Campus of Shadows

I'm ending 2021 on a High Note.  The two significant ladies in my life were going into town the other day, so I got them to drop me off at the University Campus, where I proceeded to walk around with the TiTAN 4x5 pinhole.  Normally this requires a tripod (it has an effective aperture of f/201) but I didn't fancy lugging the big old thing I have around with me, so I took a small desktop one from about 40 years ago.  Ach, who am I kidding.  More like 45 years ago.  I wasn't exactly sure how this would pan out, since it's only about 8 inches tall but I thought I'd be able to find walls or similar to set it on.  As it happens I was able to use rubbish bins and planters so it worked out OK, just.  I think I might treat myself to a new, travel tripod in the January sales (are there such things any more?).

Ironically, the best shot of the afternoon came from one where I had to kind of hand-hold the gear on a post which wasn't quite big enough to take the tripod feet.  I think it was about a 20-second exposure.  Campus of Shadows is of course a nod to the insanely talented Alexey Titarenko.

University of Ulster building, on pinhole.  Fomapan 200 rated at 50, developed in HC-110 1:50 for 6mins40s on the Uniroller base.  Foma 313 paper.

As this is the last post of the year I get to make my annual statement about this place, which is now 5 years of showing only scans of darkroom prints.  I don't think it's been a memorable year in terms of my photography but in my defence other things took precedent - getting Missy through her A Levels (I was #1 Maths Tutor) and then off to Uni before embarking on a number of home improvement projects that had been put on the long finger for a while.  Now that those are out of the way and Missy is settled and happy at Uni perhaps I can give more attention to where I'm standing when I've a camera in me hands...

Still in the moment

Christmas seems to start earlier every year.  This year, like last, it felt good to get the tree up and the house decorated early December, if only because there was little chance of doing any celebrating outside of home.  I found these three wee ones adding a little festive cheer on a side table so I snapped them up on the Hasselblad for you:

Enjoying a sing-song at Christmas time via FP4+ and Foma 133 paper.
60mm lens and extension tube, 1 second exposure at f/4.

The only downside to getting the tree up early is that you've had enough of it well before the Twelve Days of Christmas are up.  Most years we find ourselves tearing it down on or around January 2nd and I expect this year will be the same.  For now, however, we're still in the moment - although the thought of eating any more turkey is rapidly losing its appeal...

Merry YouKnowWhat

Well it's that time of year again.  Seems to go round quicker than ever these days.  Hope you have all your shopping done and got everything Ship-shape and Bristol fashion, as they used to say once upon a time.    I was going to add something about visiting friends and family but that's not really to be advised given the current state of things.  I suspect we're all hoping 2022 brings a bit of normality but it's not looking great, is it?  A few of us from the Photo Club did meet up (outside, briefly) last week and it was really good to see some familiar faces again.  I think that's the bit that I enjoy most about the Club - just getting out and about with like-minded and friendly people. 

Anyway, today I give you a print of one of the many objets adorning our Christmas Tree.  I leave all that kind of thing to my wife, who each year somehow manages to out-do herself from the previous year - and that's saying something.  

FP4+ on the 'Blad, with a 60mm and extension tube.  1 second exposure.  Dev'd in HC110 1:31 for 9minutes and printed on Foma 133. 

Wherever you are in the world I hope you have a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful Christmas.

It's the little things

It's the little things you notice - the coat draped over the back of the seat, the trainers sitting at the bottom of the stairs.  Indicators that a certain person is back in the house.  Yes, Missy arrived home for the Christmas Holidays on Friday evening, in good spirits in spite of a 12 hour journey up to Scotland and across on the ferry.   

This morning she's away for a walk on the beach.  There are a lot of things in Oxford but no beaches, so perhaps she's missed living close to the sea.

Anyway, pretty much everything is going well in her life - she loves her course and loves Oxford.  The only thing she doesn't love is sharing with 5 others...who all seem to be majoring in Partying, Staying up Late and Drinking.  Thankfully, Missy was never really interested in any of those subjects.  She says it gets a bit tedious when they're banging on her door at 4am...about 5 nights of the week.  Then when she's getting up at 7 or 8am, there are bodies and devastation everywhere.  I think it's just been bad luck - apparently her kitchen is the biggest around, so it has become the focal point for anyone and everyone who wants to 'socialise'.  Anyway, the good news is she's arranged to move to different, quieter Halls when she returns for the second semester at the end of January.  Fingers crossed that will solve this particular problem.

If you don't know where this is you haven't been paying close enough attention to the last few posts.  This one I managed to keep at the original 4:5 proportions.  I was pleased the sea didn't end up completely white, as I thought it might on account of the size and strength of the waves that were breaking. Same particulars as before - Fomapan 200 rated at 50, dev'd in HC-110 and printed on Foma 133.

The Not-so-secret Beach

I don't know if there's a name for this little cove at Ballintoy - the Photo Club guys call it the Secret Beach.  Only nowadays it's not so secret - even on a cold December morning there were folk (other than us!) there.  That's not a problem in itself, of course - the beach is there for all to enjoy - but they do insist on leaving unsightly footprints in the sand.  People, eh?

Pinhole shot, cropped from 4x5 to 6x12 proportions.  That's Rathlin Island way in the distance, behind the twin outcrops of Sheep Island. I would have liked a little more sand in the foreground of this shot but it was just a mess of distracting footprints. Technical details same as the last shot (see previous post).  A lot of burning in of the sky was required to get the detail shown here.

Breaking News

My wife alerted me to a story in the local press last night. The local Council plan is to redesignate the car park to enable charging, ostensibly to provide better management of the limited spaces available. There’s also talk of electronic signage up on the main road to indicate availability down at the harbour, as well as a ‘Park and Ride’ facility. At the minute visitors have to negotiate the very windy, narrow road down to the harbour and then if the park is full there’s no option other than to turn and go back up. Obviously this is not ideal.

It was only a matter of time before something like this was suggested, I guess. As I’ve been saying for a while, Ballintoy has become a product of its own success. All I know is that when it comes I’ll resent having to pay for something I used to enjoy for free.

Ballintoy on pinhole

Well the good news is that we did get to Ballintoy on Thursday last.  I had the 'Blad all primed and ready to go but when I lifted the bag to go out the door I had a sudden change of heart and took the pinhole instead.  Probably a good decision as the light wasn't great - a bit flat and dull - plus the pinhole bag is a whole lot lighter.  We had a good couple of hours wandering around before the cold got the better of us and we called it a day.  We timed it well, as the first spots of rain started just as I hit the main coast road on the way home.  This was probably the best of the shots, looking West towards Benbane Head/Causeway:

Ballintoy on the TiTAN 4x5 pinhole - about a 30s exposure if I remember correctly.  Fomapan 200 rated at 50, developed in HC-110 1:50 for just shy of 7 minutes (Uniroller, continuous agitation) and printed on Foma 133 paper. 

As you might recall, I've been having problems with the Unicolor drum roller on account of the gasket leaking like a sieve.  A fellow film-shooter friend from Belfast offered to 3D print a new one for me.  I was a tad sceptical (I know nothing about 3D printers) but he printed it with TPU, which is some kind of flexible filament.  It's not a perfect fit but it's very close and on this run I lost only a few ml of developer over the 7 minutes - not enough to have any effect on the 4 negatives.  So we'll tweak the design a little and try to see if we can get a better fit but so far so good.  If it lasts as even half as long as the original gasket I'll be a happy chappie.  My friend has used his 3D printer for a whole dose of film-related gear since he acquired it a couple of months ago - including printing a winding knob for a Bronica, various film holders and fixing his tripod.  Impressive!

More of the same

Another one from last Saturday's excursion to the Whiterocks - this time looking East towards the Causeway/Benbane Head:

Stormy day at the Whiterocks.  Hasselblad, 50mm.  FP4+ in HC-110, on Foma 133 paper.  A straight print, which would probably benefit from a little dodging burning in of the marram grass in the foreground, as it's a bit too prominent.

I was due to go to Ballintoy today (Wednesday, as I write this) with a Photo Club colleague but the forecast was not good.  On Tuesday we had our second storm of this winter, although it wasn't as bad here as it was on the West Coast of Ireland, where quite a few homes lost their electricity  (70,000 or so).  This morning wasn't actually too windy but this afternoon it's beginning to pick up again so we might be in for a rough evening.  Anyway, we've tentatively re-arranged our meet-up for Thursday but I'll make a last minute decision in the morning.   If I do go, it won't be for long as it's unseasonally cold for the time of year - around 5 degrees (Celsius). I wonder how long I need to be there to shoot my 12 shots on the 'Blad without being too wasteful…

Stormy weather

On Saturday we had another day of strong winds so I did the only sensible thing and headed out with the Hasselblad and 50mm Distagon. FP4+ was the film of choice.  

The Atlantic is of course hard to ignore at any time of the year - and particularly when the seas are big - but it’s a dangerous old place and I don’t get too close. Just a couple of weeks ago there was a group of four photographers who had to be rescued from the rocks at the Causeway, on account of an incident in stormy weather.  So on Saturday at the Whiterocks, just East of Portrush, I stayed up by the car park - although I spied a few people walking on the beach.  One advantage to being higher up was being able to include the marram grass as it was being buffeted by the wind.  Obligingly the sun came out for a few seconds and lit up the grass:

At the Whiterocks beach, Portrush, looking out towards the Skerries.  With a 10-stop ND filter this worked out about a 30 second exposure.  Developed in HC-110 (1:31, 9 minutes) and printed on Foma 133 paper.

Basalt at Ballintoy

Basalt rocks at Ballintoy:

Ilford PanF Plus50 in the 'Blad, on Foma 133 paper.