Detritus

Morning folks!

Poetry? Bollocks.

Purple Prose? Bollocks.

Nope it is back to the soggy old meat pie with all the trimmings that used to be FB.

I've thought about it and to be honest I actually am not that bothered whether people read this or not. 

I enjoy the process of putting thought to Mac, much like the whirr of a Compur or Prontor in a Zeiss lens, whilst you're standing in an inaccessible spot on a Winter's morn.. 

In other words I enjoy writing; I enjoy photography and I love printing. 

So why not write about it.

The following were taken in a place where the past wears itself on a sleepy modern sleeve. 

These are old mill buildings and are anywhere between 150 and 250 years old. 

Given their state of disrepair, I'd plump for the latter. 

I'd spied them back at the start of the year whilst out for a perambulation with t'missus . . . but no camera with me, so I thought I should go back.

And I did.

I'll also be going back again, with some IR film, a 6x12 Horseman back and a 65mm Super Angulon on the Wista (can't use the more appropriate Sinar as I don't have light tight bag bellows for it) so watch this space . . well, don't watch it that closely . . haven't you got to go and get your messages?

These were taken on the Hasselblad SWC/M with fresh Kodak TX 400 (rated at 200 . . . I know . . I like being a bit obtuse) and developed in (fanfare) . . . syrup HC110 at Dilution B. 

I hadn't used the combo for more years than I care to remember but knew it would work, it was just helluva difficult finding times that were relevant to printing. 

Remember a lot of the timings given on the Digital Truth film times thingy are for scanning negatives, not printing them. 

Personally I prefer a negative you can stand a spoon up in, so I based my timing on Troop and Anchells'.

That gave me a wonderfully short 6 mins at my usual agitation regime (first 30 seconds constant and gentle, then 4 gentle inversions [or twists   - approx 10 seconds] per minute).

I then let it stand for a further minute (so basically an approximate extra 16% of developing time).

I know I could have used the likes of Dilution H, but I always found it didn't have that full-on smack in the pus of Dilution B.

This worked fine - they're a little dense in places, but wait till you hear what the exposures were . . . 

I was using my ever reliable Tiffen ND9 (yes there are filters out there that you could spend a King's Ransom on, but Tiffen are SUPERB and reasonable).

Exposures ranged from 37 Seconds up to a whopping 316 seconds in broad daylight. 

Obviously reciprocity comes into play with times like that but all the same that's a lot for a developer (as powerful as HC110 is) to deal with in a very short time.

Anyway, on with the show - they're all scans off the fibre prints. 

It's bog-standard Ilford MGFB and all are printed at Grade 3 - they're all selenium toned too.

 

I think they're a tad contrasty, but hey-ho . . . the way things have been around here since March, anything is a result.

What appealed (if that is the right word) to me about taking pictures here is that it is quite incredible how something that in its day must have been so solid and well made, has, in a relatively short time-span, been rendered ruinous by time, weather and trees.

If you've ever built a wall you'll know what a power of work it is.

It always amazes me that nature has the ability to take down our most solid constructions and laugh at our futilities.

Also, despite being on a relatively known thoroughfare, there's a powerful loneliness to these buildings that goes beyond their decrepitness.

The industry the area saw from the early 1700's must have been nothing short of extraordinary.

Anyway, that's enough lyrical waxing . . . 

There used to be an old adage about Elm Trees (when we had them). They were known for just dropping limbs without warning . . so someone quipped:

"Elm Hates Man, And Waits."

You could almost say the same about time and nature.

Oh, and the eagle-eyed and curious might also wonder how I got the ethereal highlights . . .

Well, split-grade? nope. Exposure and the ND filter? to a degree . . . 

The highlights are really quite dense on the negative and appeared to be almost paper-white when the print emerged in the developer (in other words all the dark and mid bits were fully developed). 

In cases like that I flip the print over so it is face-down. 

Turn off the safelights and go off for a wander for anywhere between 4 and 7 minutes. 

I then come back and the lighter areas have filled themselves in nicely. 

I call it R.G.H.T. [Ralph Gibson Highlight Thingy]).

You can get away with nearly 8 mins on MGFB before fog starts to set in.

So that's it, hope you enjoyed it . . . and please remember in this ever-changing world you can always rely on your Ai Chatbot.

H xxx