In Praise of the Old Uns

It was about 15 years ago that I paid £5 for a Zeiss Icon Nettar Folding camera pretty much like this one. Most of the time since then it has sat on my bookshelf acting as a book end. I recently loaded a roll of Fomapan 200 - an imported Eastern Bloc 120 size film and took the camera out to play. Focusing is guess work and exposure is by experience or with the use of a lightmeter.

Once exposed I took the film into the darkroom and developed it in Kodak D76 diluted 1+1 and crossed my fingers. This image I thought had a timeless quality to it, the less that perfect lens on this camera has led to some vignetting at the edges and this just adds to the effect. What do you think?

Beach Fisherman

Wandering along the beach at Great Yarmouth in March with my 35 RC I got chatting to this character sitting huddled against the wind and pretending to fish - "I only took it up because my Wife is always busy with her cross stitch" he told me. "Do you catch anything" I asked.....after a slight pause and a grin he admitted to not a lot, in fact there's not much left to catch these days in the North Sea. "It's peaceful though" he says.

I asked if I could take his picture, he said hes and struck a pose for me.

Another oppotunistic shot made possible by having my camera with me and chatting to an interesting character.

Dance Medals #1

Following on from where I left off , here is another example of a totally unplanned and natural portrait of my Daughter waiting in the wings to go on stage and perform a routine in front of a Judge.
As usual I had my Olympus Trip with me and frankly was not really expecting to be able to record anything as the light levels were so poor and I certainly wouldn't consider flash. I noticed the girls standing by a big, North facing window and hovered over tp them, Georgia is used to being photographed by me so largely ignored me. I pressed the shutter as the image before me "developed", I knew the other girls would be out of focus as the Trip struggled under the poor lighting conditions.
The film developer I used is very good at recording delicate highlights and I am really happy with the resultant image of light falling onto the shoulder.

The more I think about it, 35mm, basic camera with me at all times has to be the way forward as I could never have set up this image.

Planned or Instinctive?

Over the last year or so I have made an effort to carry a camera around with me at all times. This is not such a strange thing these days with just about everybody having access to a camera on their phone or other device whenever they need one. My camera however is a traditional film camera usually an Olympus Trip or Olympus 35rc. The beauty of these cameras, especially the Trip, is their sheer simplicity of use. Exposure is taken care of and the resultant images, made through biting sharp Zuiko 40mm lenses outperform most digital cameras 10X the price of my £40 Trip (the scans here are fairly low res however so that might not always be apparent).

This leads me on to a topic I have been musing over for some time now and that is should my photography continue to be instinctive, influenced by what is in front of me at that moment, unpredictable, hand held (no tripod) and 35mm (small neg) or should I slow down, take out my Yashica Mat 124G with it's 6cmX6cm negative, put the camera on a tripod and aim for utmost technical quality?

Perhaps I could do both as the mood takes me?

The image above was recorded on my refurbished olympus Trip www.tripman.co.uk whilst taking time out from visiting clients in Kent. Herne Bay Seafront in wintertime is much like any other out of season UK seaside destination - slightly down trodden, a bit weather worn and missing the visitors. There is a sense of expectation in the air, a belief that the good times will surely come again as soon as the weather changes. The first thing to catch my eye was the penguin dustbin with a damaged eye, my eye then went to the pier in the background. The penguin seemed to sum up the character of out of season holiday resorts - waiting for the good times and the pier isjust a great subject to photgraph.

If I didn't have my Trip with me the image would not have been recorded.

Toned or Untoned?

I was visiting my Mum in Great Yarmouth late last year and we wandered in to a new Debenhams store that had just opened after many years of not having one.

Part of the "opening day" celebrations comprised of "The Classic Dixieland Trio" www.hotjazz.co.uk and after watching them for a while asked if I could make a few images of them.

Taken with my medium format (neg size 6cm square) Yashica Mat Camera I made two prints in the darkroom. For the first print I bleached the highlights slightly then gave the picture a light warm tone in a chemical toner bath. The second print is a "straight" monochrome image.

You choose your favourite.

Ramsey Rural Museum is tucked away to the North of this small market town on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens. The museum opens at weekends and holidays and is well worth a visit.

This still life study was made with my hand held Bessa R3a Rangefinder and I was particularly drawn to the gentle light on the hats which was difused and coming through a nearby window.

Although it doesn't show up in this scan the highlights have a gentle yellow tone to them as a result of some gentle photographic bleach and home made toner.

Learning to Paint

Not a recent photo, another from last year's Strawberry Fair at Cambridge. Apparently he knows "Banksy".

Olympus 35RC on Ilford Multigrade Resin Coated paper.

Harley - Detail

Not the usual type of picture I'd take but I guess it just goes to show that it pays to have your camera with you all the time. In this instance is was one of my 1970's Olympus OM1 SLRs with a 135mm Zuiko prime lens. These Olympus Lenses are extremely sharp and ideally suited for this sort of picture.

Printed, as usual in my darkroom but only on 7 x 5 paper as I needed a new print for the Postal Photographic Club of which I am a member http://postalphotoclub.org.uk

The PPC was formed in the 1930s and continues to this day with members joining a "circle" of members with a shared interest, in my case it is of course darkroom and film usage. Each Month a bag arrives with members latest prints contained therein for comment. A notebook aslo accomopanies each bag so we can update each other on what we've been up to, photographically or otherwise.

Violin Maker

Wandering around Cambridge again with my Olympus 35rc and watched this guy for a while. Spoke to him and asked if I could take a few pictures, always best to ask, and contribute to the hat of course.

Turns out he is a violin maker.

I sent him a copy of this picture and he liked it a lot.

Around Cambridge

American photographer Gary Winogrand once said "I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed. Basically, that's why I photograph, in the simplest language".

After over 20 years of photographing and printing in black and white (there is no other colour of course) I think this is the closest thing I've ever read that begins to make sense of the kind of images that appeal to me.

Along Bray Seafront

Another outing with my Olympus 35RC.
I'd been over to visit a power station in Southern Ireland and on my way back to catch the ferry I stayed overnight in Bray just south of Dun Laoghaire.
The seafront was busy with locals and visitors spending time at the fun fair that had set up shop.
As I wandered away from the throng I saw this beautiful little hut, the light was fast fading and as a man walked into view I made a few exposures.

Strawberry Fair, Cambridge

Sorted out the Olympus 35RC light seals and spent a great day with my family at the Strawberry Fair in Cambridge.

The Strawberry Fair is a free fair/festival run for and by the people of Cambridge. There is an eclectic mix of clothing stalls, herbal stalls, healing tents, ethnic foods, mini-circus tent, Science demos for children, games bus and live music that really begins in earnest later in the afternoon.

All in all a perfect opportunity to try out this small unobtrusive rangefinder. With the focus set in advance and a shutter speed pre-selected to give a reasonable depth of field (the camera is shutter priority so the aperture is set automatically depending on the shutter speed selected) I hopped around in front of the parade, grabbed some candids and generally had a great time with this little camera.

For those interested I used Ilford Delta 400 but had the camera set to 250 and developed the film in Ilford's LC29 film developer for probably 20% less time than recommended. All printed on Ilford MG 1V resin paper.

I have another roll of film with some Strawberry fair shots on so will post some more in due course.

Olympus 35RC Rangefinder Camera

Being a fan of rangefinder type cameras and old usable classic cameras it all came together recently with an e-bay purchase of the pictured Olympus 35RC for £18.

I am yet to put a film in it as I need to replace the light seals around the door. Like many older cameras these dense foam strips turn black and gummy over the years. A quick browse on the internet told me where to buy new sealshttp://www.cam-spares.com/page5.htm so I have ordered some. Removal of the old gummy stuff can be done with some alcohol and q-tips.

This is a really clever little camera, in auto mode you set the shutter and the camera sets the aperture (shutter priority). Viewfinder information shows the shutter and aperture being used. In manual you have full control but no light meter.

The "flashmatic" setting is really cool - use a small manual flash like the Olympus PS200 and set the flash guide number on the camera barrel and the RC automatically sets the correct aperture for the distance you have focused - how cool is that.

I can''t wait to start taking some pictures with it and I'll post some on the blog.

Violins, Venice August 2008

Towards the end of our 4 day beak in Venice last Summer we were taking a rest in one of the many shady squares (piazzas?) to rest our Venice-weary feet.

The Venice film festival was being advertised and some of the square was being set aside for some outdoor showings.

A small band of musicians were nearby taking a cigarette break and one had placed his violin against the wall.

So, what to do in this situation? - it looked like a good monochrome image and I could visualise the way I wanted it to look in the final print.

In the end I used sign language and asked the players if I could photograph the violin, another violin was quickly produced and propped up against the wall.

I had my Voigtlander R3a with me and made a few exposures.

Inevitably they asked for some money soI gave them 2 Euros.

I have a framed 12X16 fibre print on my wall and it looks great.

"Around Arsenale", venice, August 2007

Just along from our small guest house off the Riva degli Schiavoni is the area known as Arsenale, nothing to do with the North London team my Son supports (deluded as he is) but refers to what once was the greatest shipyard in the world.

I guess the Venetians who live in these apartments don't have gardens so they have to hang their smalls out for all the world to see. Makes quite a good colour photo but I can't be bothered with such things as colour!

I really grabbed this shot because of the little boy playing with the umbrella underneath the washing line, perhaps he's stopping drips falling on his head.

All for now.

Canal Study, Venice August 2007

I don't seem to get anywhere near enough "printing time", as you can see I'm still working my way through the Venice negs from last year. I particularly like this image which was taken whilst we were strolling around the "Ghetto" area of Venice on a very quiet Sunday afternoon. In the early 16th Century Jews in Venice were confined in this area and the term "Ghetto" was used I believe for the first time.

In my darkroom I made my usual 8X10" print on resin coated paper, I tend to do this to a) see if the image is worth enlarging onto 12x16 fibre (proper) paper and b) with a view to scanning the photo for publishing in the blog.

The rather dreamlike quality was achieved by laying a sheet if tissue paper over the paper on the enlarger easel for about 3/4 of the total exposure time, a brief bath in photographic bleach lightened the highlights somewhat.

I now have a 12X16 version hanging on my wall next to two violins that I will show you soon.

Accordion Player, Venice, 2007

Hello again, moved away from pinhole pictures for the moment. I was also taking pictures with my rangefinder camera, small, light and with only the single 40mm lens to worry about photography becomes simple.

Julie and I were wandering around the back "streets" of Venice, about as far away from St Marks Square as you can get with the crowds mercifully left far behind. We walked past this guy only to sit down bt a canal for a break a few minutes later. Always a sucker for such photos I went back and put some coins in his hat and asked if it was alright to take his picture. He nodded so I made a few exposures.

The first print was made on Ilford Multigrade Resin Coated paper just to see how well it printed, I have made some 12 X 16 prints since and toned the highlights slightly to give an overall warm feeling to the image.

Why take photos?, why continue to use film, "old fashioned cameras" and, most strange of all why lock myself away in a dark room with only a red light and an I Pod for company??? Themes to return to I think.

Pinhole Venice Study 1

Pinhole photography has rather a cult following these days, just visit sites like http://www.f295.org/ or http://www.pinholesolutions.co.uk/ to get inspired. Pinhole cameras can be made from shoe boxes, biscuit tins, matchboxes, infact anything that can be made light tight and can accept either photographic paper of film.

You can of course do what I did and by one!, not only is it a lot easier there are some wonderful wooden, handmade models made by companies like Zero Imaging http://www.zeroimage.com/ and it was from Zero Imaging that I bought my "2000" model. This little gem takes 120 size film that giove you 6cmx6cm negatives.

I took my pinhole camera with me when my Wife and I went on a Birthday/anniversary trip to Venice in August this year and although I got some funny looks the sheer unpredictability of pinhole photography combined with the liberating freedom of not having to worry about fstops and shutter speeds (if you use proper manual cameras that is) was really fantastic.

Venice has lots of these drinking fountains and they seem to be running all the time, which on the face of it seems a bit of a waste.

Hope you kile the photo.

More soon

Morris Minor, Northern Ireland

This is quite an old photo, taken on a business trip to Northern Ireland probably 10 years ago. I can't remember exactly where I was at the time.

The camera was my OM-1n (still in use and is a fantastic manual camera to use) with a 28mm lens.

The image for scanning was printed on Ilford MG resin coated but I have since made some 12X16 fibre prints for hanging.

I rediscovered the negative the other day when pottering around in my darkroom looking for some "new" (ones I have,'t had a go at printing) negatives to print when I came across this and visualised it as a 12X16 fibre print hanging in the hall way.

The photo was partially bleached until the highlights were just about affected, washing with clean water then halts further bleaching.

I made up a mix of warm brown "sepia" tona to tone the highlights only - the toner works by replacing the bleached image tones.

A 10% solution of selenium toner bath then deepened the shadows slightly.

If you like any of the images you see on this blog and would like me to produce a 12X16 fibre print for you just drop me a line.

All for now

Canada House - Canary Wharf

I've recently been going back to some old negatives to reprint a portfolio, at the same time I've been printing family photos for a little scrap book project I'm working on. The former takes time, the latter is quick and easy!

This photo was taken over ten years ago when Canada House stood alone and domiated the landscape, I think there are three other buildings that are nearly as tall now.

This scan was made from a toned resin coated print. I've just started playing around with toning again after a break of a few years and it's really interesting and almost never ending the vaiety of tones that can be had. For this image I made up some ferri bleach from raw chemicals and bleached the highlights only then toned to light purple using a combined Thiocarbamide and Sodium Hydroxide mix (also from raw chemicals) - a final tone in selenium deepens the shadows somewhat. All of these effects work much better on traditional, fibre paper and less so on the resin coated used for this blog photo.

To come up to date I've just returned from a family holiday in Menorca, shot about 5 rolls of black and white film but not developed any yet.

All for now