Tuesday, December 22, 2009

It was American Photographer Walker Evans, amongst others who had a preoccupation with painted signs, photographing them as early as 1928. Signs in isolation- see Luna Park, New York c1929 - and signs juxtaposed with well observed incidents usually involving people - see Truck and Sign, New York, 1930.
Even before I became aware of American Photographers like Walker Evans and Robert Frank I have always been drawn to photographing signs and this one just leapt out at me earlier this year when the circus visited our campsite in Brittany.

Monday, December 21, 2009

We were camping in Brittany during the Summer, the weather wasn't great but the campsite backed on to the sea/river confluence and offered endlesss opportunities to make photographs.
Most gays I carried my Olympus 35RC rangefinder camera (see earlier post) loaded with a reasonably fast film - typically Fuji Neopan 400 - but on this occasion I had my 1970 Olympus OM1 with its 135mm prime lens. My Son was in the distance and I spotted this lad looking straight at me (must have looked suspicious). I raised the camera, quickly focused and made the image.
I think this is one of better pics of late, and although it is very much a "grab" shot the composition works really well, the eye is immediately drawn to the boy with his trousers roilled up then the sweeping samd bank moves the eye to my stooping Son in the background. The overall "high key" feel to the image also helps.

Once again, it pays to have a camera with you - someone once said that you can't photograph memories.....

Friday, December 18, 2009

Pinhole - Slide

I continue to play with my Pinhole Camera. You can make a pinhole camera really easily and a quick internet search will show you how. Buscuit tins, shoe boxes, camera film cannisters, pringle tubes can all be made into pinhole cameras.
Mine is made by a company called Zero, they are based in Hong Kong and make lovely wooden cameras with brass knobs. Exposure and composition are the result of a combnation of guesswork and experience.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

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?







Thursday, May 14, 2009

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.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

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.

Friday, April 24, 2009

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.

Monday, March 02, 2009

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.

Thursday, February 12, 2009


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.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

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.


Wednesday, January 07, 2009

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.