Showing posts with label Ilford Galerie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ilford Galerie. Show all posts

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Well, That Was A Quick One Wasn't It.

Eheu !

You'll need to look up the above - best place to start is How To Be Topp by Ronald Searle and Geoffrey Willans - one of my favourite books.

Anyway, firstly a Happy Seasonal Season to you all - thanks for reading and putting up with some bonkers off-kilter photography related stuff!
As I've said before, this is an Empire Of One, so I can write whatever I like, but if you've enjoyed what you've read, Thank You - it is very much appreciated.

Anyway, in common with recent years, this is a photographic run-down from me.
I certainly took more pictures this year, but not quite enough . . . but isn't that always the case?
It's been a weird and good year - weird from the point of view that I purchased two (very good) secondhand digital cameras, and weird from the point of view that I no longer own either of them!
I've not bought any film related stuff this year simply because I've got it all and any further expense seems rather daft.
I also managed to cement a few things in my mind:

I'm not in the slightest bit interested in digital photography.
Quite a statement eh?
And even though writing this and holidays etc render it semi-necessary . . . I just can't get excited about it.
Not quite sure why, but anyway, that's just me.

I'm also not really a 35mm photographer either.
Never one for doing things by halves, that's another quite a statement.
Even though 35mm film has been used this year I have barely used any of my 35mm cameras at all, which again is kind of daft when you think about it, seeing as I own 6!


Suitably A-tyred

Yes, I know the above photo belies what I just said, but the reason it has been slipped in here is because I like the image and thought it would be a good one to head up the thumbnails at the side of the page.
Despite my semi-aversion to 35mm photography, I was really tempted around the start of summer to go Bugger It! and purchase a dual-range Summicron with some funds I'd released from selling guitar gear.
Unfortunately I didn't.
And that's not like me at all - but something stopped me.
It was pretty significant too, because the DR was something I've wanted for a long long time, but anyway, that's for further down this page!

So, without further ado, grip your zimmers, here's a really boring round-robin of my year!

JANUARY


Well, I started how I meant to go on, and that meant ACTION!
I loaded a roll of Tri-X (probably the last time I'll use it as it is now too expensive!) into the F3 with the 28mm AI-s and off I went - 25 photos in around an hour and a half.
It was major FUN - there's a lot to be said for Nikon's old Automatic Indexing System - it just works and very reliably too.


Seabraes Yard Walkway With Willy Wonka, Dundee

I enjoyed it so much, that later in the month I used another roll!


Broken Seabraes Yard Bridge, Dundee

Seabraes Yard Lift 1, Dundee

Seabraes Yard Lift 2, Dundee

All the above are scans off the negs - never got as far as printing that lot . . .

Early in January the weather was truly dreich and 'orrible up here, but that didn't stop me - I loaded the SWC with some HP5 and whilst out for a lovely walk with t'missus, blasted through 12 frames.
Unfortunately, whether it was too much rum imbibed or a genuine fault with my light meter, the film was well-underexposed. I was gutted!


View From Seabraes Bridge, With Rain And Bonus Gloom

That's a scan from the print - I had to use Pot-Ferry to bleach back the highlights a bit, but even then it was exceptionally difficult to print.

And so started a period of doubt about the Gossen - I wasn't sure about it even though I re-tested it against meters I knew were working (the F3 and the Sony A6000, and Lux on a piephone).

FEBRUARY


On a lovely crisp morning's walk, I was so impressed with the light on the way back, that I went home, loaded the 500 C/M with HP5 (my new main squeeze - thank you Dave Lee Roth) and went out again, toting the 150mm Sonnar - worra lens.
It helped me make what I think is probably one of the best people pictures I've taken - not that I take many people pictures, but all the same.
It was of well-known Dundee grafitti artist C-Gul.
He's a really nice chap and is very amenable to having his portrait taken. I generally bump into him about once a year.


Monsieur C-Gul esq.

I also finished off another roll of Tri-X that I'd started at the end of January - again the F3/28mm AIs combo worked perfectly.


Time Dilation, Perth

At the end of the month, I'd planned a mountain trip, but a dodgy knee stopped me, so instead I went (nearly) to Balmerino along the Fife Coastal Path.
The whole adventure was detailed in 101 Uses For A (Nearly) Dead Sheep.


Quiet Riverside Morning, Wormit

MARCH


You know what, nothing photographic happened in March apart from some printing, so here's a scan of a print to fill up the blank space.


Hall Of Light - Trainworld, Brussels

The above is another of my Brussels photographs - it was taken with the F3/28mm AI-s combo - of all my prints of recent times, this is the one I have hanging in my study - there's just something about it.
If you're ever in Brussels, and even if you DON'T like trains, this is one of the very best museums in the world . . .

There, that's better isn't it.

APRIL


Ah, well some people would call it unlucky, but me? nah, brilliant. I started a 4 day working week, which initially was novel, but at the end of the year proved to be an absolute panacea to my adult working life - everyone should do it. Time is the most precious thing we don't own.

Suitably bouyed with enthusiasm, I hit the mountains!
The whole adventure was written about in Pastures Unknown

And here's a pic from then.


Wild Party Going On

At the end of the month, with the early morning light improving, I got up pre-dawn and hit the town on Easter morning.
The light was astonishing, but what sealed it to me was a group of Christians standing beside the River Tay and reading bible passages at dawn. Were it not for the fact that they were dressed in modern garb, drove Hyundais, and were standing next to the V&A, you could literally have been removed in time back hundreds of years.
It was humbling, moving and awe-inspiring all at the same time.


Easter Morning Prayer, V&A Dundee

I did a fair amount of printing in April, courtesy of new found freedom, however I soon replaced that with a list of jobs I had been putting off for years . . .

MAY


Did some more printing in May, but no photographing, so here's a print made then . .


Vandalised Gigantic Poster, Brussels

This was made the year previously on the F3/28mm combo, in Brussels no less. All the black faces have been picked off - nice to see they have racists over there too (he said ironically).
Truth be told, this was a pissing spot for drunks, so I guess anything would have been 'done' anyway.

JUNE

June was a mad month.
My son suddenly declared he'd need a camera for an upcoming European road trip - 8 countries in a few weeks no less - he's braver than I was at his age.
Film flashed through my mind, and I thought how about a Nikkormat - cheapish, hands-on and reliable . . but then, when he declared he wanted to use ONLY colour my thinking changed.
Anyway, after a wee test out in Perthshire to see how it would handle things, I thought I'd entrust him with the Sony A6000.
Therein lay another problem - I'd only used it with an adaptor and manual Nikkors, and he declared he wanted something with a zoom!

OK old bean I thought, have the shirt off my back why dontcha, you young 'uns . . etc etc . . 


Now I know what you're thinking, prime lenses only that's the sort of man I am, and despite my having explained it all to him, about compromises with zooms vs, tip-top imaging with a prime, it was no good . . so I ended up getting the kit lens for the Sony, the 16-50 zoom - to give it its correct terminology:

Sony E 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS


It was cheap at WEX with a year's guarantee, and you know what . . it's alright!


Riverside Bridge, Seabrae Yards, Dundee

And that left me with a conundrum.
We were going to Rome.
I was supposed to be taking the F3/28mm, our 11 year old Panasonic digital compact, and also the Sony, except now it was no longer in the equation.
So I started thinking digitally and the upshot of it was, I purchased a great condition Nikon D300S with  a 18-70 f3.4/4.5 zoom as my travel camera and married it up, because of bulk and weight, with the Leica M2 and a collapsible Elmar (1932  vintage) and also the old Panasonic digi.


When I initially got the D300S I did a shoot-out with it and the SW . . the SW won of course, but the D300S was no slouch.


DJCA Alley, Dundee
Nikon D300S and Zoooooooooom

DJCA Alley, Dundee
Hasselblad SWC/M And Shoe-Leather Zoooooooom

I thought the D300S would be the dog's bahookies - the ideal machine for getting all that colourful Roman stuff!


And whilst it was a fine (really fine actually) photo-making machine, my goodness, it was like schlepping an anchor around in 90 degree heat . . in other words I quickly began to hate it.



Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II - Panoramic Terrace Lift

See what I mean - no issues with colours or sharpness, and it was fortunate we had it, because halfway through the holiday, we left the Panasonic behind on a bench and despite heading back for it 20 minutes odd later, some thieving Roman git had had it.
I will say, if you go to Rome, whilst it is a lovely place, don't do something like this, because the Roman Police department will give you no help at all, and neither will the locals.
So that was that, our holiday camera gone and it had all the sensible pics on it too.
The D300S was employed and ended up taking the rest of the holiday snaps.


The Vatican On A Quiet Afternoon

Fractured Holiday View

Plastic Seagull, Rome

On the whole, I like the results from the Nikon, but by comparison, the M2 was a revelation and easily the most fun to use 35mm I've ever toted around.
It was just so damn instinctive and quick and quiet and svelt.
In other words PURE JOY.


Stuffed Swans Trapped In The Vatican

When we got back from Rome, we still had anudder week, so I used the M2 with the 35mm Summaron. Here's a pic taken in tiny light onboard the Unicorn in Dundee.
The print looks like it has been lithed, but it's the result of extreme bleaching in pot-ferry - to me it looks like something washed up after a nuclear disaster and has a poignancy I can't place.


Tiny Light, HMS Unicorn, Dundee

JULY

Y'see that D300S?
It developed a noise or two (weird hums n' stuff) . . so I sent it back to WEX and they were superb about it letting me exchange it . . for . . anudder digi-cam - a Fuji X2ES with a 27mm Pancake.
It was more expensive, but is easily the nicest digital camera I've handled.
Intuitive, VERY lightweight, light on sub-menus (unless you wanted to) and relatively unfootery.
A camera with some thought put into it.
It also took a cracking picture too - I was delighted.


Victorianised Dell

Have These Students Got Nothing Better To Do, Part 1

Have These Students Got Nothing Better To Do, Part 2

I also finished processing my Roman films in July and was astonished at what a brilliant little lens the ancient Elmar was.
Honest, just about the cheapest Leitz-branded lens you can buy.
I use mine with a Voigtlander adapter as it is a screw-mount one.
I also used it with a Fison hood and it was a royal pain to change aperture, but it just made me approach things differently - think before you shoot and be prepared.


Quiet Graveyard

Look at the creaminess of those greys - quite unlike anything else I own.

AUGUST

Y'see that Fuji?
Guess what . . . it developed an occasional hum when the shutter was operated, so, not wanting to saddle myself with a faulty camera, I sent it back, got a refund and decided there and then that digital photography was not for me.
I simply couldn't be arsed to be honest, even faced with some excellent pixel-peepin'-poppin'-and-a snappin' sharp images from the Fuji - they just did nothing for me at all, so I nailed my trousers to the mast and said nah.
The Sony is now our holiday cam, simply because with the loss of our dear old Panasonic, we have nothing else . . well, I still have my ancient Olympus MjU . . !

So, in celebration of my new-found freedom from having to think about something else, I mounted my ancient Canon LTM 50mm f1.8 - the "Japanese Summicron", on the M2, and you know, I think that seems to be a pretty good description
The below is a typical pic.
As they say round these parts in a West Country accent:

"Look a tha' bokee on tha'"


Tyre Dump, Spokes, Dundee

The Canon was probably the second cheapest lens I've bought for Leicas - it was originally going to be mounted on the fungusy IIIf!
However I loved it's rendering of detail, greys and the dread bokeeee so much, that it made me think  there was actually no point in buying a DR Summicron.
The money would be better employed elsewhere, and so it was.

Near the end of the month, I was all set for a hillwalk, but somehow talked myself out of it (well, actually it was gale force winds that did the talking) and ended up photographing the footings of the Tay railbridge instead - a slippy shitey journey, but semi-worth it, even without anywhere on my tripod to attach the camera . . .


Tay Rail Bridge Footings

And at the end of the month I did actually get to do a hillwalk, albeit one curtailed by mist and cowardice.
It was all detailed in Fun With Rocks And Mist (Again).


Quiet Glade
SEPTEMBER


Gawd does all he do, is go on holiday?
Well no, but we had a few nights in Edinburgh and it was really wonderful.
The weather was half decent for a start, and as an added bonus, I spared the missus all the usual:

 "Hold it, can you wait a sec"

moves and didn't take a film camera.
The Sony sufficed and actually got some semi-decent images.


Whisky Galore!

Quiet Morning

Shop Display, Edinburgh

Who Are You And Why Are You Taking My Photograph?

Remember these are all taken with what is effectively a budget lens for the Sony - none too tardy are they!
I especially like the last one - I was randomly snapping the bloke behind the bar, but fortunately the chap with the audio-guide looked directly at the camera!
And that was it photographically for September.

OCTOBER


The weather in October was mostly ghastly tbh and photographically the only thing I did, was accept an invite to a gallery opening (Printspace in Newport) to see the Edinburgh Lo-Fi exhibition which I enjoyed, but could have done with some more photographs! Printspace is a really nice gallery and shop run by Sheila and Alan Borthwick who used to run the Tayside Scottish Photographers Meetings. You can have a butchers at this link

It got me thinking that I should really start rummaging through my prints and getting myself together - empetus for the Winter months.
But in the meantime, here's another print from the archives . . gads that blank page stuff is awful isn't it.


Ghost Discovered In Abandoned Tent

The above was taken a couple of years ago with the Sonnar, beside a campsite (in a cutting). 
The tent had obviously been rendered useless and had been chucked over the fence into the cutting. 
It looked totally incongruous in the gloom, so I photographed it with the 500 C/M and the 150mm Sonnar. 
This is a pretty good demo of the Sonnar's qualities. 
It is a scan off a print made on Ilford Grade 2 Galerie (RIP).

On a sad note (for me) Mr. Malcolm Thompson died. Malcolm I have known for years - he ran a small but busy lab (Studio M) and has taken photographs all his life - in latter years he taught B&W at the DCA. I'll always remember him as a passionate jazz fan who was grumpy and kind all at the same time - he also took some very fine photographs, and even with Parkinson's disease which meant he had to sell his 5x4 camera, and found his Rollei SL66 too big to use, still took photographs with whatever lightweight device came to hand.
R.I.P Malcolm.

And the other sad note alluded to above is that I discovered Ilford had discontinued Galerie - the best fibre paper ever made. I can understand the financial aspect, but all the same it was gutting.
Luckily I still have a box of 100 sheets of 8x10" Grade 2. 
To be used wisely methinks!

NOVEMBER


OK, it's a run-off from another holiday at the end of October/start of Novemember, but the main photographic thing I did was detailed in The Crunge





There was another film taken at the end of the month though, but I am just not sure what I feel about the images - they were pretty rough and quickly taken AND I haven't contacted or printed any of them yet  . . .

This being said, despite having had a wee break from thinking about cameras and photography, I can feel it building again.

DECEMBER


Well, that's where we are now and as this is being published, we've hit the Solstice and are on the up-ramp to lighter nights - WOOHOO!!.
Anyway, I'll wind this ramble up - if you have time off lined up . . what are you waiting for? Get out there and take some photographs - you know it's good for you!
And remember, it doesn't matter if nobody looks at your photos, so long as you are enjoying them and learning something and training your eye all at the same time, that's all that counts.


Misty Night In The Garden

And The Same Scene Reversed

The above illustrates my old adage about taking a picture of a scene or whatever and then turning round - the scene behind can often be as interesting.

Anyway, on the whole, don't you think that photography has become pretty much meaningless in today's world?

That's why we need to start thinking about it differently.

Thinking about why we do it and what (if) any purpose there is to it.
It does seem like a mug's game; an expensive (and getting more expensiver) game that only means something to you, the photographer.
Actually, just reading that again, I wonder what really is the point in it?
I mean (and not to piss on your chips or anything) actually, is there any point? 
Is it just an amusement to while away the hours till death? 
What does anything mean to anyone outwith your social circle anyway?


I suppose, just like any creative pursuit, it is almost impossible to quantify.
We do it because we want to, because it gives us pleasure, and hope; twisted narcissism and satisfaction!
So, far from going all nihilistic on you, I'll just say, if you enjoy it, DO IT.
Hang the expense and hang the pain in the neck when things go wrong - and with printing and taking they often can do!

Talking of which (finally) welcome to The Hairiest Print In The World (Retouched).


Have You Finished Yet, Y'Old Git?

I found this whilst rummaging and love the imagery - Alec Turnips was all knackered after a long walk, and was patient (just about) enough to let me take his picture.
It was made with the old Rollei T at f3.5 and just shows what an incredible lens a Zeiss Tessar is.
I've retouched it a bit on the Mac but it really is an incredibly hairy print, made a long time ago when I was farting around with anti-static brushes on negatives.
The bloody thing (and it was a really good one) deposited more dust than it removed. These days, using the Astrid Ioniser as my baseline, I find a scissor wipe with my first and second finger removes pretty much everything.

Anyway, that's enough - you're knackered and need a break too.

I'll leave the final words to Mr. DH Lawrence. A man who knew a bit about writing.
I've known this poem since buying Mott The Hoople's Mott album in 1973 - he got it right:



A Sane Revolution


If you make a revolution, make it for fun,
don’t make it in ghastly seriousness,
don’t do it in deadly earnest,
do it for fun.

Don’t do it because you hate people,
do it just to spit in their eye.

Don’t do it for the money,
do it and be damned to the money.

Don’t do it for equality,
do it because we’ve got too much equality
and it would be fun to upset the apple-cart
and see which way the apples would go a-rolling.

Don’t do it for the working classes.
Do it so that we can all of us be little aristocracies on our own
and kick our heels like jolly escaped asses.

Don’t do it, anyhow, for international Labour.
Labour is the one thing a man has had too much of.
Let’s abolish labour, let’s have done with labouring!
Work can be fun, and men can enjoy it; then it’s not labour.
Let’s have it so! Let’s make a revolution for fun!



And on that note, thanks for making it this far. Have a fantastic Christmas and a positive, happy and  totally creative New Year.
TTFN, and remember sprouts are supposed to be eaten, not hidden under a rug, in a plant pot or in someone else's pockets . . .

Tot quot, clot!




Monday, January 21, 2019

Quiet Byways In Fife

Sadly, with a warning of severe weather predicted for mountainous regions, I swore off (and at) the snow and freezing rain predicted for my first spot of camera time in months.
A PLAN B was needed, so I put on my thinking cap, and (given that the sun doesn't crest the Tay Valley till around 8am [in the Winter]) thought better of risking life and limb in the mountains and plumped instead for a local, but quiet, bit of The Fife Coastal Path - Wormit to Balmerino.


Field Edge, Fife Coastal Path, December 2018


But before that, a word about how I am going to do FB posts this year . . hold your excitement there man . .
Most photographers don't air their dirty pants in public , , you only get the crisply ironed ones (who the feck irons pants, but apparently it is a thing so who am I to judge . . ).
So, in the interests of the skid-markedfart-shredded and un-ironed variety (or is that just me) I have decided to detail each film in their completeness.
I'll tell you how it came to be, then there'll be a scan of the contact print (stains and all . . there is nowhere to hide) and then you'll get choice prints made from the negatives.

The reason for this?

Well, I was thinking about it - a film is in itself a creative process, whether you realise it or not.
If you are out photographing, you might well be subconsciously following something.

Of course, you could just be snapping at anything and everything, but I am not talking about random bombing, I'm talking about your 'journey' (ugh . . overused these days? YOU BET).
OK, not 'journey' how about:

 Arc Of Travel

You load a film and set off with something in mind . . you do don't you?
I do.
I generally photograph for a purpose, that being to finish a film that hopefully contains some photographs I like.
It is a sort of Arc Of Travel and often I can see that in my contact prints - they detail where I have walked and travelled in a timeous manner . . . who knows, they might even show some sort of thought process or signs of life and not just my usual drooling gait!
The shutter of my camera takes slices out of the time I spent doing that activity and preserves something extra - an adjunct as it were, to my memory.

I remember the walk; I can describe it to someone easily. But to make that memory physical and of meaning to someone else, I need to refer to the photograph.

Now what if that photograph (as well as being a record of the photons bouncing off everything) has also managed to preserve some of the atmospherics, that I felt at the time?

I'm not talking about filming it, because that is photography without decision making; it might preserve the sounds and motions of the landscape, but has it captured any of you and your thought process?
Is this the distinct difference between the moving and the still image?
A definite URGE to take one small bit of time and subject and make it yours?

A giant widdle on the lampost of eternity?

I don't know.
Not to denigrate film-making - I'm sure film-makers would say that they've managed to capture some of their self in their work - maybe that is true.
It requires further thought and navel-gazing from me . . .

Anyway, with regard to photographs, some speak loudly, but others are mute.

And (long way around as usual) I guess this is why I am going to air everything.

Because, as I said, some sing loudly with a lusty bellow, and others are quieter than church mice, but no matter their db's, they are all a part of your AOT (Arc Of Travel).

The contact print reveals all.

Your choices, your composition, possibly even your thought process.

There is, as they say, NOWHERE TO HIDE:

Jings, did he really compose that?
Out of focus!
Camera shake?
Nice foreground but look at that bokeh!
Not that AGAIN.

The morning I was thinking and writing about this, I coincidentally got an email from Bruce of TOD and he said the following:

"Plus, I've noticed there's a process I go through. It seems difficult for me to jump out of the car, identify the best photo opportunity and take the shot (as I'd have to do with LF). Rather, I work my way into it. The process of exposing film seems to hone my photographic senses. The first shot I take of a scene is hardly ever the best. The good stuff seems to happen when I get right into it. It's like there's a shift in the way my brain works. I can't do that with LF or even MF. "

Very coincidental don'tcha think?

Oooh, I thought, there must be something to what I am saying if someone else is thinking the same way, so I thought about it and made a decision that this is the way I am going.
I might also thoroughly detail each frame (certainly when showing a 120 contact . . maybe not a 35mm, and half-frame . . well . . ) and film and process.

Hopefully it won't be yawn city - maybe it will be . . . but what it will show, will be the process of thinking (hardly) and how things went along.
So without further ado it's time for a baked bean and sprout curry with extra sauce and a side dish of boiled cabbage and pinto beans . . .
Ooo, and see that bowl of Kimchi . . .

Brace yourselves . . . 

Thruuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppp!

Here we go:

 FILM # 66/51


FILM # 66/51

Right, so here's my notes for each frame - seems dull - maybe it is . . but tough:

First film >120< taken since   the weekend of 16/6/18!

1./ 5 sec - - - - - > 10 sec, f16 ZIII - Very Dark
2./ 8 sec - - - - - > 19 sec, f16, ZIII - Copse
3./ 8 sec - - - - - > 19 sec, f16, ZIII - Gate
4./ 3 sec - - - - - > 6 sec, f22, ZIII - Field Edge
5./ 3 sec - - - - - > 6 sec, f22, ZIII - Coppice/Field Edge
6./ 4 sec - - - - - > 7 sec, f22, ZIII - Wood
7./ 1 sec - - - - - > 4 sec, f22, ZIII - Path
8./ 1 sec, f22, ZIII - Fallen Trees
9./ 1/60th, f8, ZIII - Horse, Handheld
10./ 1/2 sec, f22, ZIII   - Reeds
11./ 1/30th, f5.6, Z???, Seal, Guessed, Handheld
12./ 8 sec - - - - - > 19 sec, f16, ZIII - Sitting Room

All tripod/cable unless noted.

- - - - -> Denotes an extended exposure time due to reciprocity.

I've no pretensions about the photographs - they're OK, but at least I was doing something!
It was a really enjoyable walk, with the first mile or so conducted in near darkness. I do so love watching dawn arrive and, because of the nature of the path I was able to do so without the massive buffeting the wind was doing on the other side of the hills.
It's easy walking this bit of the path, although I would caution against heading down to the tempting looking bits of shoreline (though you'd have to massively scramble down - they're pretty steep) as the tide will get you.
Anyway, keeping to the path itself, I encounted nobody till I was on my way back, which is sort of the way I like things actually.

Camera was the Hasselblad SWC/M; tripod was my faithful Gitzo, and the film was Ilford Delta 400, rated at EI 200 and developed in Pyrocat-HD for 21 minutes at 22º C.
I no longer use a water bath to pre-bathe the film - it seemed ineffectual - so it is straight on, constant gentle agitation for 30 seconds and then 4 agitations every minute up to 17 minutes. Then I let it stand to 21 Mins.
Stop is 3 changes of fresh water.
Fix is around 6 minutes.
Then washing at the end.
Finally it gets the dreaded Photo-Flo treatment - I've never had much luck with any wash-aid, they all seem to cause all sorts of gunk on the film.
With Photo-Flo, take ONE drop to 1200ml of water, mix the drop gently, VERY VERY GENTLY through the water with your fingers (like you were tickling a trout) and then leave the film on the reel (in the solution) for about 5 minutes.
You have to be careful not to create foam when removing it to hang.
Again gentleness pays dividends.

I've mentioned this before - my darkroom is furnished with an Astrid Ioniser that keeps dust levels down a fair bit.
The reason for this? Well, if you really want to be scared when you've hung a film, just turn out the lights and use a torch to look behind you as you exit. The levels of dust revealed by the light beam are usually through the roof and completely sobering.
Thus, the Astrid. It is a great thing.
I used to use an old Mountain Breeze ioniser, but that expired a few years back - and the reason I went that route in the first place? Well, it was a tip from the late Barry Thornton and it made sense to me. Since I took on his ioniser tip I've rarely had to spot any print.
I know it seems like the strangest darkroom accessory ever, but it works.

Oh, and I've got a tip for removing dust from film too - that's in the printing section after this next bit!

Assessing the contact:
Contact prints are always a compromise - I tend to print mine on Grade 2 and take it from there, but typing this has reminded me that Ansel Adams in The Print (I believe) recommended printing them on the softest grade possible to maximise your eyeballing of potentially good prints and I think that is maybe something I will try out in the future . . . thank you brain!
Anyway, the above was a solid Grade 2 and printed to try and maximise each frame (though somewhat unsuccessful on that front). There was an old Barry Thornton adage too - minimum time for maximum black - which referred to using the film rebates (the black gridwork as it were) as an assessment of the correct exposure time for a contact. Now that's alright if every frame is perfectly exposed, but as you can see, these aren't.

I'm going to do a metering 101 in an upcoming FB simply because, the last 120 film I took was completely screwed up by a total brain-fart on the metering front by me . . . but hey, this isn't chimping and checking every photograph on a LCD screen - this is photography.
Chance will ALWAYS play a part!

Anyway, onto the prints (at last, you cry!).

I had two small session with this lot - Prints 1, 2 and 3 were printed on Ilford MGRC; Print 4 was printed on Ilford Galerie - Grade 2.
All prints were developed in Kodak Polymax which is liquid Dektol, the legendary cold to neutral print developer. They were fixed in Tetenal Fix. Print 4 was selenium toned.

Here's the dusty bit:

I always pass a negative between my first and second finger in a light wiping motion - pair of finger scissors - close 'em - pull it through. Dust is removed, and particles of gunk aren't deposited over the film - you can also feel the film this way. It's robust stuff. Try it and stop worrying.
If you're using glass carriers, a quick wipe with the back of your hand, removes 99.9% of the dust and eliminates the static that causes it to cling like a nylon dress to your tights (or is that just me?) - it sounds disastrous, but it works beautifully. 
This is a combination of tips from Barry Thornton and the woman who I watched printing from HCB archive negatives - they are simple and effective techniques. 

There - that's saved you a swift twenty for one of those horrible anti-static brushes!


Print 1



Print 2



Print 3



Print 4



Right - have you had a deco at those?

What's that at the back Atkins?
Yes, go on man? 
Contrast?
Yes, c'mon on, spit it out.
Hmmm - they do don't they.

To me, they all look remarkably similar with regard to contrast, yet Print 4 is a standard Grade 2. OK the selenium has given the blacks an extra edge, but it is subtle . . so what is going on?
Well I guess any printing paper is going to have to be a compromise between light sources - according to Ilford's literature, you can expect a difference of around a Grade (!) between condenser and diffusion heads. They also state that Multigrade paper needs a bit of adjustment to reach an acceptable Grade. It took me a while and a lot of trial and error to realise that using MGRC I needed to print on at least Grade 3 to get a print I found acceptable. I've never used MGFB but given the emulsion is the same then that should hold true for that too.

I think this is why I absolutely prefer printing on Galerie . . . there's something about printing on the old warhorse that just seems right. There's no farting about, no split-grade options . . just a quality emulsion on a quality base that will deliver an excellent print if you are careful. Add on this the possibilities of bleaching and toning should you feck it up, then like I said, it's a no-brainer. Expensive, YES, but in terms of wastage and time, I think the cost is probably acceptable.

It was Joe McKenzie who introduced me to it back in the 80's. Galerie then was slightly different - the blacks had a modicum (and I mean a tad) of greenishness to them - this was sorted by selenium toning - that's what Joe always did and I guess I have followed his regime ever since. This being said, these days the blacks on Galerie are neutral - no green, so you don't really have to tone if you haven't got the time or can't be arsed.

If you're still unsure about using it, save a bit of cash and buy a 25 pack - again, not cheap, but it will give you an idea. You'll be really surprised that an 'ordinary' fixed Grade 2 paper, can handle so many variations on a negative . . but it can. And that is part of its beauty. You really don't need to go down the split-grade route. Time spent in the dark can be exhausting - you want something that can lead you down the path to a nice print and not to have to worry about procedure.

I've said it before and to many people - with an average negative, there's a good chance that you can produce an acceptable print by just printing on one grade (and yes, this even works on multi-grade paper . . just because you have the ability to change grade on the fly, doesn't mean that you actually have to).
Sometimes an 'acceptable' print isn't always possible using one grade (say in the case of heavily underexposed film) and then I would advocate manipulation with dodging/burning/bleaching/toning . . . but on the whole, printing should be a relatively simple process.
You really don't need a wizard's cloak and a split grade printing degree - that has always seemed like over-complication to me.
But that's just me - if you disagree, feel free to come round for an afternoon stuffed into my tiny darkroom with me and the DeVere - just bring a gas mask and a SWAT team..

Anyway, that's a pile of reading you've done to get to here.
WELL DONE.
I've no idea why you've read all this, but if you've been able to take any wee tips from my own personal procedures, and (most importantly) have found them to work, then good.
I am chuffed about that.
As I said at the start, I think this is the way FB is going to go from now on . . but maybe with not as much explanation.
So, till the next time - happy hunting, take care, and if you know anyone who wants 200 tons of excess sprouts, use the contact form at the side of the page

Monday, January 07, 2019

Last Drops Of A Golden Summer

Well, there I was with actual time on my hands to do stuff . . so what did I do? Yep, had a good sort through the darkroom.
There were rather a lot of old boxes of paper, and a lot of (seemingly empty) 25 sheet envelopes. 
I've always known that I had some Forte Polywarmtone left, but in my mind it was one sheet . . . had I read the envelope, I'd have seen it was 3, the last time I inspected the interior . . er . . . nearly 7 years ago . . gulp.

I don't know about you, but I think I hate digital photography more now than I did then, simply because in its wake the death-knell of many many fine papers and companies rang loud around the world, including Forte, whose Polywarmtone is the subject of this 'ere blog.
This, legendary (and I don't bandy that about lightly) paper - long gone to the great darkroom in the sky - is a tragic casualty, and meanwhile some digital fecker is groaning on about his jets clogging up. 
Saints alive, from the experience pov, this is IT - printing with museum grade materials, which will, God willing, outlast us all, only to be munched on by the cockroaches from the end of days . . .
It truly is sad that the choice of materials available to today's hobby printer (or professional) is a tiny slice of what it once was.
However, while we're here, I'll boldly state that for those of us who do still make the effort to print - fortune smiles upon us - for the greatest photographic paper in the world is still made:

Ilford Galerie

It is superb and expensive, BUT, reassuringly easy to print with.
Choose Grade 2 and with careful print manipulation you can take on the world - it's versatile, and perhaps unusually for any paper, really does make any almost any image look superb.
For myself I also get far less spoils with it than anything else.
At the end of the day, if you're going to spend a shedload of time printing some meaningful negatives, then it's a no-brainer.
But, back to the nub of nostalgia and the Forte.



The Last Of The Mohicans
This Was Surface PW-14
Must Have Been In My Darkroom For Around 10 Years


The Instructions
All Well And Good If You Know/Have The Correct Filters
If Not . . Guesswork Involved

It looks old doesn't it, from the Bohemian Chic of the envelope to the typeface used on the instructions, and it is old in its attention to detail and sheer out-and-out quality of materials.
There is little like it any more.
It had a superbly variable warmth (dependant on developer) coupled with easy toning, which yielded a broad palette of nice tones.
It was quite a slow paper both in exposure and development - mind, maybe that is because this is an ancient sample; but then again, a box of Galerie I have that is older comes to full fruition in 120 seconds in Polymax developer, whereas the PWT took 180 seconds plus.
And I do seem to remember when I got the box that it seemed pretty damn slow then, but then I also seem to remember reading that that was a mark of the paper.
There's an interesting article and link to register to buy a box (if it ever goes into production again) here

Anyway, I had to treat it right - it wouldn't do to send this off into the night without a decent image, and I hope I have done it justice.
Looking back through my print archives, I can see that I didn't have the skill or the images to make the most of it before and have only found 2 images that I like printed on it . . . wonder what happened to the other 20???

I mixed up fresh fix and stop. The Kodak Polymax developer was mixed not that long ago so was fine, and into the dark I went.
I'll confess that it has been well over a year since I printed on fibre paper which is shocking, so the quiet rhythm of darkroom work took a small amount of time to get used to again, but once you've learned to ride Ansel's bicycle, well . . .
I spent 6 exhausting hours from start of printing to end of toning and start of washing because I also printed the same negatives (plus a couple of others) on Galerie. I wanted a comparison between the two for this 'ere blog, because I thought you lot would be interested . . so stop yawning at the back!
It was fun with a capital F, and my intention is to spend more time doing it.
I take a fair amount of photos, and to not print many of them . . well, what is the point in taking so many photos - capiche?

And so, to the prints - they're all 800 dpi scans from the prints themselves and I'll detail the details as it were underneath.
I'll also say that just for fun I tried to match the prints with equivalent ones printed on the ancient Galerie - it was semi-hard to match exposure, but I took it on the chin for the team . . . and only actually matched two of them.
Well, it did seem a bit extravagent.
Anyway, anon . . .


Forte Polywarmtone
Somewhere Near Grade 3?
Who knows, but it was Selenium Toned


Ilford Galerie - Grade 2
Selenium Toned

Yes I know, the Galerie print is a fair bit more exposed - it was very difficult to do and I certainly wasn't going to use another sheet of (expensive) paper just to furnish this blog with more testing.
I am super happy with the Galerie print as it reflects the feel of the day. The PWT print is very lightweight and 'airy'.
As you can see it is no slouch as a paper though - I would say fine detail is equal in both.
The negative this came from was Ilford Delta 400, EI 200, developed in Pyrocat-HD.
Both prints were lightly toned with Kodak Selenium 1:20 too.
One thing you can't get from this is the surface quality of both prints. I prefer glossy finishes and that's what they are, but what I will say is the finish on the PWT is utterly sublime - it is glossy and silky and rather than reflecting light all over the place as a lot of glossies do, it holds it and adds it as an extra dimension.
That sounds like bollocks, but it is my impression of it.
Even Adox in their wishes to revamp the paper say that it will be impossible to replicate that surface ever again . . .
Nothing like ramping up the pressure on my last three pieces then 😅



Forte Polywarmtone
Unknown Grade.
Bleached And Then Selenium Toned


Ilford Galerie Grade 2
Selenium Toned
Digital Scanning Footery

I rather like this image in an old and decrepit way.
It was exposed on a piddle-i-dee afternoon in Moffat. It was chucking and I was moving about with the Rollei T seeing what I could find. I came across an abandoned cottage and it had outbuildings in the back garden that were in a serious state of disrepair. This room looked like it had been someone's cosy den at one point - but that must have been a couple of decades ago.
The texture of the curtain mixed with the very subtle reflections of glass (barely discernible in the terrible light) made for an image that cried out neglect and disappontment and abandonment.
You could feel the buildings' pain.
At that time (early 2017) there were a number of properties in the town that were like that, which was very unusual. I always remember the town as a place of polite well-to-do-nes; of friendly old ladies who were very accepting of incomers; of youngsters who were less welcoming and a crowd inbetween who were fine!
It was a place of clean (but fading) moneyed cliquiness and a quiet fortitude.
I like/liked it A LOT.

Anyway, I've cheated . . . the Galerie print is poor, so I've lightened it a bit in 'Photos' - I dunno, I got arse over elbow and mucked up my timings. 
The PWT though . . . that is another story.
What I was dealing with was a terribly under-exposed negative. Y'see what I'd done when taking the picture, was grit my teeth, stopped down a tad (just to get the ivy and the curtain) and shot it at 1/8th at f8.
The film was TMX 400, 2 years past its expiry date and the EI was 200.
Well-expired films do need a bit of extra oomph in exposure, but sadly this was a guess too far.
The light was terribly poor and everything was fairly dreich.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, it isn't easy to print.
As such it was a tad more exposed than I thought suited the subject matter, so after a while in the washer, I took it out, and bleached it lightly in Potassium Ferrycyanide.
Interestingly this has taken some micro-highlights that weren't at all obvious and given a sort of streaking to the lower right quadrant - fortunately that has given some form to some of the very very slight reflections that were present on the glass.
On the whole I like the rendition

And so, to possibly the last sheet of PWT ever exposed in the world!



The Bones Of Granton House
Forte Polywarmtone
Unknown Grade.
Bleached And Then Selenium Toned

I rather like this image - it was taken at Granton House in Moffat - a (once) wonderful Georgian House cum hotel which burned down a couple of decades back. It's a shell of a building and rather dangerous, so if you are tempted to visit, don't put our head through a lintel - it could well collapse. There's the wreck of a van in the garden, as you can see above, it looks rather like the slumped skull and tusk of some mechanical elephant and I'd never noticed that till I typed this.
It was a hot spring day, the fields surrounding the house were full of the wash and debris of the severe storm of Winter 2017 when the whole town was cut off.
I know this area well - it is the product of such weathering - but that storm must have been something else; the fields were full of small boulders - quite something.

I am glad this was my last image on PWT, though strangely none of the legendary warmth comes through - I'll put that down to using Kodak Polymax developer (liquid Dektol) which is neutral to cold, and then toning in Selenium 1:20 for a couple of minutes.
All the lovely subtleties of light the Rollei's single coated lens has let through though, are present in the negative and on the print. 
I like it a lot actually.
I didn't make a Galerie print of this - maybe at some point in the future, but tbh I was ker-knackered as I had made another set of prints for another article. 
It was 6 solid hours of work - thoroughly enjoyable work.

And that's about it - if you print you'll understand the trails and tribulations; if you don't, well, I know it is easy for me to say from my high castle and guerilla darkroom/cupboard, but you should try and learn it. 
The final, physical image, is IT to me. 
To take light and time and atmosphere, and even emotion, and distill it into something you can hold and look at, well, it really is the whole point as far as I am concerned.

So, Forte Polywarmtone
Good luck Adox - I think it is going to be a difficult job.
I had great pleasure using up the last of my supplies and hope I have done it some justice.

TTFN - thanks for reading, and if you could help me across that road I'd be forever grateful . . .