North Parade Buildings, Bath on lith

I escaped the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Festivities the other day and got myself some time in the darkroom.  Christmas is exhausting!  Well, this year more than most - I'm a year older than the last one and we had a lot of driving to do this year.  My wife's mother is now a permanent resident in a care home and it was debatable whether or not she would be well enough to come for Christmas, as she usually does.  In the end, we drove up to Derry/Londonderry Christmas morning and brought her down.  Then back up on Boxing Day.  The 24 hours inbetween were particularly hard for my wife, who took the role of primary carer for the day, as well as primary cook and primary Mother-Figure to the whole family.  She hasn't recovered yet...

Anyway, this shot was taken in July, when we had a quick visit to the lovely city of Bath to visit the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases.  We had just enough free time for a little wander about so I snapped away, using the little Yashica T4 point-and-shoot camera.  It's a real gem, the Yashica and I'm always amazed how good the results are.  Probably something to do with the Zeiss Tessar 35mm lens on it.  It's fully auto, all you have to do is drop the cassette in and close the back door and you're good to go.  This was on HP5+ at 400 asa, developed in RO9 and printed on Foma paper dunked in Moersch Easylith developer:

North Parade Buildings, Bath.   Lith print, 9.5"x12", Foma paper

When I see the print in the flesh, I wonder if a tighter crop might be better - emphasise the guy sitting under the tree a little more.  But I like the paving stones - all over the place, just as they should be.

A continental holiday

This shot is of my father, back in '76 when we holidayed on 'The Continent'. We had two big holidays when I was growing up - the first was in 1972 and I was a bit too young to remember much about that one.  That was when we had the Zodiac.  By the time of the second big excursion, in 1976, we had acquired a VW Caravette.  There was just about room for the 4 of us to sleep in it, but the bunk beds in the push-up roof weren't great for two strapping teenager boys, so my dad - who was good with his hands - made an extra bed for us out of plywood and steel.  The VW took us from the North of Ireland to the South of France, Switzerland and Germany before home again.  Both the outward and return trips were made with the help of the ferry to/from Scotland and then a long drive to/from Dover in the south of England.  Yes, you'd be correct in thinking my father liked to drive - a lot.

My father and the VW Caravette, somewhere in Switzerland, 1976.  Printed 2018, Adox MCC fibre paper, 12"x9.5"

I doubt either of these treks were much of a holiday for my mother, who of course had all the cooking to do.  And washing I guess. How she managed I know not - I guess she must have been super organised.  The amazing thing is I never remember any arguments - she just got on with it.  Well, once, somewhere in Germany I do remember a bit of a raised voice as dinner was being prepared, but it was over in a flash and then us males went for a walk and gave her some space.

I can't help smiling when I look at my father here.  His trousers look so short, pulled up as they are to get the air around his legs.  He was quite old when he married - in his late forties.  He would have been about 62 when this was taken and he's just staring into space, enjoying the hot sun.  I'd love to know what he was thinking about.  If I had to guess, I'd say he was thinking about the times when he used to ride his Triumph motorcycle down through France with his mates on his long summer holidays from teaching.  Long, long before marriage and parenthood came along to cramp his style...

Flat caps and Ford Escorts

I’m sure the driver of this car, way back in ‘76, was more than a little surprised as he came up our road and was met by a teenager pointing an OM-1 at him:

Ford Escort Mk 1, 1976.  Printed in 2018, Adox MCC paper

I like the fact that he’s wearing his flat cap while driving. It was part of the uniform back then. My grandfather and great-uncle (both working men) never left the house without a tweed jacket of some indeterminate age, a tie and a flat cap. I mean - never! Even when heading off for a days fishing that was the gear - albeit supplemented by waterproofs and thigh length waders.

I can barely remember the last time I wore a tie - probably when I last did an honest day's work, about 5 years ago. I still wear a jacket, but only occasionally- school Governor’s meetings, the odd time I’m at a funeral and the very odd time we dress to go out. We’re not big on going out - too often we’re disappointed with the food and with raging tinnitus and poor hearing it’s not that pleasurable either for me or anyone else. So we stay in, cook good food and enjoy the pleasant surroundings of our own home. Not much wrong with that, I think...

Beach life

A quick return to the shores of Lake Michigan as I continue my documentation of the American Mid-West during a few days in August, 2018...

Montrose Beach, Lake Michigan.
Via the Hasselblad, HP5+, RO9 developer.  On Ilford Fibre Classic paper, toned in thiourea. 8.5"x8.5"

Did you get the obscure reference to Robert Adams?  I have a real liking for his work, by the way.  At first glance his photographs might appear nothing terribly special, but stay a while and they have a habit of drawing you in.  Well, they do me...

A country lane

When I came across this negative the other day I thought I'd print it just to see.  I'm glad I did, as there was one thing about it which genuinely surprised me when I saw the print.  The figure in the shot is my brother, back in the late 70s and it was taken just at end of the driveway to my parents' house, looking up the road.  The lovely Irish Setter in the foreground wasn't ours, by the way - I think it belonged to a neighbour.   My father had a dislike of dogs, having been bitten by one when he was young, so we had cats - lots.  All outdoor/farm cats, though, never allowed in the house.

Brother and dog, late '70s.  Printed 2018 on Ilford Fibre Classic paper.

The thing that surprised me was 'our' road - look how narrow it is!  And then I vaguely remembered there being a day when the council came by to widen our little country lane.  Nowadays it's about twice as wide as you see here - enough for large milk lorries, oil lorries and just about anything to get through - albeit with care.  And those verges - look how high and dense they are!  They look beautiful to my eyes.  Today there's not much at the sides of the road, just a bit of grass and then hedges which are clipped to almost nothing by the farmers.

I guess it's the detail that is most easily forgotten as time passes.  You think the road you drive along several times a day was always like it is now, but of course things change - everything changes, little by little, day by day, year on year. I realise that these days I'm in a minority - someone who still lives at the place where they grew up (after having spent many years living in England, I should probably add, before I saw the light and came home).  Looking at this simple photograph today gives me a lot of pleasure - but I wish our road still looks like it does here.

Library at DePaul University, Chicago

How’s that for a snappy title, eh? OK I know we're flitting back and forth some 40 years here at the minute, but sure it keeps things interesting.  I hope so, anyway.

As you know, if you've been following events, I went for a quick visit to Chicago this summer to see my brother.  Here's one of the shots I took on the Lincoln Park campus of DePaul University.  This is the lobby/entrance to the Library. So actually the title is misleading; it should read ‘Entrance to library at DePaul University, Lincoln Park Campus, Chicago’. Even snappier then, right?

The Library, DePaul University, Chicago.  2018. Ilford fibre classic paper, toned.

About a tenth of a second after I took this shot the guy there dropped to the floor in alarm. No, of course I jest, but the place was quiet and with all those tiles the mirror slap from the ‘Blad was, how shall I say, noticeable.

Anyway, isn’t the library entrance impressive? I thought it was. And the ground floor lobby of the library  was equally plush - all wood and expensive chairs and big computer screens and a sense of reverence. I got the impression it’s where prospective students - and, more importantly, their parents - would be brought on Open Days. Yes, folks, just equate the quality of the learning to the decor and By the way, sign right here...

It’s a business, higher education these days, don’t you know?

1976

I seem to be stuck in The Archives at the minute, having had a marathon printing session the other day.  As expected, there are lots of family shots from the mid-late 1970s, when I was a teenager.  This one is from 1976 and from the first roll of film through my new OM-1.  It's of The Brother, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights:

The Brother, as he looked in 1976.  Printed 2018, Adox MCC paper

What's nice for me in this shot is not just my brother, but the bits&pieces which went to define the living room in my parents' house.  The Binatone stereo just behind his head, for example - I can remember my dad being very excited by that purchase.  He loved his music and was a tenor singer in the Church Quoir as well as singing in local festivals.  The same stereo is now housed somewhere in my mother's garage - it's not that she's a hoarder, she just can't bear to throw things out :)

There's a ton of books and reading material scattered around.  We did a lot of reading in our house in them days - there were no distractions like Internet or TV.  Well, there was TV - only just, mind.  I'll say more about that in a later post.

My mother still uses those same sofa and the same hardwood chairs that you can see to the right of the picture.  And that's one of my dad's oil paintings on the wall.  He was quite a decent artist and was planning to take up painting a bit more seriously in his retirement.  Unfortunately that never happened - cancer took him just a year into retirement and it was clear it had been working on him for a few years.  That's one of the reasons why, when early retirement became an option for me I jumped at it.

The edge markings indicate that this was shot was on Ilford FP4, by the way.  The developer information wasn't written on the glassine negative file, unfortunately - probably Paterson Acutol or something like that. Printed on Adox MCC fibre paper, by the way - 42 years later. That still tickles me!

My Martin Parr Moment

My first ‘Martin Parr’ moment came over 40 years ago...and yes, you’ve got it - I’m still waiting for my second.  Ah well - it’s all about the journey, right?  This is a shot from The Archives that I've been wanting to print for ages and finally got around to it.  It is, of course, a location which will be recognisable to many - Number 10, Downing Street, London.  It's the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland!

Outside No. 10 as it was in 1977.  Printed 2018, Adox MCC fibre paper

Now it's not the greatest shot in the world in terms of composition, light, subject matter or anything trivial like that.  I thought it was worth printing as it simply captures an interesting moment in time - that moment being sometime in the summer of 1977,whilst on holiday with my parents.  I would have been 14 at the time and that means it would have been taken on my OM-1, which I'd recently acquired.  The Olympus pretty much wiped all out my worldly savings from birthday and Christmas money etc built up over the years.  My finances recovered pretty quickly, mind you, once I got a Saturday&Holiday job in the photographic department of a local chemist, but that's a story for another time.

The policeman has his sleeves rolled up (it was summer!) and doesn't look too stressed considering he's guarding the offices of the most important person in the country.  No Kevlar stab-proof vest, no Taser, no gun - nothing really, apart from his radio.

And then there's the Asian couple standing proudly for their photograph.

Nowadays you can't even enter Downing Street if you're just a regular Joe or Jane - there are huge steel gates at the end where it joins Whitehall.  And usually about a dozen anti-terrorist, heavily armed police.  You don't really want to hang about there these days - not that would be allowed to anyway.

How times have changed, eh?  Ok I was a callow youth back then with nothing much to worry about except the spots on my face and whether or not I would ever be attractive to members of the opposite sex (and that's definitely another story for another day - growing up in the middle of the countryside in the far North West of Ireland with only a brother for company did not make me the world's most confident person in the company of girls) but looking from today's perspective it really does seem like a different world back then. Apart from the Carlos the Jackal, the Bader-Meinhof group and the Entebbe thing there didn’t seem to be too many threats about*.  Fast forward to today and - well, things are very different. What the heck happened?


* OK so I missed out the local shenanigans going on at that time - the activities of the Provisional IRA and various opposing groups, but where I lived seemed like the eye of the storm - it was relatively untouched.  Relatively.

The three Jessicas

The best of the prints from last week's club modelling session with Jessica.  They're not mounted properly - I was playing around with different colours and so far reckon that black suits the mood best.

Jessica.  Foma paper, lith

The Foma paper in lith results in a very warm print naturally, by the way. And yes, the grain really is that big - even on these 9.5"x12" prints.  That's partly due to exposing HP5 at (or around) 3200asa, but the lith process helps to accentuate that as well, in addition to adding even more to the softness of print.  It suits the subject well, I think.

And just for completeness, the print you might have seen earlier, kind of half-mounted:

I've enjoyed making these three prints enormously.  I seem to get more out of darkroom work than camera work at the minute - sometimes I need a kick to get out and actually take some snaps but I'm always itching to get in to the darkroom and print something.

Jessica

I’m writing this entry on Sunday evening whilst lying on the floor, just in case you were wondering. I lie on the floor most evenings, not just Sundays - it’s good for my aching bones. Today I spent all morning in the darkroom with Jessica.  I should perhaps explain that Jessica was one of two models our Photographic Club hired last Tuesday evening for a photo-shoot. I’m really not a studio photographer - hardly know one end of a flashgun from the other, truth be told - so I was way out of my comfort zone.  Everyone else was urging these off-camera flash triggers on the hot shoe of their pixel-snappers and doing lots of 'chimping'.  I brought the NikonFM3a and an old Vivitar Series 1 35-85mm lens. I had to sharpen the elbows to get anywhere near Jessica but I got a couple of shots. Here’s one, not quite dry&flat and therefore expertly held up by Missy, complete with fresh nail polish:

Jessica

I was rating HP5+ at 3200asa and just using what light there was without the studio flashes that were available.  There wasn’t much, mind you, but I was primarily interested to see what HP5 at this speed looks like - any decent shots would be a bonus.  But I screwed up a bit with RO9 at the developer stage. The MassiveDevChart app on my phone suggested 18mins@21 degrees for 3200asa but only 12mins at 20 degrees for 1600asa.  That seemed like a heck of a difference so I chickened out and stopped developing at 16mins (21 deg). That, my friends, was an error of judgment  - the negs were under-cooked.

Not only that, my focussing was off and nothing was sharp. But hey, since when did that matter? Times like this only one thing for it - lith, and hope for the best. In the first print the skin tones were way too dark so I reduced the exposure by a full stop. The second print is what you see above. Well - after a quick dip in PotFerri just to add a little something.

Elevated

Chicago is famous for many things - architecture, rivers, art and gangsters such as Al Capone.  And the Blues Brothers film, of course.  Once seen, the clip of Jake and Elwood trying to sleep in their 'compact and bijou' bedsit is hard to forget, with the constant noise of the trains as they rumble past at eye level.  The L, as its known (L for eLevated) is this city's answer to London's Tube.  There are parts downtown in 'the loop' which go underground but for the most part it's an overground system, which I much prefer.  I'm not a fan of going underground - it's years since I took the Tube in London and while I'd like to think it has improved a lot in that time all I remember is the dirt, the smell and the poor air quality.  That plus in an aging system like London's any major incident such as fire and you're lucky to get out in one piece - some of those London tube stations are seriously deep underground.

Anyway, we took the train from Oak Park in the West Suburbs downtown only once this trip.  It's just as quick to drive down the I-290 expressway if you don't hit traffic but parking downtown is pretty difficult and very expensive, so this time we went by CTA train (Chicago Transit Authority) and about 30 minutes later got off somewhere around State Street.  From there it was a couple of blocks to Michigan Avenue and a couple more to our destination - the Museum of Contemporary Photography, housed in Columbia College. Somewhere between State and Michigan Avenue I snapped up a bit of the L on the 'Blad with HP5+:

The L Metro system, downtown Chicago.  On Ilford Fibre Classic paper

So, why the Museum of Contemporary Photography, then?  Not for the contemporary photography, in this case - no, for the chance to see a few prints by Ansel Adams. Not often do I get that chance in or around the North East Liberties of Coleraine so it had to be done.  I wasn't disappointed.

In the small upstairs gallery there were a couple of dozen black and print prints - proper darkroom prints, of course.  And in and among them were about 8 by Mr Adams - all of them taken out in one or other of the National Parks.  What was great was simply having all the time I wanted to study the prints up close.  There were only a few other people in the place so it was perfect.  In no particular order, then:  the prints weren't that big, some were 8"x10", others maybe 10"x12"; the quality of the printing was as expected (good); some were signed, some were initialed, some had no signature; quite a few dust spots and blemishes were evident on close inspection (so it's not just me then);  some looked to be dry-mounted, others were mounted in see-through photo corners. It was great to be able to see them at such close quarters - I was very happy with my afternoon downtown.

Thunderbirds in the garden

It was a very sunny day back in August when I visited DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus. While The Brother was working - meetings and whatever else needed his attention in the office - I wandered about with the Hasselblad casually slung over my shoulder.  It’s a pretty affluent area around the Uni but that means it’s a bit of a target for theft, since students are likely to have expensive cell phones, laptops, Hasselblads etc on them.  I tried to be as unobtrusive as one can with a ‘Blad.

This was a busy scene - not with people, but busy with foliage and shadows.  There weren’t many students kicking about - well, it was summer recess and it was hot hot hot but I tried to get a couple of bodies in the shot. Barely visible and almost camouflaged, mind you...

DePaul University Garden, Lincoln Park Campus, Illinois.  Ilford Fibre Classic paper, sepia toner.

There was a bit more detail in the sunlit areas that appears on the print, simply due to the fact that I reached for the sepia toner and the bleach took what detail there was and didn't give it back.  It's probably better to over-print ever-so-slightly when using a bleach toner, but that's a detail I don't always remember in the heat of the moment in the darkroom.

Just after I took this shot I had the bejesus scared out of me by the sound of US Air Force jets screaming low overhead.  I was totally unprepared for them - the sound reverberated around the buildings surrounding the courtyard garden and it was as loud as loud can be.  I learned later they were practicing for the Chicago Air and Water Show - they're called the Thunderbirds, I believe.  Pretty apt name, but they might have had the decency to inform me beforehand.  I actually wondered if all was well in the world, or was Chicago under attack.  Thankfully it wasn't and I survived the Chicago experience, in spite of the best intentions of the Thunderbirds.

Film Star

Just for fun the other day I printed out the film edges of a shot I took during the summer.  Here’s the digital version of the print:

Missy, not enjoying have a camera thrust in her face in Italy, 2018.

The reasons for the dirty look I’m getting is ‘cos it was after a very long day traipsing around Pompei in the hot afternoon sun. Missy was not impressed when I lifted the rangefinder to snap her up, poor thing. Dads, eh?!

It wasn’t too difficult to get the film edges half decent - it only took a couple of wasted sheets of paper. In the end I kind of split-grade printed the thing, in reverse. To begin, I exposed the whole thing (neg&edges) for a few seconds at grade 5. Then under red light I masked out the film edges using the easel, just giving a thin border around the negative (best done, I found, at full aperture to get it as accurate as possible). Then red light off, stop down the lens again and expose a few more seconds at grade 2.5 to give those skin tones a chance.

I like the result. Not perfect but then I kind of like the imperfections of analogue photography, if only to differentiate it from that clinical digital look. That’s my excuse, anyway! On Ilford Classic fibre paper.

Candy seller

During our short trip to the US of A in the summer we went to one of Chicago's many beaches on the shores of Lake Michigan.  This was same beach as the last print - Montrose, on the North Side, which is, apparently, one of the easiest in terms of parking/access.  Last time we went, about 5 years ago, it was heaving with people, on account of most of the other beaches being closed for some reason.  And when I say heaving, I mean hardly space to stand.  Horrible, it was - I'm used to the wild empty beaches of Ireland, y'see and this was about as far from that as you can get.  But this time around it was perfect - late afternoon and amazingly, hardly anyone there.  We brought a picnic but spent most of the time in the water.  I wished we had gone earlier in our short trip there, as it was nice and cool compared to the suburb of Oak Park were The Brother lives.

Anyway, I had the Hasselblad with me and when I was out of the water I snapped up this candy seller.  I didn't look too closely but I think it was candy floss, or spun sugar as I think they call it over there.

Candy seller, Montrose Beach, Illinois

As per usual, I had HP5+ loaded - developed in my new favourite, RO9 diluted 1+25 which gives a really punchy easy-to-print negative. On Ilford Fibre Classic paper, sepia tone.

It was dark when we headed for 'home' and I have to say, it was absolutely magical driving south along Lake Shore Drive back through the city before turning west for Oak Park.  Chicago was all lit up and looking stunning.  A far cry from the Liberties of Coleraine.  Although it's a fairly brutal journey it's amazing to think that it's really only about 8 hours away.  That's 8 hours once you're in the 'plane - but when you tack on a 4 hour journey to Dublin, an overnight in an airport hotel (not strictly necessary but kind of sensible otherwise you're getting up before you go to bed in order to make it through security and US immigration in time to catch your mid-morning flight) then it stretches into a fairly lengthy and tiring slog.

If you're still reading and wondering about that last sentence perhaps I should explain that Ireland, to my knowledge, is the only country outside the US that does pre-clearance for US immigration - that's through both Shannon Airport in the West and Dublin in the East, by the way.  Something to do with a 'special relationship' - probably since most of Ireland seemed to leave the country in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries and head for the New World.  Whatever the reason, it's a Big Deal - no, it's a Huge Deal, actually, since the queues for immigration at any US airport are no joke after an 8-hour flight.  So in Dublin we did the pre-clearance thing and got our passports stamped which meant that when we landed in Chicago we disembarked as if we were on an internal US flight - no further checks required.  It’s probably the best way to enter the US from overseas.

Montrose Beach, Illinois

This was a tough call, exposure-wise, given that there was a wide subject brightness range, from the shadow cast by the tree to the brightness of the late afternoon sky.  That - and the fact that I was using the 'blad and only the light meter between my ears.  It wasn't easy to print and I've a feeling that there's a better print in there somewhere but this is the best I got the other day in the darkroom:

Montrose Beach, Lake Michigan, Illinois, 2018

As you can see it’s cropped from the 6x6 format. I  I cropped to a 2:3 aspect ratio (like 35mm), which seemed to fit the composition better. It's on Ilford Fibre Classic paper which has a lovely look about it.  This one was toned in sepia.

To get the print into digital format for this place, I did what I normally do and scanned it.  I use a fairly old Epson 4870 scanner and the standard Epson Scan software, set to 48-bit colour and 300dpi, which gives me a file about 50Mb in size (!) from a 9.5"x12" print.  (I always do a preview scan first and then the full scan but I don't check histogram or other stuff).  But then I sat at the computer and looked at the scanned image and compared it to the print.  Well, there is no comparison - the print is always sooo much richer, deeper, nicer.  I know, I know, it's a dumb thing to do but I was surprised by how poor the scan was.  The problem may not be down to the software settings alone (or at all) - the scanner is A4 size and a 9.5”x12” print is slightly too large to sit flat on the glass.

Anyway, I took the print into a room where the weak winter sun was coming through the window, set the print up and snapped it using my phone.  Then I brought it into Photoshop on the desktop machine and already it was looking better.   That's the image you see at the top of this page. Here is the scan:

Same print, scanned.

I left these deliberately on the large side, by the way, so as to make full screen comparisons a little more authentic.  Apologies if you're viewing these on a dial-up modem...

There's a real difference - to my eyes, on my monitor. I must admit I was surprised, as I thought that the scanning would have been the better way to go.  And yes, I'm sure there's a ton of stuff I could do to make the scan better but as I've said elsewhere, I've no real interest in scanning other than to get the print into some sort of digital form.  So for now, it looks like a phone shot of the print is the best way to go to share my masterpieces on the Interweb ;)

Power Crazy

I snapped these lines up in Lincoln Park, on the North Side of Chicago.  I'm sure there's a plan in there somewhere, but I couldn't see it:

Power Lines, Lincoln Park, Illinois 2018.  Ilford Fibre Classic paper.

It’s pretty much the same around The Brothers House in Oak Park and I’m not sure why - the wires look like they’ve been done by about 20 different companies and so there’s no sense of uniformity or that anyone’s in charge here but it seems to work (most of the time) so What do I know? I’m guessing that when there’s a problem or a new connection to be established some Joe comes along, takes a look and thinks ‘Jeez I ain’t sortin that lot out’. He just gets the job done that’s he’s paid to do and gets the hell out...and adds to the general confusion.

Thirsty work

It's half term in The Liberties, which means Missy is off for the week and - hurrah! - no school runs to be done.  Replaced by runs to and from town, to and from cinema, to and from friends' houses.  Not sure which is preferable, mind you, but it makes a change.

This print is the last one from the batch of Italian lith prints I did the other day.  We were walking aimlessly around Sorrento in the early evening and I liked the shadows thrown up by the sun hitting this old pump.  The bit of graffiti on the wall didn't do any harm either, on what was otherwise a fairly blank canvas.  Anyway, as I pointed the camera to compose I became aware of a gentleman waiting for me finish.  I lowered the camera, smiled and motioned for him to go ahead.  His dog clearly knew the trick and I snapped them up as it quenched its thirst:

Early evening in Sorrento, 2018.  Lith print.

Water fountain

In the back streets of Sorrento there are a million cafes and boutiques all vying for your Euros.  But inbetween the stores there are more interesting things to be found:

Marble fountain, Sorrento.  Foma fibre paper, lith 

I'm not sure this marble fountain is a thing of beauty, mind - those fish-like things aren't exactly the most welcoming of critters.  But as a small example of Italian craftsmanship it ain't bad - and I like the fact that it's almost hidden (as much as you can hide such a thing) between the clothes rails and the outlets offering day trips to Capri.

Spice shop

I don't know about you but when in holiday mode I'm focussed more on my loved ones than on a camera but I always feel guilty if I don't take a few snaps when I’m away somewhere new. I'd spied this particular scene a few nights earlier (it was near our favourite restaurant in Sorrento) and on our last night I excused myself for a few minutes and ventured forth to snap something up:

Spice seller's shop, Sorrento, August 2018

Lost in the shadows there's a little girl sitting the doorway down the alley but it was the spice seller's front-of-house that caught my eye.  9.5"x12" print on Foma paper, lith developer.

Liam

Another shot taken in The Red Lion, Lincoln Park, Illinois - the favoured watering-hole of DePaul University's Philosophy Department.  This is Liam - a good Dublin man who has made his home in Chicago and teaches all sorts of interesting stuff to DePaul students.  At the start of the evening Liam sounded like an American, but after talking to me (and The Brother) for a few hours he was pure Dublin again.  Order was restored and all was well with the world again :)

Liam in The Red Lion, Lincoln Park, IL

Another one on Foma paper via lith developer, if you care about such things. And yes I know Liam's face is not in focus - I seemed to have nailed his pint glass, though! Ah sure it adds to the mystery of the man, eh?

Opera Society, Italian style

As we wandered aimlessly around the back streets of Sorrento we happened upon the place you see in the print below.  A gated courtyard in very grand style, the plaque on the wall indicated an Operatic Society - perhaps Opera lovers, or singers/actors?

Operatic Society, Sorrento

Whatever it was, I got the impression that it wasn't the sort of place tourists would be welcome to just wander into, so I did the decent thing and moved on.  Not before getting a couple of shots in, though :)  Foma paper, lith.

Doing what they do best

This is Sean and Michael - two of The Brother's colleagues.  Doing what they do best - which, being Philosophy Professors, is thinking, questioning, engaging in discourse, and, ahem, socialising.  Particularly socialising.

Sean and Michael, 2018.  Foma paper, lith developer.

This was a tough one to print.  My own fault, since it was way underexposed in the Hasselblad.  I had no meter with me so it was a bit of a guess - and a poor one at that.  My first print was distinctly lacking in anything and the second not much better.  I turned to lith for salvation and wasn't disappointed.  It was HP5+ rated at either 800 or 1600 and developed in RO9.  Almost full frame and the grain is nicely enhanced by the lith developer.  I was well pleased with the result.

Oak Park, Illinois

A bit more of the story of Oak Park, just west of Chicago.  It's a very affluent suburb - there are some pretty, large and expensive private houses there - and not just those designed by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright.  Property taxes are stratospheric by UK standards, even for modest properties like my brother's and most of those taxes appear go to the single, large (very) local high school - Oak Park and River Forest, or OPRF as it is known.  Ernest Hemingway went to OPRF - although my brother's daughters took great delight in telling me only for one year and he hated it, apparently.  From the amount of property taxes that goes to OPRF I was slightly disappointed when I learnt the corridors aren't paved with gold. Mind you, there was a proposal a few years ago to spend more than $35m tearing down an existing building and constructing a new swimming pool/aquatics centre.  Yes, you read correctly - $35m on a swimming pool, for a high school.  I think the Trustees were hoping to sell various bonds to fund the scheme and while I'm all for thinking big the whole thing seemed a bit unrealistic to me.  I think the plans have been shelved, indefinitely.

A print for you:

On Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois

This was shot the same day as the one the other day.  The cinema on Lake St (the main drag) looks great - very Art Deco. It was a busy Friday afternoon and I had to stand a serious amount of time to get a break in the traffic and then only just made it, as you can see.  This one's on Foma 131 paper, by the way, via Moersch Easylith developer.  Perfect for anything with stone/brickwork in it.

Oak Park is a strange mix of nothing-too-special modern and very-special historic.  The Unity Temple and buildings like the cinema above stand out in my mind as 'buildings of interest'.  As do the historic Frank Lloyd Wright houses - if you are ever there, take one of the walking tours around that district, they're very informative and it's a great way to spend a few hours.  The new library, next to Scofield Park where open air concerts are held during summer, is an impressive modern, glass-fronted building but very soon you are into the more usual mix of boutique shops, cafes and stores like...you've guessed it...Whole Foods.  Or Whole Pay Check as the joke goes.

While Oak Park and neighbouring River Forest are very genteel places to be, to the East of OP we have the district of Austin.  Austin is not wealthy.  In fact, Austin is on the other side of the spectrum entirely.  A few years ago it acquired the label of Chicago's deadliest neighbourhood, with more homocides than even places like Englewood on the notorious South Side.  Lake Street (above) extends into Austin and you don't have to drive too far to see a heck of a difference in terms of the shops, bistros, cafes etc...not to mention the various 'types' you see walking about, or just standing around.   You need to keep your wits about you wherever you go, even downtown Oak Park.  The day of the pic above my daughter and I were strolling around, looking like tourists (hard not to) and feeling a little like fish out of water.  Missy got heckled at least once as we passed a group waiting for a public bus...'Sup, baby' was said so low I didn't even catch it, but she did.  A little creepy, given her age (15) and the age of the commenter (closer to my age than hers).  Still, as I told her over a hot tea, with looks like hers she'll have to learn how to deal with a lot worse than that in the years to come...

Illinois Route 43

So yes, I took the head-staggers early August and decided it was time I paid The Brother a visit.  It was certainly my turn, since it was nearly 4 years since I was there.  Due to his work commitments (not mine, anymore) it was either go now or go between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  When I was last there, for a couple of weeks around Thanksgiving, the cold was so intense it was bone-numbing.  I mean we think it gets cold here in the North-West of Ireland but no, we get damp, we get wet, we get chilly but we don't get cold, not Chicago-cold.  So I checked the cheapest flight from Dublin and the deal was done. American Airlines, by the way. And they were good - very good, actually. I’ll say more about the actual travelling in a future post.

I knew it would be hot, in Illinois,in August.  And I wasn't disappointed.  It was hot - very.  That's from the perspective of an Irishman, of course...  It got up to the mid-90s on most days and the humidity was pretty high.  Hot enough and humid enough to make be feel very queasy most of the time, to be honest.  I enjoyed spending time with my brother but I didn't enjoy the heat.  Do you get the feeling I don't like the climate in Chicago much?  I'm sure it's lovely for a couple of weeks in April or May and similarly around late September/early October but the rest of the year it's either too hot or too cold for me.  I can't help it - I'm just used to the temperate climate we get here in Ireland, where it rarely gets hotter than the mid-70s Fahrenheit or drops much below freezing.  When I got home, late August, we had a couple of days with the temperature around 60 degrees and I was very, very comfortable - I could breathe again!

Anyway, time for a scan of one of the prints you might have seen the other day resting on my home-made drying rack in the darkroom.

IL-43 as it cuts through Oak Park, Illinois

Illinois Route 43 is, apparently, a major north-south road through Illinois.  Although I've been to Illinois more times than I can remember in order to visit The Brother I can't say I'm overly confident knowing whether we're driving north, south, east or west - unless I get a glimpse of the Willis Tower or one of them big tall skyscraper things in the distance, that is, which is a dead giveaway since they are due East of Oak Park where The Brother lives.  It would probably be different if I was the one behind the wheel, but I leave that to him.  This particular day I went for a dander around 'The Village' of Oak Park but it doesn't look remotely like the villages we get here in Ireland.  It's famous as the birth-place of Ernest Hemingway and for having a number of houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  As the name would suggest it's a leafy old town, about a 20 minute drive from the city of Chicago.

Believe it or not, it was the roadsign informing everyone of the fact that you are on Illinois Route 43 (aka Harlem Avenue right here) that caught my eye - not the rather leggy young girl strolling towards me.  I did wonder about waiting another second or two until she came up a bit closer but since I was using the Hasselblad, which has a mirror slap about as subtle as a brick I decided to trip the shutter then and there.  Printed on 9.5"x12" Adox MCC fibre paper - a first for me and very nice it is too.  Mild sepia tone.  HP5+ of course, developed in RO9, in case you're interested in that sort of stuff.

Back in action

So I got into the darkroom proper this afternoon - first time for a long time. I was rusty but knocked out s couple of prints (one Multigrade and one Lith). They look ok at the moment but they’re still wet - or a bit damp at least - so judgement needs to be reserved until tomorrow. Anyway, here’s a preview which also is a dead giveaway to where I dashed off to for 10 days in August. More to come...

A couple of real prints

Apologies the image needs to be rotated but I’ve no WiFi today so I’ve had to do this via my phone and the wonders of 3G. And it was not easy, I can tell you. And then some, as they might say over there in the US of A.

Amalfi walkabout

A few more shots from our afternoon walkabout in Amalfi.

Drip dry in Amalfi

This sort of scene above I love - it's real and To heck with the tourist trade, I'm hanging out my washing.  There's many a place in the world - mostly the 'better off' areas - where local by-laws preclude the hanging out of washing.  It might lower the tone, don't you know and we don't do that sort of thing around here.  What a load of piffle, eh?

Amalfi - town square

As you can see, the narrowness of the main drag there means it does get a little congested at times.  That's well and good, but that narrow little ginnel there is still a right of way for vehicular traffic, believe it or not.  So every few minutes people have to stand in the doorways and let local cars, motorbikes (lots) and vans (lots) pass.  And the drivers don't hold back on using the horn to clear the way.  Chaos, basically - Italian chaos, and great value.  I wouldn't want it any other way.

Some Amalfian architecture for you

Most of my shots here seem to be in portrait mode.  Something to do with the narrow streets and tall buildings, no doubt...

Amalfi

A bit further on down the road, past Positano and you get to the town of Amalfi.  Yes it was busy and yes there were tourists there (and not just ones from The North East Liberties of Coleraine) but I liked Amalfi.  There was a much more realistic feel to it compared to Positano.  We happened on a wedding in the town square for example, which led to an impromptu round of applause from all the onlookers.  Actually it was a bit like The Godfather, truth be told - a very slow walk by the bride and her elderly father up to the church in the middle of the square, everyone beautifully dressed and unrushed, in spite of the busy-ness all around.  Lovely, it was.

Amalfi - emerging out of rock

It was late afternoon when we were there but the sun was still strong.  I pointed the M6 directly into it just to see what would happen.  I think it was the Canon 50 f/1.4 LTM on the front of it -without lens hood - and I was conscious it was made around the 1960s, so I tried to shield it a little with my hand.  I shouldn't have bothered, of course - eejit that I am.  Those Canon folk knew what they were about...

Into the sun with old Japanese glass

The long building up top was, I think, a Franciscan Monastery. Now it’s a hotel. Progress, eh?

A bus ride to remember

Positano is, they say, is one of the jewels of the Amalfi coast.  It lies about halfway between Sorrento and Amalfi.  We made the mistake of trying to get there by public transport - the Sita bus.  There was a stop outside the hotel and the timetable was in the lobby so we waited at the allotted time...and waited.  Eventually - and 20 minutes is a long time when it's 30+ degrees - a bus came...and went.  It was full and the driver wasn't for stopping.  So we waited some more...

At some point you have invested sooo much time waiting that while your head says 'Give up' your heart says something else.  And so another 20 minutes later another bus came along.  Two things then happened - both, in hindsight, mistakes.  (a) the bus stopped for us and (b) we got on.

I could see the bus was busy but Hey, I thought, Sharpen the elbows and just get on...people have to make room - right?  Well, yes, correct - up to a point.  When there is no room left on the bus then it's difficult to make some.

Positano, from the road

I severely underestimated how winding the road was between Sorrento and Positano.  It wends its way around the coast and there are sharp bends every 100 metres or so.  And the driver (Italian, obviously) must have had been on a serious bonus to make the bus run to schedule as he wasn't holding back.  Either that or he was hoping for a drive with Ferrari sometime soon. We were stood trying to hold on as best we could - at one point all I had was one finger wrapped around a chair's armrest trying not to fall over.  Missy was trapped in the stairwell next to the door and every time the bus swung around another 90 degree bend I couldn't help think if those doors swing open we're all going to hell in a handcart, ending up a few hundred feet below in the Mediterranean Sea.  It was, I have to say, bonkers and that bus trip will never - never - be erased from my memory as long as I live.

Positano buildings

Now Positano is, I have to admit, a pretty amazing place.  Nestled as it is among the mountains the only way to build is upwards, not outwards. So you have buildings built on top of buildings and the whole thing is pretty nuts.  The Sita bus leaves you at the top of the town and it's a very steep walk down (and up again) to the main drag. Once you get down to the bottom, however, it quickly becomes apparent that the whole place is geared up for tourists and all trace of authenticity has been lost.  I know the locals have to make a living but I was disappointed - the place isn't real.

The bus ride back wasn't quite so bad - or maybe my nerves had settled a bit.  We were on the mountain side of the road going back so less likely to fall into the Med in the event of a mishap and that probably helped.  So...Positano - was it worth it?  Somehow I couldn't help but be reminded of Samuel Johnson's reply when asked if our local attraction the Giant's Causeway was worth seeing...'Worth seeing yes, but not worth going to see'. 

Agip

I enjoyed seeing some old-fashioned petrol pumps on a small garage forecourt in Positano. These sorts of forecourts have all but disappeared in my neck of the woods, having been replaced by larger petrol stations usually connected to supermarkets or smaller (but still large) convenience stores.

Traditional forecourt pumps, Positano 2018

Now might be a good time to document what garage forecourts still remain since it seems likely they will mostly be gone in the not-so-distant future, as hybrid and all-electric cars become the norm.  I think the UK government has set a date of 2040 for the end of sales of petrol and diesel cars but at the time of the announcement this was regarded as a bit late compared to other European countries.

We don't have Agip stations in Ireland - that's a continental thing :) The usual suspects around The Liberties are Texaco and BP.  Esso and Shell were once commonplace but seem to be less so nowadays.  Total, Exxon and Mobil are other suppliers and as I already said we have those linked to the big supermarkets (Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco) who sell under their own brand labels.  There's probably a whole dose more that I've forgotten about - I'm sure some folk still only use BP ultimate or whatever but personally I couldn't care less what I fill up with in order to get from A to B.

Holiday Snaps

Since it's proving challenging to do any real printing right now, I'm going to show some 'holiday snaps'.  Prepare yourselves for a shock...colour.

Somewhere along the Amalfi Coast, Italy, 2018

I can explain, I think.  As you know, pretty much all of my creative juices go into B&W film, home processed and printed, but I do have a weak spot for colour transparencies.  Takes me back to me youth, I guess, where from time to time and as funds allowed, I used to sneak the odd Kodachrome into the OM-1.  Can't do that these days of course, but there's Velvia, which has its own unique properties. Hard to think Kodachrome was 25 asa (or 64) -  that seems so slow.  Anyway, about 5 years ago I happened to be in a photographic shop in Belfast and before I knew it I was walking out with 4 rolls of Velvia. Hmm. Missy was astounded I'd spent £40 on four films but I assured her they would last me a long time.  I think there's still one in the fridge but since the datestamp shows 2017 so I think I'd better use it up fairly soon. 

I took one roll with me to Italy this summer and fired it through the M6 as fast as I could (24 hours) so that I could get back to my usual suspects (FP4/HP5).  The slides came back from Peak Imaging a couple of weeks ago and am in the process of setting up my Kodak Carousel projector from back in the day for an evening's entertainment.  I wonder if the bulb will still work - and for how long.  I'll let you know...

Chasing my tail

I'm chasing my tail these days.  Struggling to get near the darkroom at the minute for a variety of reasons...start of the school year, too much to do in the garden and a looming medical procedure (tomorrow!) to try to improve my hearing, which is very poor right now.  By 'very poor' I mean almost non-existent.  But, I'm going in with a Positive Mental Attitude, which is my usual MO.

In the meantime I bring you one from a while back - the view from the top of mountain known as Binevenagh, between The Liberties and Derry/Londonderry. This one is looking East, towards Kinbane Head and the Giant's Causeway.  On a good day it's possible to see Scotland across the water, and even as far as Jura.  This was not the case on the day when this was snapped up, as there was a thick layer of cloud:

HP5+ on Iford Warmtone Fibre paper

Having spent a large part of the summer in hot and humid conditions and looking at perfect blue skies (more of than another time) it has been a welcome relief to get back to the Emerald Isle and decent temperatures (15 degrees C/59 F) and interesting skies. Much more pleasant - for this Irishman, anyway.

Positano Man

I snapped this gentleman up as he stood on the balcony in the famous little town of Positano, between Sorrento and Amalfi.  I could have a good guess at what he was thinking, as he looked out to the sea, for in the bay down below were more than a few 'pleasure craft'.

Positano, via HP5 and Ilford Warmtone paper, toned

Now we're not talking rowing boats here, no siree.  We're talking big, very expensive toys.  The biggest had its own helipad, complete with helicopter.  Several jet-skis buzzed around it, clearly part of the deal.  Next to it, a little way off was a much more modest craft - probably only worth a few million, rather than a few tens of million pounds, euros or dollars (doesn't make much difference at this level, does it). One could almost feel a little pity for the owner of the smaller craft, who probably thought he was doing pretty well until the larger craft came along to spoil his party.  My boat is bigger than yours, eh? Almost...

Capri

Capri, in the early morning mist, from the hills above Sorrento:

Capri, Ilford Warmone RC paper, toned

Up Vesuvius with David Hurn

We were away for a bit, as you might have guessed from the lack of posting recently.  I'm not an easy traveller these days, but we did a bit of searching around for destinations from our local airport (Belfast) and decided a direct flight to Naples would be do-able.  We stayed just outside Sorrento, about an hour's drive away.  A very nice part of the world, the Amalfi Coast.  Yes it's fairly busy at this time of year, but since the whole region lives for tourism it never really felt uncomfortably crowded - the infrastructure is geared to cope.

Although I carried the Leica with me I didn't really snap that much.  It's been a tough 12 months in the McNeill household and for once I was happy just to relax and enjoy being in holiday mode. I did press the shutter a few times, though...

One of those times was as I ventured up Vesuvius.  I didn't make it all the way to the crater - the cinder path was slippy enough in places so I chickened out and stopped with Missy for a while, doing a bit of people watching.  As this shot composed itself in front of me I was reminded for some strange reason of David Hurn:

Up Vesuvius, Naples down below, David Hurn in my head.  HP5+ on Warmtone RC paper, 10"x8" print.

David Hurn, if you don't know, was the guy who did the Barbarella shoot with Jane Fonda.  Yup, you know now!  And he also did the famous Sean Connery shot as James Bond.  A nice story to that one as well.  The shoot was all set up, everyone in place ready to go but no-one had remembered to bring a gun. Not just any gun, of course, James Bond's gun, a Walther.  As luck would have hit, Hurn had in possession a Walther air pistol, which was subsequently used for the shoot. He told the director that the art people would be able to shorten the barrel before final printing so no-one would ever know it was an air pistol and not a proper, James Bond-style gun.  Of course that message got lost in the post, so to speak - hence the abnormally long barrel on the gun that ended up on the poster. I wonder how many people realised....

A Magnum photographer, at the height of his powers David Hurn gave up the London life to live in Wales, where his roots lay.  For the next few decades he set about documenting ordinary life in that part of the world and a fantastic job he did of it, too.  Along the way, he amassed an amazing collection of photographs by well-known people, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Bill Brandt, Bruce Davidson, Martin Parr.  This was long before photographs were deemed to have any monetary value - he says he simply knocked on the doors of photographers he admired and asked for a print.  OK so he had a calling card but even so that's a great story.  Anyway, next time I'm in Cardiff I'll be heading to the Museum of Wales, since that is where he has donated his collection.

Oh, you can see the shot of Hurn's that I was thinking about, when I was nearly at the top of Vesuvius, by clicking here.  It's the second image on the page, at Tenby.

A confession

I have a confession to make: I've had enough of Mr Blue Sky.  I'm longing for rain and clouds.  Well, maybe not the rain bit but the clouds, yes. I know in a few months I'll be regretting that statement but I find the current weather so unsuitable for the type of photography I like to do.  So I'm digging around in the negative files for something interesting to print:

Portstewart Strand, via the 'Blad.  Ilford Warmtone Fibre paper, 11"x14"

I'm also finding myself moving away from RC paper towards using fibre papers more.  Agreed there are some very nice RC emulsions out there - like Fotospeed VC Oyster, Adox MCP, Kentmere VC Select and Ilford Warmtone.  These all tone rather well and the short washing times are a real bonus - as is the cost compared to fibre paper.  But every time I use fibre paper - particularly the one used here, Ilford Warmtone - I find the prints are just so much nicer to look at. There's a depth, or subtlety to the tones that draws me in.

While we're at the confessions, there was a ton of spotting to be done on this print, which I haven't completed yet.  So I cleaned this one up using the power of software.

A wave of heat hits The Liberties

Yes folks it's official: there is a heatwave in Northern Ireland.  Not often I can write that, now, is it?  We've had the most clement weather since the start of May - temperatures reaching a heady 30 degrees the other day (86 degree Fahrenheit if you prefer) and very little rain.  As a result, we have a hosepipe ban in place - the first since 1995, apparently.  The upshot is that we're not allowed to use a hosepipe to water our gardens, clean our windows, wash our cars, or clean our boats (eh?).  Some rail services have been cancelled as the tracks are so hot they are in danger of buckling.  Things are, it would appear, rapidly descending into chaos.

The good people of The Liberties aren't used to this fierce heat - seriously, we're not.  We can (obviously) handle rain, wind and storms but heat? - no.  Tempers will flare.  There will be road rage and probably fights will break out over shopping trolleys.  We're in for a tough time until the weather breaks - which, I guess, will not be that far away...

Now the restrictions on water usage don't, surprisingly, make any mention of washing fibre prints in one's darkroom but it would be a tad irresponsible to do so at the minute.  So it might be RC prints for a while, I think.  Not that the darkroom is a particularly pleasant place to be in right now, mind you.  I did venture in the other day (just before the hosepipe ban came into effect) and the ambient temperature was well over the magic 20 degrees, so the chemicals were all a bit livelier than usual.  Still, I managed to get one print made - just to remind myself what clouds look like:

Sunset over Inishowen.  Ilford Warmtone Fibre paper, 11"x14"

More lines and shadows on lith

The other day you might have seen this same shot, of the stone steps leading up from the small beach by the Portrush Arcadia where Missy does her Pilates on a Monday evening.  The same Portrush Arcadia where I saw manys a band back in the day.  A few years ago the concert hall at the back of the building was demolished, but they kept the front, which was most surprising for this part of the world where preservation of old buildings would appear to be the exception, not the norm.  So, we have to be grateful for small mercies, don't we.

Anyway, here's another print from the same 6x6 negative.  Slightly closer crop, but still Foma paper in Moersch lith developer although this time two stops over-exposed under the enlarger, which as we all know means less contrasty...but a whole lot more colourful:

Untoned, in case you were wondering - the colour is solely due to the action of the lith developer on this particular paper.