Finishing in the Mountains & Digging into the past

  My previous post was regarding the prints i made from a roll of film i shot whilst away on holiday in Glencoe, Scotland... and so is this post!  This week has been one of those wonderful weeks where Jess has had a lot on in the evenings, so i've been pretty much left to my own devices.  An we all know what that means don't we - key out, gate open, electric cable in, red light on!

  On the roll i shot there were two more prints i wanted to make.  I may end up printing some of the other frames at some point in the future but at the moment i don't find the "subjects" particularly interesting on one of them and the other one is ever so slightly out of focus (dammit)! 

  I started off in my usual manner on my first print - test strips, proof prints etc but after an hour or so i couldn't seem to get a decent looking print.  I knew i wanted to lith print the other two so i decided to try and lith this first one as well.  I mixed up some LD20 (15A, 15B, 10 old brown and make it up to an 800ml solution).  For the first print i decided to dig into my mini-stash of Orwo BN118 which is a paper i know nthing about except i have used it on a few prints previously and it tends to give a nice brown colour overall with not very much infectious development (much like Agfa Brovira which i'm a huge huge huge fan of).  Previous prints i have made on this paper didn't really have many highlight tones so i was interesting to see how it would handle the sky in this shot.  I did a test strip, determined the correct exposure, added 3 stops, exposed and started developing.  Eventually i pulled the print, stoppped, fixed and rinsed as usual, gave it a little dunk in selenium toner (1:9) and this is what i got:

  Not the greatest print i've ever done i reckon but a good start.  The paper has handled the highlights well (not that there are tonnes) and the shadows are nice and gritty.  To be honest the composition and light on this shot isn't the best but not much i can do about that now is there?!

  My next print was one i took on the road to Glencoe.  There's a huge layby on a sweeping bend of the road which was practically made for tourists.  I was there for about 45 minutes and i think at least 5 coach loads of people came and went in that time, compact cameras a-flashing.  I found myself chuckling when i pondered how their images would turn out.  For some reason people's holiday photos just amuse me - "here's a lovely landscape with my wife stood in front; here's an interesting statue with my daughter in front, here's a hedge with my brother in front".  Bizarre how most people seem to think shots are improved by having family members stood in front of them.  I think it may stem from my parents who overload on holiday photos, every single one having my mum or dad stuck right bang in the middle of the scene!  Anyway - back on track!  I did two exposures at this scene, one standard and one using a cheapo 10 stop filter i got off ebay/amazon (i can't quite remember).  After inspecting the contact sheet i decided to print the long exposure one (seriously, the exposure was like 8 minutes or something - i'd give you an exact figure but my notebook is buried in the under-stairs cupboard and going in there is an undertaking that requires at least half a day and a hearty breakfast, neither of which i have), predominantly because the sky had a better looking shape and also because there was a huge drying mark on the standard one.  I decided to use my precious precious supply of Fotospeed Lith paper for this print.  This paper is long gone but i got 20 sheets on ebay months ago and i'm saving it for very special prints and this felt like one of those.  In my mind i pictured something dark with emphasis put on the lake and sky.  I chose an exposure accordingly and started to develop.  When the time seemed right i pulled the print, processed and selenium toned in 1:9 again.  This caused a boost in the blacks as usual which resulted in some slight loss of detail in the foreground landscape - i expected this though and it was what i wanted.  I wanted the foreground to look almost blocked up so as to add further emphasis to the lake (which took on a lovely pale lilac type colour).  Here's the final result:

  I think it works well and i like the pale pastel tones taken on by the highlights.  Now if only Fotospeed would bring the lith paper back out (only 16 sheets left)!  On your screen you may be seeing some brownish areas in the dark foreground, that's just come from scanning - the print wasn't entirely flat and so some light got in, a bit of a pain but i'm not going to rescan and edit it all over again - just imagine everything in the balck areas is entirely black!

  For regular readers of this blog (if indeed there are any) you may pick up on the vibe that i begrudge wasting chemicals - they're expensive and i want to squeeze everything out of them that i can.  Some would coll that anal, i call it thrifty!  I knew that would be power for at least one more print in the lith developer so i hit the negative folder hard in search of something to print from my past.  I eventually stumbled upon  roll of film i shot at Whitby Abbey a few years ago on my honeymoon (7th May 2011 - a real man remembers when he got married) and realised i had never really printed from it (at that time i was still scanning all my negatives - terrible)!  The whole roll was pretty much a write-off mostly due to lack of ability to not chop the tops of images off when using a Diana camera.  One shot looked great though (even if it is from the exact same angle that everyone seems to take pictures of Whitby abbey from) so i decided to lith it and see what we got.  I spent a few minutes pondering what paper to use (because as you should all know by now paper choice has a massive effect on final print in lith).  As i was feeling somewhat devil-may-care a decided to use a sheet of my even-rarer-than-fotospeed-lith tapestry paper.  This is a textured "art" paper that liths incredibly well and when put into selenium toner will give at least 3 colour splits.  I have used one sheet before to create a watercolour style effect - see here for details.  I decided to give it a go with this print as it was somewhat heavier on the shadows and lower midtones than i have previously lithed on this paper, i was interested to see what i would end up with.  I determined exposure, processed and dipped into the selenium toner (1:9 again) and as expected colours kept changing from the shadows up through to the highlights.  I kept the print in the selenium until i got a nice cool grey in the lower mids and lovely pale pastel yellows and lilacs in the tones of the sky.  When using this paper previously i would paint the toner onto areas i want to alter the colours of but i thought this print looked fine as it was so i left it to dry (keeping in mind that when wet it is a yellowy colour but would dry-down to a salmon pink tone).  Once dry i was pleased with how it looked:

  Again - scanning problems!  Because this paper is heavily textured it wouldn't render the blacks actually black so they have the kind of look you get when you're trying to scan through dense colour film.  Again, just imagine that the shadow areas are solid black! 

  So, a successful darkroom session from which i learnt the following things:

• I hate scanning
• Lith printing continues to rule

  All i need to do now is actually go out and shoot some more film (it's been 2 months since i've even touched my camera - naughty me) so i can crack on printing.  Perhaps in the meantime i should go back through my old negatives and see if there's anything i've missed.  until next time - happy printing!

The Then and The Now

  It is a particularly slow day at work today and i find myself tired of looking at website after website.  My mind is drifting, looking back over the past year or so that i have been a photographer and thinking of the mistakes made, the cameras bought and the photos taken.

  I remember first getting into photography because my girlfriend (now my wife) was a keen photographer.  She had studied digital photography at college and i thought i would get a camera so we could go out on trips together, after all – she would come rock climbing with me, it was only fair i do things she is interested in with her.  I ended up with a Lomography Diana F+ as i liked the look of the lomo style photos and wanted a film camera.  I bought some rolls of film off Ebay (Fuji Provia and Ilford FP4+ if i recall) and got shooting.  I got my films developed at a local(ish) lab and started uploading my photos to Flickr. 

  As time went on i kept acquiring more film and shooting more rolls and i really enjoyed it.  Jess’ interest was starting to wane however, she very rarely picked up her camera anymore and when she did she just didn’t seem motivated to shoot at all.  As i got more and more keen i started picking up more gear.  A Jobo CPE-2  to develop C-41 film at home with, a Paterson tank for black and white developing, a Holga 120 WPC for panoramic pinhole shots, a Lubitel 166B, an Epson v500 to scan all my negatives and eventually my Bronica SQ-A kit.  The Bronica is my main camera these days, it’s just great to have a camera which i can change film backs/lenses on and which has apertures of f2.8 on the lenses.  Im getting into off-camera flash photography with it which is really interesting as it’s an extra avenue of investigation to take.  I feel like i have neglected my Diana lately though, perhaps i should shoot more rolls with it soon.

  I have also got into Polaroid shooting over the past 6 months or so.  I started off by finding an old Polaroid 100 integral camera at a local antique store for £5.  I got some Impossible Project film and got shooting.  Not so long after that i picked up a Polaroid 645CL 600 camera from the same store for the same price.  I stumbled upon a guy online who was selling 30 twin packs of Polaroid 600 film for £90.  Needless to say i bought it, kept some for me and sold some (mostly to pay house-related bills).  A few months later i discovered the Polaroid folding Land camera range.  Wow those cameras look great.  I scoured Ebay and found a 103 for £20 and bought it immediately.  I modded the battery and loaded it with some Fuji FP-100C and got shooting.  Not long after that i saw a 101 with case, flash and spare bulbs going in a local auction.  I placed my bid and won.  I have modded the battery but haven’t yet managed to load any film into it.  Hopefully i’ll get some soon and it will all be working fine; im looking forward to trying out the flash.

  It’s interesting to look through all my photos and see how i have progressed.  Some of my favourite photos even now are ones that i took mere months into my photographic career.  My favourite may well be this photo of Jess smelling a flower.  I took it with my Diana on some cross processed Provia 400 and i just love it.

  I think about all the technical mistakes i have made.  Developing black and white film in C-41 chemicals, pulling film out of my changing bag instead of the paper backing, shooting a roll without removing the darkslide-all mistakes i am sure many people have made.  But i guess we learn from making mistakes, even though we may feel stupid at the time.  I have got my black and white developing technique nailed now and im happy with how my C-41 negatives are coming out.  I’m still working on a definitive scanning process to improve the quality of my digital images though, and i haven’t even started to think about darkroom printing.

  Im not trying to brag about the gear i have or what i can do or anything, it’s just interesting to look back at where i started and where i am now.  The first time i picked up my Diana i had no idea that soon i would be developing my own film and shooting wide angle pinholes, swapping lenses on an SLR and doing emulsion lifts on Polaroids.  I can’t help but wonder what the future holds for me.  I would like to get a telephoto lens for my Bronica and maybe another flash and some extension tubes.  Maybe even a Hasselblad one day (those Zeiss lenses are so sharp).  I’d love to maybe even own a Graflex Speed Graphic one day and shoot some Collodion Plates.  Maybe one day ill even have my own darkroom and i will be able to do my own printing, which would open up a whole new world on toning, tinting and alternative processing. 

  Im thinking lately about getting shooting slide film normally instead of with a view to cross processing.  I have some Fuji Velvia 50 in my film box which i have cross processed every time i have shot it; perhaps it’s time i got it developed in E6.  I’ve also been working on some cyanotypes lately.  My wife bought me some Sunography paper, but i note you can get kits from Silverprint that you can use to coat your own paper; perhaps ill invest in a kit at some point soon.

  When im not shooting it’s nice to look around on websites like Flickr or THIAPS for inspiration, or the Strobist site for lighting technique.  Sites like APUG are good as well as it’s good to be able to advise others and get advice yourself from people who know what they’re talking about.

  But for now im content with what i have and what im doing.  Im happy being able to just go out and shoot with my different cameras and films; finding new locations and honing my skills, working on new techniques and improving my shots.   

  That’s my story so far anyway.  I’m sure that soon there will be something to add to it.

  I’d love to hear from you about your story, however long you have been shooting.  Feel free to comment on this blog or even email me about it.

Jess

  Time again for some more portraits with my wife.  Unfortunately i once again had some messups during processing and the negatives didnt come out perfectly, but i  guess we learn by trial and error.

The Shores of Mars

  Last weekend my wife and i went up to Maryport in Cumbria to stay with some friends who have recently moved up there.  There were about ten of us camping over in a field behind their house and bouncy castle had been hired to kill the small hours of each morning.

  The weather was glorious on Friday and Saturday, and at night you could see so many stars it was breathtaking.  I quite fancied doing some star trail photos but couldnt sum up the energy to set the gear up.  I regret that now as my plan to do it Saturday night was thwarted by clouds.  After an evening of bouncing and restless sleep we all decided to head to the nearby beach to pass some time and take in some sun.  Now im not one for lying in the sun all day, i get bored and restless so i decided to head for the shore with my friend and his dog.  Fortunately before leaving the campsite i had thought to grab my Diana F+ and a roll of Velvia so i loaded up and started shooting at anything that caught my eye.  After an hour or so we were back at the campsite ready for barbeque and frisbee.

  Instead of sticking around on Sunday i headed straight home as i was feeling rough and just wanted to lie down.  I thought about how my film would turn out.  I knew it would have an extreme colour shift because this is Velvia were talking about! The resulting photos were... red.  And thats an understatement!  Ive had purple Velvia before but never such an intense amount of red.  I must confess that i quite like it.  Who knows what colour my next roll of Velvia will go?

Decayed, Derelict and Abandoned

  I dont know why but i love abandoned buildings.  Many an hour has been spent poring over books and websites dedicated to the decayed and abandoned.  A book called Abandoned Places by Henk van Rensberge contains some of the greatest pictures of abandoned places i have ever seen.  To think these buildings once were a hive of activity with people milling about to and fro, but now are left alone to fall into dereliction and decrepity. 

  I am fortunate in that one of the most famous asylums in the country is just outside my city.  Whittingham Mental Asylum.  A huge complex of buildings shut off from the rest of the world, slowly collapsing and succumbing to the prying hands of vegetation.  I have visited only once and only the outside, but look around online and you will find some truly amazing photographs from this wonderful place.

  Also near me is an abandoned power station.  You can walk right into this one and explore the rooms and halls that once echoed with the sounds of industry.  This place is a popular fly tipping destnation and people have dumped many lots of strange things here.  Mostly sofas, which i find fun to shoot with different film/camera combinations.

  Being from Lancashire there are also lots of abandoned mills.  One in particular in Bamber Bridge draws me to it, its exterior being red brick and boarded windows; yet still it catches the eye and begs to be photographed.

  Perhaps its the solitude i feel when im in these places, or maybe the sharp dash up my spine whenever i hear a sound echoing round those empty rooms.  Whatever it is i dont think ill ever stop being drawn to these places.  There are still many many more on my list to visit and i may never get to them all.  But i can try.  And should the mood strike, so can you...