St Paul's Court?

Well, you'd better go and help him then hadn't you!

Yeah, I know, the old ones are the best ones aren't they in a non-Lovecraftian sort of manner.

Well, firstly an apology . . no regular blogging from me . . . but then a word from our sponsors (Mick and Dave)
. . . you know what they say . . .

"Summer's here and the time is right
 . .  for scraping off 130 years of wallpaper"

Oh yes, 8 layers deep and like trying to escape from Alcatraz with a teaspoon.
Anyway . . lack of photography due to much DIY.

Right, so what have we here . . .
Well, it's Dundee, you know, that place in Scotland, sadly the Drugs Death Capital of Scotland and also the Teenage Pregnancy Capital of Scotland too (according to recent depressing stats).
So what else have we got?
Is this really a place that is completely lost?
Well, no, not really, y'see, it's also home to vast amounts of creativity.
Honestly, there's stuff going on everywhere all the time; there's people beavering away at painting and printmaking and sculpting and drawing and writing and dare I say it photographing (really? WHO apart from me and Bruce?); we're big news in game programming; there's music and acting and dancing and graffitying; we've a multi-million pound waterfront development which has transformed a rather down-at-heel traffic ridden area into a super-duper traffic-ridden area.
And that's just scratching the surface - honest.

Oh, and we're also the place where the V&A have decided to construct their new and bold Museum of Scottish Design - and even then the Council have fecked it up by allowing a bog-standard cookie-cutter office block to be built right in front of it - you honestly couldn't make it up . . . .

Anyway, LOOK IT UP - lots about it online and it'll be opening this September.

St Paul's Court Portal

And what has that got to do with photography and St Paul then Sheepy?

Well, therein lies a tale.
Y'see, like a large number of cities throughout the UK, at one time in the not too distant past, Dundee boasted an almost medieval collection of Pends and Wynds and Closes - very akin to how York still is today (thank God for the foresighted purveyors of common sense in the York town fathers).
Dundee could have been it's equal, because it was even more medieval in its street layout. Buildings crowded in on each other, lanes ran around the back of buildings, and through buildings; dead ends came unexpectedly; pends led nowhere or somewhere; closes huddled together against the bitter cold wind that came in off the North Sea every Winter.
It was really something - honestly, you just need to check the old maps, which, with their earliest 'proper' start in the mid-1800's still showed the layout of a city that had grown around a prosperous deep harbour, all walls and gates and a firm link to a distant past.

And then a huge chunk of it was knocked down, which links nicely to me, because I've been doing my own metaphorical knocking down lately in the form of cultural vandalism:

Around 8 layers of perfectly stuck wallpaper.

The gold colour you see actually covers the whole of a chimney breast - I am wondering whether it is some sort of ground to stop soots and tars seeping through the brickwork.

I know it is shocking isn't it - there's worse pictures too.

I can't even begin to describe how hard this has been to do, both physically and emotionally - this stuff has been there for over 130 years. 

But you see the thing is, others before me have gone: 

"Ah yeah, EASY! We'll get this off!" 

And they really have tried, gouging great big craters through the offending layers, but have then discovered it required major efforts to do it, and so have then filled said craters with filler and then papered over the top. 

So not only am I having to remove old wondrously skilled and beautiful Victorian decorating (and priceless wallpapers) but I am also having to remove a large element of BODGE.

Underneath it all however, I have made discoveries - profound and moving; links back to the men of Dundee from the late 1800's. 

What sort of life did they have? . . . well,  judging by the comment below, tough.

Unknown Artist, Dundee, 1883

I'll translate for you:

William H ????, Painter

????????? Brown

2 Paid Off

on December 5th 1883

One wonders, how hard it must have been, heading home to your wife (herself probably working long, long hours in one of the Mills that filled the City) maybe staying in one of the ramshackle tenements in St Paul's Court, or Meat Can Close, or Horse Wynd and saying, "Wife, I've been paid off" 

And Christmas is only 20 days away.

You can hear the measly thin coal crackling in the grate. 

You can hear the weans crying for want o' meat.

Did the men say 'Och damn it!' and head to the pub and spend some of their last pay getting hammered on heavy and whisky?

Who knows. 

When I discovered this, I actually felt myself on the verge of tears. 

It was so Dickensian in a truly awful way.

The realities of Victorian Society really hit home. No welfare state, no safety net. If you've ever been as poor as a Church Mouse, you'll know how horrendous it is.

I guess that's why I felt complete affinity with the two painters.

But aside from that I also discovered this:

Unknown Artist, Dundee, C.1883

And as close as I can get to it, here he is rendered photographically. Well, not literally, this is Major Adolphus Burton of the 5th Dragoon Guards photographed during the Crimean War

Major Adolphus Burton

Obviously our artist wasn't able to fully complete the horse, but all the same, the detail, posture and hat (especially the hat) says to me that our artist had possibly done time in the forces . . maybe during Crimea . . who knows.
It's a great drawing though - the man had a talent that could have been developed had further education for all existed at the time . . . . 

Anyway, I felt (and feel) bad about my cultural vandalism, but then I do know remorse.

Sadly though, in this City, there's been little shown over the decades - oh yes, never ones to do things by halves, the powers that were (and be) at the Council decided that in the name of modernity, everything that smacked of olden times should be razed.
Goodbye Wellgate.
Goodbye Overgate.
Goodbye Hawkhill.
Goodbye vast areas of Industrial Heritage.
Goodbye walls and wynds and pends and mills.
Goodbye countless chimneys and tenements and hovels and lanes.
 . . and hello new build.
Mind you to be fair to current Council planners, the City has a history of it going right back to pre-Victorian 'improvements' like opening up North/South streets through an East/West layout that had grown parallel to the river . . . 

The thing was though, some of the old stuff clung on like shit on a stick, ah East Whale Lane and West Whale Lane - and many more beautiful names that shone a light on heritage. New road needed for larger amounts of traffic? No problem . . goodbye West Whale Lane . . . East still survives though.

Tay Rope Works for instance  - it has been empty for at least 15 years, but in its environs ropes were made for the countless ships constructed in the once busy docks of Dundee . . ships like Captain Scott's proud ship (click this link >>) RSS Discovery, Dundee's cultural figurehead. The Rope Works, if refurbished with some money and vision and love, would be a fantastic tie-in with the Ship and (click this link >>) The Verdant Works
So what is happening to this lynch-pin between Cultural and Industrial Heritage and Tourism? Yep, getting demolished to fucking make fucking way, for more fucking flats.
Yes, people have to live somewhere, but buildings with a rich history like this are such easy pickings . . when all it takes is thought and vision.

You get my drift - there's danger in modernity.
Too much is easily dismissed as old and in the way and not worth saving.

They're also  currently thinking about unleashing a shit-storm on the delightfully named Mary Ann Lane next to Dundee bus station. OK, there's nothing there save a few lockups and industrial things, but . . who was Mary Ann?
She'll be gone soon, and all because the expected thousands of visitors that come to see the new V&A will not be allowed to see how Dundee has been for decades - run down, with heart and needing a lot of TLC.

The cities fathers seem embarrassed by it.
"It" being the once proud cultural and industrial heritage of the City.

And that's where today's blog comes in.
As you get off a bus at the Seagate Bus Station and have maybe decided to take a wander up to the city centre along the Seagate, a visitor to Dundee will be struck by what a total complete and utter mess the Seagate is.
Traffic, neglected buildings, eateries, pubs, pawnbrokers, empty shops, pedestrians and junkies.
It is, believe it or not really something.
The street's claims to fame are lovely (!) -  being one of the most polluted streets in Scotland (can you imagine typhus replacing Carbon Monoxide . . . hello olden times!) as well as being the birthplace of the poet Robert Browning's mother . . .
My father-in-law often sings
"I was born in the Seagate . . . "
because he was . . .

It could be so much more - there's a couple of really beautiful buildings, the best of which used to house the old Seagate Gallery, but now houses Arkive on its ground floor and another bunch of completely neglected floors above.
It needs sorted before large chunks of it start falling on cash-wielding visitors . . 
Hello . . can anyone hear me?
But it gets worse.

To one side of Arkive is a pend, which goes right through the building and into a Close at the back . . as far as I can tell, this is St Paul's Court, but it is hard to tell - modern OS gives me nothing, so a search of the old 1871 OS sort of reveals it, but the layout has changed a fair bit. What gave it away for me though is that it is the next pend along from Horse Wynd (which you can't see on this cropped map, but you can explore on this link HERE)

Dundee Seagate, circa 1871
Interesting to see that the metho-ads are shitting on people's graves.

The pend though has another, far more ghastly name to me:

Shitters' Court

It is often surprising coming across human excrement. it's generally a lot larger than you expect, especially when uncoiled onto cobbles, but in St Paul's Court you'll find plenty . . .  and not only that, probably a lot less than a quarter of a mile from the new V&A.

Welcome to Dundee!

Y'see the close is a dumping ground (quite literally) of methodone addicts.
And why not?
Methodone causes unexpected evacuations amongst other things and when you gotta go, you gotta go. You're banned from the bogs of all the pubs in the area, you're going to shite yersel'  . . up a close and on with the show.
Don't forget to dump yer soiled pants there too.
Oh yes, photographing in St Paul's Court is a delicate art of balancing oneself and one's tripod . . and also getting the Detox out on the rubber feet of the tripod and soles of your shoes when you get home.
That's why I was pleased with the above and the below.

Do Not Feed

At one end of the Court, is a large collection of buildings containing what appears to be loading areas for some of the businesses on the Seagate and the Murraygate, but access is denied by the security portal we can see above . . . and who can blame them for putting it there.

It does look rather grim though don't you think - however, despite all the ghastliness, I rather like what has been captured!

As I have gone on using the Hasselblad SWC/M I have come to a conclusion - it really is an ideal lens for subjects from around 3 feet to 12 feet - it somehow really excels, putting everything firmly in its place and rooting your subject matter right into the scene.
The lack of distortion is the greatest thing in the world on close-focus subjects.
As I have stated before I would love to take it into a derelict building and see what can be done . . . but sadly, they're all going at a rapid rate, fire-raising and councillers . . .  etc etc.
We even had a listed building "accidentally" razed to the ground in Dundee recently - just incredible.

Anyway, that's my rant over.
This is what?, late July 2018, the V&A opens in 2 months.
Never in a million years is this stuff going to get sorted short of being bulldozed . . but you don't want to do that, otherwise they'll be shitting in the streets.
Mind you, if you market it properly, maybe people will think it is some sort of installation . . . .

As an ammendum to this, I was sitting in my car in Gellatly Street the other day, mid-day actually, and this wee shakey jake came along - you know when you are learning to drive and you kangaroo hop the car because of your ineptitude with the gears? Well, this bloke was like a mild form of that. He had a rucksack, vanished into St Paul's Court, was in there for about 8 minutes, and came out adjusting his belt and jittered off to some unknown destination.
Fortunately it is a long hot summer .  . the flies and heat will see to that in no time.

Don't let me put you off visiting - the V&A is a beautiful and visionary building (and hopefully institution . . oh boy would I love to get the SWC/M inside on a lovely misty early Summer's morn . . .) 

Culture can't be bulldozed into place though, it takes time and subtlety, hard work and love.
Above all else love.

RIP the two Dundee painters from the 1880's - I hope life was easy on them.

Close Enough For Murder

Well there I was, a dental appointment and nothing more to do than walk home, so I planned ahead, took the SW and thought I'd have a go at getting really close, as in . . 

Da-Da . . 

Close Enough For Murder . .

Gee Boss - You're SO Handsome

I know, it is a bit stupidly dramatic is that statement, but well, with the above I really was close, as in the minimum I can focus with the SWC/M. 

I was also at pavement height and given it has an eye-level viewer, I had to trust the lens scale and so on. You can actually see the reflection of the lens hood in the bottom of the photograph - it is the dark object in the central third - that's because it was rested against a window, and the camera canted up to take in this awful poster on a BT shop window! 

Incredibly (to me) this was taken handheld at 1/15th and f16 . . . no cable release. 

On the lens scale on the SW this gave me a hyperfocal guesstimate (at this distance) of between just under 12" (0.3 m) and 14" (0.35 m) . . . so, 2.5 inches to get it right!

Personally, I don't think any other lens in the world could have done it as well.

I'm not sure what it is I like about it either . . .

Is it the fact that her tombstone teeth match the jambs, mullions and transoms of the reflected windows?

Is it that she looks more pleased than a very very pleased person?

The way the chap appears to be floating in clouds?

Or is it the way her hair has been rendered?

Whatever, this is a scan from an actual print, which was onto Ilford MGRC Pearl, developed in Kodak Polymax. 

I like the tonal qualities a lot.

But on with the main thing - so there I was, fresh and clean, scraped to within an inch of my gums and in Dundee City Centre . . . I walked up Reform Street, avoided the rowing junkies, past the boozers in The Counting House, turned left into Ward Road, popped into The Howff (an ancient city graveyard dating back to medieval times) but decided there was nothing there for me, so I popped out, headed along Ward Road again, and I took some pictures.

This Is A Contact Print

It lasted literally 30 minutes and I had finished the whole film; it sort of looks it too, with little regard to composition, just on-the-fly snaps, all centred around the old BT building, which takes us up to frame 4.

Ugh, Sisters Are, Ugh, Doin' It For, Ugh, Themselves, Ugh

I am not sure what it is that I dislike about these horrible window posters.

Is it their cheesy grins?

Is it the whole 'empowered sisterhood' thing that is so cleverly and endemically marketed for women these days?

I dunno, but by frame 5 I had had enough and moved on to more posters advertising BT TV stuff.

Hmm, Ward Road . . . Very Interesting!

And in frame 6, well who's that peeking out at us?
Yes, it is the great Scots actor James McEvoy - I know he's got to live, but superhero films from the man from State Of Play and The Last King Of Scotland?
C'mon James, you can really act man!

The BT Portal

Anyway there I was contorted and squatting and attracting the attention of a lazy security bloke, so I decided enough was enuff and off I went, only to spot the weirdness of frame 9. 

It was like a warped Universe all in one spot:

Football 

TV 

"Legends" 

"A Different World"

And light reflecting from over the way, though to be fair, I didn't even know it was there till I developed the film and found it on my shoulder, like a bluebird of happenstance . . .

This is my second favourite of all of them - it's a basic reflection photo, but there's a lot going on and the semi-opaque window frosting has added an air of otherworldliness to the photo . . well it has to my eyes anyway.

Anyway, fed up of being stared at like a freak with a strange box, I packed up and headed towards home and some more traditional shots.

Old Mills Die Slowly

Frame 10, and the entrance to a mill, vandalised nicely.

There's a grey message sprayed across all four doors that looks to me like an overlay on the negative - that's weird as well. 

I was close to the doors - less than 6 feet (!) - and I slightly canted the camera - you can see that at the left side in the verticals - it makes things a little 'off', but I like it anyway.

Dundee used to be full of old mills, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate now - it is a crime - cultural destruction of the same sort as happened in the Middle East only this time by men in suits bunging handy backhanders . . .

It isn't as bad as what happened in the 1960's but it still shouldn't be happening - you'd think, in 50 years, we would have learned something.

Anytown USA? Nah Mate - It's Dundee

And finally my final shot of the day and third favourite. The sunlight was incredible - it was so good it wasn't even Scotland - reminding me of the light gifted to some of the great 60's US landscape photographers. 

The place was at the junction behind The Verdant Works carpark. 

If you're ever in town, go and visit it - it is a Mill, and has been semi-restored to give the full history of Jute and it's place in the rise and fall of Dundee - money well spent in visiting it - it's outstandingly interesting.

So there I was, like a primed mullet, teetering on a wall, stared at by drivers and nosy-parkers (geddit?). 

I got my verticals about right and snap - 1/125th at f16. 

It is razor sharp.

And feeling very smug, that was it - another 15 minutes to get home, but I was pleased at how intuitive the camera had been to use.

So where does that leave us in Part Three of this exploration of the Hasselblad SWC/M? 

Well . . . if you have the money, or have robbed some grannies of their life savings, and are in two minds, I would say (if you're sure you can handle the fact that you really have to re-think your approach to everything, and don't mind not being able to see what you are truly doing) go for it. 

Get one. 

Even if only for a few months if you don't get on with it - it does make you think. It isn't a camera to be taken lightly - it forces you to concentrate on the photo-making process in much the same way a Large Format camera does, except this doesn't necessarily need a tripod, or dark slides, or a dark cloth, or a mule . . . 

And that's all until the next episode, where many miles are walked and a schoolboy error renders a bunch of frames useless.

Oh, and remember, Bingo starts at 5.30 sharp. There's tea and biccies too, and if you are very lucky Michael (remember him?) is coming back with some more sounds of the 60's - he's got Pet Clark records and everything!

Shitbangers . . where did I put my Small Faces CD?

Lost In Space (Three Wider Part 2)

Morning again, and today we'll continue with my ongoing attempts to learn the Hasselblad SWC/M (that is if you're still interested and haven't been locked up [yet]).

As I said before, camera-wise, it is an oddball, but also a supremely capable camera so long as you use it like you mean it.
What do I mean by that?
Well folks . . . read on!

My first attempts with the camera were, bar one photograph, pants (British, not American either). i.e. the scubbiest pair of soiled Y-Fronts, found wind-blown [literally and metaphorically] and pressed against the furthest wire fence of some lost recreation ground in the back of beyond . . . in other words, they were unbelievably awful.

Truth be told, initially I found the camera incredibly difficult to get my head around.

It wasn't just that handheld and with that viewfinder, things took on a slant that I could only equate to trying to compose with my old Agfa 6x9 box camera; it wasn't just that I forgot to set the focus either, it was more - could I justify the expense? I am in debt for a couple of years because of this - have I done a wise thing?

After film 1 was processed, I have to say I was a bit aghast and underwhelmed, apart from 2 frames - the best of which was the dog from the last post - the rest were a mish-mash of poor composition, focus mistakes and off-kilter perspective . . . however, that chance picture of a dog taken into the sun convinced me that the camera could do far more than I realised
So I did what I always do in such circumstances.
I thought about it a bit.
You see, the problem wasn't the camera, nope it was more basic than that - it was me.
When I began to realise that and that any approach to using it had to come from my perspective (sic) then things changed.

Enter Film 2.
It was a cold and misty 6AM down on Dundee's waterfront - currently a large area of building work surrounding the 'jewel in the crown' - the new V&A Museum of Design.
I've photographed the area for years and have found it frustrating that I have been unable for a while to do my favourite city centre walk, from Tescos Riverside, along past the Discovery, keeping to the sea wall (it is an estuary though) and along, under the road bridge and onto the old dock area ending up at the Nynas refinery.
It's a good walk, especially in the early morning when your companions are mostly birds and the odd runner.
But like I say, I can't do it because of the building work, so, I parked in the first space I could find, picked up the tripod, and headed into the mess of hoardings and fences, Do Not Enter signs and bollards.

This is what it used to look like courtesy of my Koni Omega - a bloody fantastic camera and lens actually - not loved at all by any photographers anywhere these days, but quality second to none. It's the cheapest route into 6x7 and if you can get over the film advance (not as frightening as it looks) and rangefinder, then you have an incredibly capable machine with a superb lens.
Anyway - the building you see below is the now demolished leisure centre - the new V&A sits right on top of where it was.

That pile of rubble on the right is the remains of the hotel where I spent my wedding night!

Below is the first frame from Film 2. OK it is a poor composition, but I was hobbled by fences and so on. The V&A is the thing that looks like a ship's prow in the distance. The weirdness in the sky is the mist which was patchy and kept coming in in waves.

V&A Dundee From The Road Bridge Footings 2018

Ocular Balancing Act

This is a twat's-eye view of that viewfinder.
That oblong on the left is a mirror, which reflects the bubble level on the camera body. You may just see, in between it and the main ocular window (OK, round bit of glass) a small circle of lightness surrounded by a red circle - the red circle isn't on the camera btw . . . .

Got it? well that is a round hole in the rubber eye-cup that you observe the mirror (and bubble level) with. So basically you have to balance your eye between making sure the bubble is right in the middle of the reflected level (delineated by a black circle printed within the bubble level itself and observed through a tiny hole in a bit of ancient rubber) and the scene you are composing through the viewfinder!

Does that sound hard?

Well, remember when you were young and you'd get these small perspex puzzles with say, oh a picture of a rabbit, but with holes around its perimeter, and the puzzle would be filled with ball-bearings and all you had to do was get those into the holes?
Well, the SWC/M is almost EXACTLY the same, except it has one ball-bearing (the bubble) and one hole (the black circle in the bubble level).
Add in composition and being handheld too, and it really is like an episode of The Krypton Factor!

Fortunately, and once you get your head around the fact that you only need to adjust the camera and not your head and stance, i.e. tilt the camera to centre the bubble, not your head, it starts to become second nature.

Anyway, on with the show . . . .
Tantalisingly THIS is a view (in part) of the V&A Dundee.
Don't look much do it?
But in actuality, it is a beautiful building that opens up interesting new vistas as you walk around it - I would love to have got closer, but I was nose against the security fencing and some burly security guys wondered what the hell I was doing . . . you'll have to wait till September when it opens.

V&A Dundee, With Security Fence Installation

Film 2 was partly how I had hoped it would be, using it on a tripod and with careful levelling.
It gave me the sort of experience (and quality of image) I'd had from a 5x4, but without the pain in the arse. 

But, you really need to centre that bubble level, unless you're intentionally exploiting space and perspective.
And you also really need to get in super-close.

The zero distortion thing which is often written about with regard to the lens, is something to behold - I can see why this camera has been used by a lot of architectural photographers - lemme in to the V&A with only natural light, pleeeeeze, pleeeze!

Yes there are equivalents out there, but somehow, the Biogon defines the space.
Actually, the word that keeps coming to mind is dominate.
I haven't put my finger on it yet, but it has strangely helped me produce two photographs that have immediately gone into the top ten photographs I have ever made, and for only having been here for a short while, that was something.
I love it - what can we do together in the future?
Oh for plenty of spare time and limitless film and developer!

SWC/M in situ. Gitzo CF Tripod, Arca Ball-head, Arca plate. As stable as having a pair of concrete boots fitted and being embedded in one of those piers.

Twat's-eye View Part 1

Twat's-eye View Part 2

"'Ere, oo put that bridge on me 'ead?"

I was so chuffed with this last photo - it looks Russian if you know what I mean - I could print it better too - there's still some detail in the more exposed distances, but on the whole, yes, I like it.
It was a long exposure - about 30 secs allowing for Zone III on the tarmac and reciprocity on Delta 400. Pyrocat-HD, looked at this, sniffed, laughed and did its business - the negative is semi-tanned. Had I been  using a 'real' film it would have had a better tanning.

After I'd developed Film 2 I was pleased, but I was also still a bit perplexed about the camera.
Mainly because its cost kept running through my head, so again, I thought about things for a bit, did a bit of internet searching around and came across a renowned American educator called Neal Rintoul, who had made extensive use of the SW.
He had a 'contact me' bit on his site, so I did.
I asked him whether it was a totally different frame of mind to use the camera well, and he sent me a nice reply which he's said he doesn't mind if I publish, so here goes:

"I am happy to reply.

The SWC is a whole different mindset. And yes the vf is just a facsimile, not so very accurate, especially when in close. I also don’t agree with the infinite DOF idea with this lens. Out of focus is possible and even desirable sometimes. You will find you get pretty good at judging how far away things are and hyperlocal distance is your friend. I had a colleague who believed that focus didn’t matter with the SWC. But then, when looking at his pictures you could tell he was sloppy and imprecise.

So, some of it is the subtlety and the beauty of how it renders.  For instance, it is seeing up and down as much as left and right. This often isn’t apparent as there could be sky up there and pavement or something not so crucial below. But it is there.

Hold it in front of you then notice how  close to your feet it is seeing in the bottom of the frame.

I would always think that shooting with the camera was intuitive. Far more than with most cameras, as you’d have to take it on faith that it was getting what you intended. I got pretty good at this as almost never cropped. I used it with the  6 x 4.5  back for a while, as Harry Callahan did. But I didn’t like it much-trying to convert it into seeing a normal rectangular frame seemed almost a perversion.

How does one get good with the SWC? Shoot with it, tons of film, daily and in truly unexceptional surroundings-around home- at work. Another friend bought one - I was responsible for many many buying them, I am sure - and he shot it every day walking to work and walking home.

The level: a key part as it is whether you make a picture that simulates normality or not. Stand in front of something and keep it really level and it deceives as it looks pretty good, straight lines straight, no barrel distortion and sharp in the edges.

Most people would never know. Take it out of level or tilt it slightly and all hell breaks loose. Both were tactics I used often.

Don’t know if you’ve seen this or not

https://www.nealrantoul.com/posts/the-hasselblad-superwide

Also, look to Lee Freidlander as he was a later convert. And, of course, Callahan- on the Cape but also in Peru.

Finally, shooting with the SWC is mostly intuited or automated. Figure the exposure, set aperture, look up, guess the distance and where you want to set the focus on the lens scale, look through the vf, know whether you want it level or not, if you want level set bubble level in the middle (very important that it be right on!). 

Ah, the Superwide. I was wedded at the hip with that camera.

As you get going send me some pictures. Would love to se them.

Hope this helps.

Neal Rantoul"

This was great advice, so I asked him some more questions and he very kindly replied again:

"As a teacher, I found that students would often want to emulate me. As I was exhibiting often locally, they’d see my work and want to make pictures like what they’d seen. If they had money then would come the question about how I made my pictures look like that and then about the SWC.

I would say and still believe that the camera is for “experts”. And would caution them to be really serious and conscientious in using it. It can be so very subtle(particularly if used level). But with really substantial experience and hard work (students seldom had the discipline) could be a wonderful tool.

I also believe that the  wider the lens the greater the expertise that is needed.

Not for everyone, the SWC.

I would be honored if you chose to quote me.

The only suggestion I would have for you about the pictures you’ve shown me is to get closer. Pictures can easily become too passive if made with the camera. Everything receding into the background is never good. I think I learned more about working closer and making comparative statements from foreground to background with the Superwide than any other camera I used. Most of the time I was working with it I was shooting in 8 x10 as well, which is a whole different thing altogether.

Best,

Neal Rantoul"

Hmmm - the phrase "get closer" rang around and around in my head, so for film 3 I did, and went from this (the last frame on Film 2):

Phone Exchange - Dundee Waterfront

To this on Film 3:

Technician's Tea Room - DOJCA

This was more like it!
My sort of photo completely.
I was weirdly pressed up against a window at the back of the Art College for this last one. I guessed focus, took a deep breath and managed 1/15th at f11.
Distortion?
Nah, there's none.  
What a lens.

And that's it for now folks - there's a part 3 coming in which a scale and polish at the dentists turns into an intensely creative 30 minutes of shooting fun.

Take care and remember, you can only play 'Kick Out The Jams' on the carehome stereo system after the rest of the residents have listened to that 'Cilla's Golden Hits' CD.
You know it makes you happy.
What a lovely afternoon, listening, dancing, tapping your toes, drinking tea, reminiscing about Tony Blackburn and Ed 'Stewpot Stewart' and Junior Choice on Radio One on Saturdays.
You're a popular chap with the old ladies . . .well actually, you're the only chap still left alive!

GAAAAAAAAARRGHHHHHHHHHHH! 
Are you ready to kick out the jams muthahubbards???

Scouringburn Memory

OK, this was called "Adventures In The Poley Triangle" - an intriguing title I grant you, however, not very inspiring, so I changed it.
So if you'll excuse me, I'll skip the guff and just plop you down on a map, oh, and there's a Mace bag with juice and oatcakes and an emergency flare or two just in case we get separated over there . . .

Poley Triangle

There, that's better isn't it!

(OK map and accurate angles fans, as you can see I have overshot the mark, and then corrected my mistakes with an oval; this is simply because it's not an accurate triangle, more of a metaphorical one, but it is sort of triangular isn't it . . .)

Before we start, the correct pronounciation (though if I'm wrong I'm damn sure Bruce [Dundee's own Viv Meier] will tell you) . . anyway Poley (as in Polepark Road, as in Poley Triangle) is pronounced round 'ere as "Pole-Ee"

OK? 

Good - before you know it you'll be able to say:

"Meh wa's are a' baa dabs."

"Eh. Meh wa's are a' baa dabs an a'"

Which sort of means:

"Goodness me, the children have been kicking a muddy football against my wall."

"I know what you mean. The varmints have been kicking a muddy football against my wall as well."

And just to ease you in to the accent, here's an old Dundee joke . . .

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Fred.

Fred who?

Fred Eggs.

Anyway, enough of this hilarity - the Dundee accent (which is slowly dying) is a peculiar mixture of Scots, Irish and a certain lilt that was apparently naturally cultivated so that people could be heard shouting above the thunderous noise of mill machinery.
You see, mills were this cities heart and soul and there were many many of them.
When the flax trade stopped (pretty much entirely because of the Crimean War, as flax had been imported from Baltic countries) some bright spark came up with a process whereby you could treat natural jute with whale oils (Dundee's other main trade at the time) and make it a workable product that was exported worldwide. 

To get an idea of how huge this industry was, in the 20 years from 1831 to 1851 the population of the city increased from just over 4000 souls to approximately 64500! That's an enormous increase in a short span of time and it just goes to show how much the industry meant to the city. 

There's now no mills operating at all; the last closing in the early 1990's.

So what happens to the places of work no longer needed? Well, they're either done up for flats or they slide.

I'll draw your attention to the map again:

Poley Triangle

By way of explanation, this is a bit of Dundee, that is slowly crumbling, and is largely un-modernised. ie, it has slid, quite massively post-WW II and is still in need of tlc and thought rather than laissez-fair. 

Twenty years and it'll be gone - mind you they were saying that twenty years ago.

There's empty words here

They've done a couple of installations in the old DC Thompsons building and of course there's the marvellous Verdant Works. 

But that's about it. 

Millions needed to get it looking like anything again . . anyway, you see that bit at the conjunction of Brewery Lane, Polepark Road and Brook Street? That's the Coffin Mill, so called for the apparently horrific death of a young millworker there and also because the courtyard bore a resemblance to a coffin.

(It was also the site of another death-knell - the scene of yer young Sheephouse's adventures into the world of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal with the band 'Warlord'.

Oh yes, it was an old garage in what was a largely falling apart mill, and it was f'ing freezing.

The band?

I didn't last long - they had ideas above their station and the music was, er, cough cough, shite.)

Anyway, here's what that bit of town looked like in 1947 (apparently).

Poley Triangle 1947

That squared-off U of a building, centre bottom is the Coffin Mill . . . and here it is with its famous mid-air hovering red circle . .

Poley Triangle 1947, with hovering red circle

This is the area we are concerned with. 

As you can see it was a hive of industry, but is now an area of dereliction, some done-up-ness, industrial units in old mill buildings and more dereliction.

Having lived not far from here for over 25 years, weirdly I've never explored it properly. There used to be a Comet electricals retailer in the area, and I knew an artist that worked in the WASPS studios, but that was about it. 

It had passed my radar by. 

My itch started itching again though when (governed by the price of a pint [average £3.50 in yer standard Dundee pubs, £2.05 in the Counting House]) I started my monthly-or-so walk into town (to meet old band mates Chic n' Currie) along a new route, which involved Guthrie Street - site of one the earliest mill buildings in Dundee (a flax mill built in 1793).

The buildings have always been bad to my memory, but I was really taken by how ruinous a lot of them are. 

I think most city councils would have flattened the area decades back, but I am glad Dundee hasn't - there's a ton of history here - I think it is called can't-be-arsedness.

Anyway, wishing to take the M2 out for a walk a couple of Saturdays back, I loaded up some ancient TMX 100 and set to!

I have to be honest, I started off thinking pictures of dereliction rather, how shall we say, not immature, but certainly not the work of an experienced eye, simply because it is too damn easy to make them look great! After all, a bit of dereliction brings with it that certain je ne sais quoi of litter, vandalism and just general run-downness; a soupçon of nature doing what nature does bestest - starting to remove all trace of ugly mankind. It is astonishing how buddleia can be so tenacious, but tenacious it is, adhering itself to the smallest of cracks and beginning its not-so-long work of cracking masonry if left unchecked.

Throw in vandals who get a sniff of potential fire-raising situations, no street cleaning, fly-tipping and general neglect and you end up with easy to make pictures which look great because of all the messness and fallingapartness.

Piece of cake!

Leica M2, 35mm f3.5 Summaron, Kodak TMX 100, Pyrocat-HD

It wasn't a day that commended itself to photos - it was overcast and cold and had been raining earlier on in the day, but sometimes you just have to force yourself to get going!

And you know what?
I had a hell of a whale of a time (a Tay whale no less) blazing through all 36 exposures in around an hour, which was astonishing to me - it normally takes me a while to finish a film! What was going on? Well, there was so much to photograph, that I got caught up in the moment.

This being said, there's a lot of camera shake too, and I'll blame that on my boyish enthusiasm.

This Dangerous Area was all fenced-off.
Did that discourage me?
Nah - not me - I might have stubbed my toe though, so I got off lightly.

Weird place for a beauty parlour.
The picture of the bride (?) is unashamedly '70's

Welcome to Douglas Street!

WTF?
Other wot??

Incredibly, this is the entrance to a Convenience Store.
How welcoming and fresh!

Sorry - couldn't resist.

OK, they're not wonderful photographs, but certainly they helped with one thing - they helped me refine my eye and inspired me to go back with Victor The Hasselblad.

Hasselblad 500CM, 60mm CB Distagon, Kodak TMX 100, Pyrocat-HD

I've been using Victor hand-held a bit recently, but I decided for maximum recording of the fine details of urban detritus, a tripod had to be employed. Lens was as always (it's the only one I've got in the V-system) the 60mm Distagon. It's a great lens. equally at home with infinity as it is with closer distances. Film was 2 years past expiry date TMX 100, rated at EI 50 and developed in 1+1+100 Pyrocat-HD.

Anyone fancy a Solero?

Incredibly I fore-went (?) the tripod on the above one. I could barely see the scene above a wall that was at eye-height, so I threw caution to the wind, hyper-focused the Distagon, rested the camera on the wall, pointed it in the general direction, locked the mirror and let rip. Incredibly the verticals are vertical . . . must be a good wall!

Errata: Not Arnotts' Warehouse, but, apparently Arnott's Garage!

The reason it just says "Arno" is because there's the wreck of a car to the right, and I didn't want to include it. Maybe I'll get the full scene one day.

Scouringburn Memory.

I thought there was something strangely tranquil about this.
The chimneys belong to the now derelict Queen Victoria Works.

For all the detritus photos, this last one is my favourite. I've no idea why the tree is on its side.

Brook Street, only became Brook Street in the 1930's, before that it was known as Scouringburn, a real burn or small river which became a natural source of power to the mills.
It is still there, apparently, under the modern Brook Street. 

Shame. 

I prefer the old name, it speaks of times gone and nature subjugated and old memories.

Anyway folks that's enough for now. I think the area will repay visits, so watch this space (as they say).

TTFN now and remember to clean your teeth and pack a fresh pair of underpants just in case.