The Earl Bishop's gaff

Back at Downhill Demesne:

Downhill, in 2021.  Leica M6/28mm, HP5+ on Foma 313 paper.

This one needed a light burn-in in the sky.  For negatives like this I use an old bit of paper/card with a small hole torn in it and move it over the area required.  Torn rather than cut as you want the edges rough, not straight -  otherwise there's a chance they will be noticeable on the final print.  I didn't want the sky too dark otherwise it would detract from the house, rather just enough tone to hint there was something there.  You gotta keep that card moving though, to try and get an even coverage, otherwise you get bits that are too dark and bits that are too light.

That's Portstewart Strand way in the distance, by the way.  Yes, the old rascal enjoyed rather splendid views up on his cliff-top residence, he did.  The house went to ruin sometime in the middle of last Century, which was a great pity.  It would have made a wonderful museum, or art gallery, or even somewhere to hang my masterpieces.  Back in the late 18th Century it apparently held all sorts of objets d'art collected by the Earl Bishop Frederick Hervey himself on his Grand Tour across Europe.  Nice work if you can get it, I suppose...