Street Photography

I have gone back to using Ilford ID11 film developer at a dilution of 1+1 for the recommended time of 12-13 minutes. The negs are probably a bit on the dense side but print WONDERFULLY well. The scans come out great too.
I have been in London quite a bit recently and always make sure I have a camera with me. The Voigtlander Bessa R3a is a rangefinder camera ideally suited to street photography.

Keep it Analogue

London Underground

Been spending a bit of time working in London.
Took my Voigtlander Bessa R3a rangefinder camera with me.
Motion captured

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Pinhole Pier - Mumbles

Starting to use my Zero 2000 Pinhole camera again and rater liking the results.
You can make a pinhole camera out of almost anything - loads of articles on line.
I bought a rather nice looking wooden model some years ago (when I had spare cash)

Mine looks much like this.

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Another Anglesey Holga Image

Ive been really pleased with the images the Holga Toy Camera produces.
I gave this some local bleaching using "ferri" bleach to lift the whites in the statue. Combined with a fairly heavy contrast dialled into the Magnifax Colour Head.

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Dungeness

I find myself wandering along this desolate but somehow beautiful part of the world once a year or so drawn here by work comittments.
It's always a bit of a lottery because the weather can be really bad. Not ideal conditions for this image, I prefer less direct light and some clouds in the sky. But, it's better to have an image than no image.

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Anglesey Abbey #6 - Holga

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Anglesey Abbey #5 - Holga

We chatted at length about the work he did as a volunteer gardener at Anglesey Abbey.
I asked him if he would pose for me, set the holga to the portrait zone, flipped the exposure switch to overcast and made an exposure.
Back in the darkroom with the film loaded into a stainless steel spiral I developed the FP4 for 9 minutes in 10 year old Agfa Rodinal before printing onto Ilford Multigrade Fibre Paper

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Holga Girls

For those of you who were wondering (from my vast army of followers - please click on the FOLLOW ME Link even if I subject you to e-mails as it makes me feel better) this is a Holga Toy Camera. It's very basic with two apertures, f8 and f11 or in other words sunny and not so sunny! a fixed shutter speed of 1/100th of a second, a plastic uncoated lens that is soft around the edges and a built in flash.

Photo of Julie, Georgia and Blossom taken whilst on a family walk to Broughton a week or so ago.

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Holga 120FN "Toy Camera"

I am somewhat late jumping on the "Toy Camera" craze but I suppose it was only a matter of time before I gave in an d bought one to see what all the fuss was about.
The Holga 120FN as its name suggests takes 120 roll film or you can "shoot sprockets" by fudging a 35mm film into it.
The plastic lens adds a dreamy vignetted quality to the images. Focus is guess work, no meter just two apertures of f8 a d f11 (cloudy or sunny)
For this image I used Ilford FP4 a 125ASA film, probably better off using a slightly faster film like HP5 but nonethe less I like the result.
Darkroom print, Meopta Magnifax enlarger, Schneider Companon 105mm lens, Ilford MG paper

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British Museum

A trip to the British Museum a few years ago.
This time with the Olympus OM1n with the super sharp Zuiko 28mm lens

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More Archive Stuff - Woodbridge, Suffolk

At the time I shot this I was using pretty much exclusively, my Olympus OM1, usuall with the 28mm Zuiko Lens. It's still a combination that's hard to beat.
A low viewpoint coupled with a red filter to enhance the contrast has helped with the drama.

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From the Archives

James was a baby in the pram when we went to the Orsett Show in Essex, in those days I shot exclusively on my Olympus OM1n camera, still a favourite and those Zuiko Lenses are so crisp.
This old man was driving a traction engine and had leasnt out of his window to chat with a mate.

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Fenland Project revisited

Wheeled out the Bronica ETRSi medium format camera for this image shot just outside Ramsey. Ilford HP5 developed in Prescysol, a staining developer. Printed in my darkroom onto Ilford Multigrade paper.
The menacing mood of the place and the landscape comes over rather well I think.

Keep it Analogue...

Couple more darkroom prints from last Summer's holiday in Skiathos.
We'd been on a boat trip round the island and now were wandering around the old town.
Still amazed at the way the 10 year old developer has handled these exposures.
Ilford Multigrade Paper
Meopta Magnifax Enlarger
Schneider Companon 105mm lens
My camera was a YashicaMat 124g loaded with Ilford FP4

10 Year Old Developer

Back in the darkroom after a lull of a few months where everything became "instant".
During our summer holiday to Skiathos I took just one camera, my Yashicamat 124G twin lens reflex TLR, loaded with Ilford FP4...keep it simple stupid is such a good mantra.
The daytime sun was very direct and contrasty but the FP4 handled it well enough (see picture of chair).
When I finally got round to developing this roll of film a week or so ago I realised I was out of my usual developer but found a 10 year old botttle of Agfa Rodinal. Now I have heard that this developer is long lasting, even when it looks like gravy brownings, which this did. Crossed my fingers, diluted 1:25 and 9 mins in the tank.
Printed under my Meopta Magnifax enlarger with a Companon 105mm lens onto Ilford MG rc paper.

The darkroom bug is back......

The English Abroad

Wow can't believe it's been a YEAR since I last updated the blog....here's my New Year resolution..."I will post 1 new image every Month till next September"

So, starting Sept 11 here's an image from a couple of years ago, one of a number I made during a family holiday in Brittany. How typical is that....The English Abroad.

So, it's been an interesting year so far, not much time for darkroom work as proper work has been getting in the way, time to readress the balance methinks.

"Signs #1" - Shoreham by Sea 2010

I remain fascinated by the English Seaside, it is for many British photographers who like to photograph "found" objects, street scenes and people's eccentricities the equivalent of a City like New York. Victorian faded architecture fights for space amongst garish lights, tea stalls and amusement arcades. In the winter it just gets better.
Looking back through my negatives at the images I continually get drawn towards seasides and signs. In this picture both are combined.
 I waited for a while for a cyclist to pass to complete the picture. On reflection I think it works just as well without a person, in someways the absence of a human being makes the Prohibition Sign more strange and almost surreal.
I've moved back to using Resin Coated Paper in my darkroom 1) for cost, it's cheaper and 2) for speed when I don't have a lot of time on my hands to spend in the darkroom.
Ilford Delta 400 was loaded in my little Olympus 35RC rated at 200 with a yellow filter.

Sorry for the delay in posting.

On reflection - Quimper, Brittany 2009

Whilst walking around the very pleasant Breton town of Quimper during last year's camping holiday I stumbles across this (Harley I think) biks parked against an old wall adorned with posters. It caught my eye so I took a closer look, the mirrors were reflecting the rather grand buildings in the sunshine behind me.
The contrast between the tree elements - wall, bike and reflection is what I like about this image.
Made with a 28mm wide angle lens on my old Olympus OM1.
Not your everyday holiday snap.

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.

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.....