Two Men In A Boat

Morning folks - well not entirely Two Men In A Boat, but there were boats in the vicinity if you know what I mean . . . .

How are you all? 

It's been a while I know, but life can be quite full at times can't it, and so it has been for me.

Anyway, today's tale is that of a head-to head between two equally weighted opponents - on one side:

H. Sheephouse Esq. 

and on the other:

The Thunder From Down Under

The Slaughter From Across The Water

Yes ladies and gentlemen, none other than . . . . T.O.D!

Well, something like that. 

Oh alright then, it's Bruce from The Online Darkroom - an Enigma In His Own Lunchtime. King of the Midget Gem. 

And then me, Sheephouse - Obscurity Personified.

In reality, two men of a certain age, one with a Hasselblad and 60mm lens, the other with a Rollei 2.8F [I was actually surprised how light the Rollei was - it seemed to me to be on a par with my Rollei T. I always thought the 'proper' Rolleis were overbuilt, but had never handled one, but no, very similar indeed. And as for handling, well if you've handled one you've handled them all] on a day trip to nowhere.

So there we were on a very lovely Summer's day (unusual over here this year) a nobblin' along the lanes and braes of the Carse Of Gowrie. 

Bruce's knowledge of said area is absolutely extraordinary - he knows the place intimately and can point out things and take turns that mere ordinary humans would balk at. 

In other words, if you're in the Carse and you need a taxi to take you the quickest way from Ardgaith to Knapp .  . he's the man to call.

We had a place in mind (well, he did; I'd never been there) and so we parked up and rattled down to an extraordinary spot, full of peace and beauty, right on the banks of the Tay. 

The swans were out and the light was gorgeous; a decent wind had set in though and the reeds were moving all over the shop. It was landscape heaven.

Now never being one for the obvious, I decided I wasn't going to include any horizon in my photos. 

No way.

Why? Well, this has been pointed out to me (by Bruce) - I don't take traditional landscapes. 

I think it all boils back to when I first started and could never capture what I saw in my mind's eye; y'know, you've got your wee 35mm, and everything you see through the VF looks marvey and you get home, develop it, and the negs look sort of phhhhhhh. 

I've always found it a problem.

So, horizons were OUT.

Anyway, what do you do on a clear day that would have Ansel weeping for joy? 

Yep, that's right, you get a Medium Red Filter and combine it with a 0.6 ND filter, bung them together and dial in -5EV on your meter! 

A tripod helps too. 

And a soupçon of excitement, because you simply do not know what you are going to get. 

This to me is one of the key essences of photography and one I feel has been largely lost in this digital era.

Anyway, then you plonk the tripod down and get counting those seconds. 

Some of these were pretty long exposures . . up to three minutes . . . I know!

I can however think of worse ways to spend a sunny day.

So without further ado, here's what came back from the chemists:

They're all straight scans off the image area of the actual prints - no Lightroom or digital jiggery-pokery; just scanned, imported into 'Photos' and cropped and churned out again.

I'm rather happy with them - they're not typical landscapes, there's more of an air of dream about them, which is exactly what I wanted.

It is quite easily achieved with a ND and a red - when you look through them combined like that, it is like staring into the heart of an uncooked slice of black pudding, minus the oatmeal. 

The film was the ever reliable FP4, rated at EI 80 and developed in 1+3 Perceptol; oh and that is a Hasselblad A16 back at work. 

I've taken a liking to Perceptol again after many years - if you treat it gently it can be very compensating and it works well with these really rather long exposures, the longest of which (the picture at the very top of the page) as I said, was around 3 minutes.

What might really surprise you is that they were all printed on Grade 4! 

Strangely, it has weirdly balanced the contrast inherent in using a red filter, with the flecks of sunlight coming through the gloom. 

They were all toned in selenium too, which just added to the overall feel of the scenes.

I was a happy bunny, as apart from Print 1, all darkroom exposures were guessed. 

I did a test strip for the first one, made a print I liked and then, because everything else was pretty similar in exposure, winged it from there by eyeballing the contact sheet. 

Happy days and all in a morning's work.

Anyway I'll leave the final image to the spirits and hooded monks, that I'm sure the Victorian creators of this folly were willing to inhabit it . . . sadly what they got, were the Chuckle Brothers.

BTW, the camera was level, the building has a lean. Honest.

The Leaning Folly

And that's yer lot for this month - keep on enjoying the Max Bygraves records . . .

TTFN

H xx

Sadly No Spirits Involved.
He Was Driving.