.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauljohnberry/

  I have been having trouble lately with my black and white shooting/developing technique so i decided to try a new approach.  Using some Ilford HP5+ i decided to underexpose by 1 stop then overdevelop accordingly, thereby boosting contrast.  Using a red filter whilst shooting and a 1:25 mix of rodinal when developing meant id get even more contrast without losing details in shadows and highlights.  For the first time i also used a grey card with my light meter for exposure, and im never going back now, it really helped so much.  Im really happy with how the shots came out, exactly like i saw them in my mind.  Looking forward now to getting back out and shooting some more.