Annual Review 2022

 I haven't done an 'Annual Review' before but it occurred to me that it might be something worth my time - since I always say I use this place as a kind of diary to myself as much as anything else.  It's a photographic review of course, rather than a 'I did this and then I did that' sort of review.  Plus, the shots are ones that mean something to me and may or may not be any good or mean anything to anyone else.  

I considered making it a 'top 5', or even a 'top 10' but to begin with I just scrolled through my posts from the year and pulled out the ones I thought merited consideration - and then culled a few.  I ended up with 7.  I debated with myself whether or not to add some words to the shots.  In the end I did, but I hope the shots stand on their own, since that's what it's all about.  Anyway, enough waffling - here we go:

My friend, Portrush

It's a moment, captured on film.  That's about it, really. It's my friend whom I've known for 45+ years. Something has caught her eye over to her left and I've snapped the moment up.  Yes it was as cold as it looks down at the harbour in Portrush and very windy from what I remember but I'd rather be outside than in most of the time, so it suited me fine. Notice how posh we are, as we have water with our hot drinks. I think this was captured on a Leica and probably a 21mm Voigtlander lens.

Big sea and big sky, Ballintoy Harbour County Antrim

Can't have a whole year go by without a shot from Ballintoy Harbour, can I?  This was an afternoon with big seas and lovely strong light.  You can see the rain coming in from the North and I just made it back to the car in time.  I was handholding the 'Blad with a 150mm lens, but cropped the negative under the enlarger.

Moville, County Donegal

This was taken on a trip to Donegal with my wife in early Spring.  I liked the juxtaposition of the rather formal hall (Freemasons at one time, I think) with the River Foyle estuary and then the hills beyond.  As I was about to trip the shutter on the Hasselblad this couple wandered past and I let them go a little before I took the shot.  I wanted to keep the 'Keep Clear' signage on the road more or less visible.

Wedding Party, Redcastle, County Donegal

Ah, my stepson's wedding in June.  What an absolutely fantastic day that was.  One of their friends provided a pop-up Photo Booth for the night and it proved a very popular thing.  I stepped up and took a few handheld shots at stupid speeds as their friends (all beautiful young people, of course) posed in front of the screen. This shot captured the enjoyment of the night.

Shakespeare's House, Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford was disappointing but it was the people in front of the Great Man's house that caught my eye.  I shifted around a little and waited until the main actors appeared separated and discernable and here we are.  There might be a better print in it that this one but that remains to be seen.

Westgate Mall at night, Oxford

This one crept into the final group...just.  I'm not dying about the print - it's the weakest of the bunch here.  It looks a tad flat and I could easily be persuaded to demote it to the 'Nearly Made It' group.  But I wanted an Oxford Shot and I've walked through Westgate enough times in the last 18 months so it stays.  This one was late one evening when no-one was around and I rested an OM4ti on the guard rails at some stupidly slow speed and hoped for the best. 
Usually it's busy busy in this place, so this was a rare event.

Agricultural Show, Ballymoney

I like this shot a lot.  The Ballymoney Show was back, having had a break for a couple of years because of Covid. Around the back of the Showing Arenas is where the real action is and this shot captures the essence of it all - Charolais getting prepped but always time for a chat, various bits of kit lying around and the animals waiting their turn in line.  The Ballymoney Show is something I always look forward to.

Next time it's the nearly-made-it group. 

Stonework

 One from Bonamargy Friary that I've printed before (here), but this time on lith:

Part of the walls of Bonamargy Friary, Ballycastle. 
Via the 'Blad, FP4+, Moersch Easylith on Foma 131 paper.

I hope you had a good day yesterday, wherever you found yourself.  There were just four of us for dinner, my wife and I, daughter and son/stepson.  My mother isn't well enough to come down any more so I usually take a plate to her, which lasts her a couple of days since her appetite isn't what it used to be.  Yesterday it rained hard all day - it was the most miserable weather imaginable, to be honest.  Nothing else for it but get the fires lit, the Christmas tunes on and make the most of our little family gathering.  Very pleasant it was, too.

Herms, Heads, Philosophers, Emperors

Another lith print from Sunday's adventures in the dark room.  This shot was nearly very bad for my health.  I had just exited the entrance of Trinity College on Broad Street, Oxford (here) and thought the view of the Sheldonian Theatre with it's heads on plinths was worth wasting a frame on.  The Sheldonian was designed by a Mr Christopher Wren, apparently - in or around the year 1669.  I wonder what became of him?  Anyway, as I edged towards the street I guess I was a little distracted by the scene in front of me and before I knew it, a cyclist almost took me out.  A bit too close for comfort, it was.  I'm sure he saw me but he wasn't for swerving, no siree.  Anyway, I stepped back behind the safety of the bollards, tried not to think too much about it and got on with the shot:

Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. 
OM4ti/24mm Zuiko, HP5 on Foma 131 and Moersch Easylith developer

This was another of those negatives which was not-very-interesting on regular paper, but the lith seemed to bring a little extra to it.  More about the heads on the plinths, or herms to give them their proper title, can be found here.

Donegal courtyard

I was looking through my posts of this year, in preparation for an 'Annual Review' (something I haven't done before) when I realised it has been a while since I've done any lith printing.  So yesterday I remedied that.  Not all darkroom papers respond to lith developer - in fact, very few do, but my bestie Foma produce a very good lithable paper (131), albeit on the warm side.  

This was a shot from an early summer trip to Donegal, when we ended up driving through the village of Dunfanaghy, on the Northern shores of Donegal.  I'd printed it before, but not shown it here as the print was decidedly 'meh', but lith brought it a little more to life:

A small courtyard in Donegal.  I liked the palm tree and I liked the old shed, with its raggedy roof.  
Hasselblad, PanF 50 on Foma 131 paper, over-exposed in the darkroom by 1 stop. 

I'd forgotten what a slow process lith is - the image takes about 5 minutes to appear and then another 5 or 10 to get to completion.  The developer is heated significantly more than usual - to around 26 or so degrees, rather than the usual 20 - and the image is over-exposed under the enlarger, by anything up to 4 stops.  'Completion' is a relative term here, since the image accelerates once it begins to react to the developer and you need to be ready to lift the print from the developer before it gets away from you and all the life goes out of it.  Snatch it too early, on the other hand, and you've no contrast in your print. You are under safelight conditions so it's not always easy to determine the right point.  I guess its one of of the things I like about lith - no two prints are going to be exactly the same.

Beachcomber

 In Portstewart they haul the small fishing boats out of the water for the winter:

OM4ti/85mm, HP5 in Ilford HC; Ilford MG Classic paper

The apartments behind are on the site of the old Windsor Hotel and were put up a few years ago.  I suspect they're all second homes or AirBnB holiday lets now.

Spuds

Spuds. Praties. Potatoes.  You can boil them, roast them, mash them, chip them, bake them and probably a whole lot more.  We Ulster folk make bread from them and call it fadge, or just potato bread/potato farl.  I guess it's the soil and the weather we get here in Ireland that makes them the number one food grown.  Maybe that's changed now, but certainly in the past it was potatoes all the way.  The farm next door was bringing the spuds in the other week and I wandered down with the camera, to see what I could see. 

Bringing in the spuds, 2022.  OM4ti/85mm Zuiko, HP5 on Ilford MG Classic paper.  
I think this might tone, which I'll try later and post the result if it's acceptable.

On another note, I mixed up a new batch of thiourea toner yesterday and toned a couple of prints I had lying around.  This one you might remember from the other day, which I think took it well:

If you're interested in such things, I like a subtle tone, not too heavy, so I mix quite a weak toner - this was 4g of Sodium Hydroxide in 700ml of water (plus 7.5g of the other ingredient, thiocarbamide).  You've got to remember to add the sodium hydroxide to water (not the other way around) and to use cold water, as the reaction is strongly exothermic.  I have my nitrile gloves, glasses and mask on, to be sure - I don't fancy any of this stuff splashing up around my face when I'm mixing it up.

The water and the Clan

 My niece, in contemplative mood, at River Roe a few weeks ago:

At Sir Thomas Phillips weir in Roe Valley Park, Limavady.  Sir Thomas Phillips, an English knight, was granted large swathes of land by the City of London around this area back in the 17th Century - land that had previously been reigned over by the O'Cahan clan. The last O'Cahan chief died in the Tower of London in 1626.
OM4ti and most likely 35mm f/2.8 Zuiko; HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper.

Over the years the Roe has cut a deep gorge through the rock and at times there's an impressive flood of water coming through the weir - although not so much the day we were there, when the water wasn't particularly high. Still, the flow is mesmerising and you could spend hours just sitting peacefully and clearing the mind of the daily rubbish.  The water is almost as dark as it appears in the print and has a pronounced reddish tinge to it (the name Roe may well come from the Irish word for red, rua).  The colour might be attributed to large amounts of iron found in some places along the river, although we always thought it might be more to do with the peaty soil up in the Sperrin Mountains where it springs from. 

The Temple

When in Portstewart the other morning the light was pretty good. Mussenden Temple was lit up way in the distance, so I snapped 'er up - it's the dot on the edge of the cliff top in the middle background - as if you don't know by now :)

View through Portstewart playpark towards Downhill, one brisk November morning
OM4ti, 85mm Zuiko, HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper

Ballymoney Mural

Down towards the bottom of the main drag in Ballymoney is a small shopping arcade and on one of the wall there's a mural depicting the Dunlop family of motorbike road racers: Joey, brother Robert and his two sons William and Michael (out of shot on the right).  The Dunlop family hail from the village of Armoy, not far away.  I stood opposite the mural for a while in the hope that someone would walk past and eventually they did, although I could have timed it better as he kind of blurs into the background a bit:

 

Three of the Dunlop family, plus anonymous walker, Ballymoney.  OM4ti/85mm/HP5+/Ilford MG Classic paper.

All three riders depicted here were killed while doing what they loved, road racing motorbikes, a sport that doesn't give you many second chances.  The second of Robert's son's, Michael, still rides - he took his 20th win at this year's Isle of Man TT.  Both sons famously decided to race at our local North West 200 event in 2008, two days after their father Robert had been killed in practice - in spite of race organisers ruling they shouldn't/couldn't.  Both lined their bikes up on the grid and no-one was going to physically haul them off.  Michael went on to win the 250cc race and it's fair to say there was a lot of emotion in that win.

Joey Dunlop (on the left) was for many the main man - the first of the Armoy Armada road racers.  I didn't know him personally, but as a lad I photographed him often at the North West 200 races around the  Portstewart-Coleraine-Portrush triangle, always with his trademark yellow helmet. He seemed a happy soul, always smiling and looking like he was enjoying every moment.  He famously slept in his van at race weekends, beside his bikes and covered from head to toe in grease, even as a multiple world champion.  When asked once about what it was like on a machine at a rate of knots along country roads, he replied:  'There's a grey blur and a green blur - I try to keep on the grey one'. 

Feeding time

I had an early morning stroll along Portstewart Prom the other day.  There was a biting wind and I almost turned back but decided to persevere.  Up at western end by the bandstand I came across this feller having a nutritious breakfast al fresco while a young seagull looked on from about as close as it safely could.  The guy turned round to see what I was up to but he was more interested in his bacon bap or whatever it was rather than me so I was able to get a couple of shots.

"Hey mister I'm hungry too".  OM4ti/85mm Zuiko, via HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper.

I did a slight burn-in around the edges of the print and also on his breakfast roll, but the strong morning sun has it almost bleached out so there's not much detail on the bun, unfortunately.  

St Ann's Hotel, Buxton

There's a swanky new Spa Hotel in the Crescent in Buxton and I'm guessing it replaces an older establishment, since this was left in the stonework of the building:

Part of the original hotel in the Buxton Crescent, I guess. 
OM4ti with probably 35mm Zuiko; HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper.

Just opposite the Crescent is St Ann's Spring, which is probably the reason for Buxton being a Spa town in the first place, as well as reason for the name of the original hotel on this site. 

A tale of two darkroom papers

I don't really do much technical stuff on this place.  I doubt that will change much but today I thought I would mention a little play I had last Sunday morning with a couple of different darkroom papers - my recent go-to, Foma 133 and Ilford's fibre multigrade classic paper. They are different beasts, that's for sure.

I guess my motivation was down to the fact that I'd just used my last sheet of Foma 133, whereas I still have some Ilford MG Classic left.  I have a selection of others, too (Foma, Ilford, Adox and Slavich) which I fully intend to 'use up' before buying another sheet of new paper.  Most of it is in the freezer but even there it won't last forever, so it's getting used. My wife will be happy there's space being freed up in the freezer.  Also, it might inspire me to get out and take some decent shots.  Something needs to, that's for sure.

So, this was my last sheet from the box of 100 10"x8" Foma 133:

Breaking wave at Ballintoy. Cropped from the square ('Blad, 150mm, FP4+ in Ilford HC)

I was happy with this - the Foma did a fine job of giving some detail in the highlights (the breaking wave) while still keeping texture in the rocks.  This was a straight print - out of the box using the figures for exposure and grade from the enlarger probe.  I've an LED head, which defaults to split-grade printing and it works a treat with this paper.

The blurb for Foma 133 states that it has a warm image tone, suitable for portrait photography and retro-style work.  It goes on to say that the paper is manufactured using a special silver chlorobromide emulsion that gives the image a brown green to warm brown tone that can be further influenced by the type of developer used.  I used good old Ilford Multigrade develeper, so nothing special there.  This is the fine-grain, velvet finish, baryta coated - it's available in glossy and semi-matt as well.  I know I've said it before, but I really love this paper.

To satisfy my curiosity, I printed the same scene on Ilford MG Classic fibre paper, which Ilford describe as premium quality (225g/m2) baryta-coated paper designed for all enlarger types, with improved DMax and shorter exposure time, neutral image, great clarity and good response to toners.  It's available in glossy and matt finishes - this is the glossy:

Same scene, different paper. 

Again, this is a straight print, using the time and grade suggested by my enlarger probe.  This actually looks a lot better than it did when it came out of the fix, where there was very little detail visible in the sky at all.  Clearly dry-down is more significant with this paper than with the Foma.  It's a much brighter and more contrasty print - the highlight detail has been lost in the wave but the rocks are pretty similar in both prints, given the differences in the paper base (warm tone in the Foma, neutral in the Ilford).  

I thought I should be able to do better with the Ilford, so I dialed in an extra chunk of exposure at grade 0 for the whole print and then a shorter exposure at grade 5 to up the contrast in the sky with a partial burn-in.  This was the result:

 

Second attempt with the Ilford paper

So this is much improved over the first attempt - the sky has more oomph and there's a bit more detail in the wave highlight, though still not as much as with the Foma.  

I'm getting close to the original print on the Foma paper and with another couple of iterations I might get there.  But at this stage it's probably time to sit back and think about the bigger picture.  The two emulsions are plainly different and trying to make one look like the other is, well, probably kind of stupid.  There's a lot of variables in the process - the negative itself, my enlarger LED head, the probe and the built-in configurations for the two papers.  What is clear is that for my setup, for this negative, the out-of-the-box straight print competition is won hands-down by Foma.  For a different negative we might see a different result.  It's horses for courses.  Isn't it always?

Stormy Weather

 Where else but Ballintoy Harbour:

Cropped from square; 'Blad/150mm lens, FP4+ in Ilfotec HC, on Foma 133 paper.

Posing with the Bard

If I had a penny for every time someone stood by this statue for a photograph I reckon I'd be pretty wealthy.  In the middle of Stratford-upon-Avon, of course...

Shakespeare&admirers, Stratford, 2022. I wonder that the pointing girl is saying - 'Move over that way a bit', perhaps.
OM4ti with probably a 35mm Zuiko f/2.8, HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper.

We did Shakespeare at school, of course - and I never read another word of his afterwards.  How do they manage to do that, I wonder?  And the worst of it is, we had (I thought) an absolutely fantastic English teacher who I really liked.  In junior years we did Richard II - you know, the one where John of Gaunt says This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle... and that's about the only thing I remember about the whole thing.  Then a few years later we did...wait for it, A Midsummer Night's Dream - the one with all the fairies dancing in the forest and what have you - perfect for an all boy's school. I jest, of course - most of us hated A Midsummer Night's Dream, I just didn't understand what the heck was going on.  In fact, I didn't really get Richard II either, truth be told.  And I was an avid reader - still am.  Looking back, I think it was because it was never explained to us how to read a play - I had no idea how to get to grips with all the characters and how to extract the plot from the dialog.  So, that was my experience of "the greatest writer in the English Language".  

  

Derry Girls

Are you a fan of the show?  We watch it - well, my wife is a Derry Girl herself and I used to live and work in the city so we have to, really.  It's good and mostly we go along with it in spirit but as in so many comedies these days the language is a tad colourful, which puts us off.  A bit like that other Irish sitcom, Mrs Brown's Boys, which I can honestly say I've never watched an episode of - the first few minutes was enough for me.  I think the language thing is all too often used as a crutch for poor writing - when all else fails, throw in a few F's and sure that'll carry the scene.  Anyway, that's just my $0.02.

The big Derry Girls mural in the city is striking - you can't miss it when walking around the walls.  My niece duly posed for a shot, and through luck and perspective I managed to get her head more or less the same size as the drawn figures - all part of the plan, of course ;)

Derry Girls, plus new cast member, 2022.  HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper.

Buxton

 It seems like an age ago we were dropping Missy off to start her second year at Uni, but in reality it was only about 6 weeks ago.  Oxford was less than a 3 hour drive from Liverpool/Birkenhead but we had planned to take a couple of days to ourselves on the way back.  We stayed one night in Stratford and for the second night we drove up to Buxton, on the edge of the Peak District.  From there it would be relatively easy cross-country dash to Birkenhead.  I'd never been to that part of the country before so it was all new to me.  Buxton is, or was, a Spa town, of which there are a few dotted around England - Bath being perhaps the most famous.  I was looking forward to it.  

The drive North was straightforward enough with Sat-Nav, although there were a couple of times I'd have been totally flummoxed without it, having to switch lanes right and then left in quick succession.  We started out on the A3400, which you could say was the picturesque route through that part of the Cotswolds north of Oxford, by way of a succession of rather easy-on-the-eye villages.  It was vaguely familiar to me, since for a year I used to drive from my placement year in Solihull back and forth to Oxford to meet up with my brother and friends, but that was nearly 40 years ago so things had changed a bit in that time.  I never remembered any A3400, but I was certain it was the same road and then I passed a sign that read, "A3400, formerly the A34".  Ah...now it made sense!  The A34 definitely rang some bells.  It's not a road to drive if you are in a hurry, though, as each village had a strict 40mph limit - reinforced by a hellish number of fixed speed cameras dotted about.  Fair enough - we weren't in a rush.  We kept to the backroads all the way North and eventually the landscape changed from Cotswoldy-twee-ness to a more rural environment, with sheep and mile upon mile of dry-stone walls.  Eventually we hit our destination, dumped the car at the hotel and headed off to explore the Spa Town of Buxton.  

No offence to the good people of Buxton, but it was nothing like I expected.  I guess it didn't help that our hotel (Premier Inn, dependably clean and comfortable) was on the less salubrious side of town, so our walk into the centre didn't fire our senses with anticipation of what was to come.  By the time we hit the main drag it was late afternoon and most places seemed to be on the verge of closing, or had closed.  There weren't a lot of people about but there seemed to be a lot of pet shops.  A lot.  And the town looked and felt nothing like Bath, with its wonderful architecture and lively ambiance. We started to look around for places where we might eat later on.  We didn't find any.  Well, there was a fish and chip shop/restaurant but my wife took one look at it and said No, so that was that.  Behind the main square the land fell away quite steeply and we realised that was where the 'Spa' part of Buxton lay, so we girded our loins, headed downwards and tried not to think about the steep uphill walk back.

Buxton.  The fancy part.  OM4ti, HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic

Once we got down the hill the architecture looked more like the Spa town we had been expecting.  There was a Georgian crescent (pictured), impressive looking domed buildings and what seemed to be a rather beautiful park.  This is more like it, we thought.  We dropped into a hotel for a small libation in one of the nicer buildings (from the outside) and quickly dropped out again.  Inside it looked very tired and strangely quiet, so we resorted to another aimless dander about.  We poked our heads into a large pub but it was jammed packed and noisy so we didn't stop (it looked like a Wetherspoon's and therefore not the authentic Buxton experience that we were after).  The next pub we came across, which looked promising from the outside, turned out to be closed down.  We never did find anywhere to eat (we ate back at the hotel - it seemed like the safest option).  We found more pet shops, though.  

So that was our experience of Buxton and we won't be back.  Granted we only had one evening in the town and perhaps if we'd only walked a little further we'd have come across all manner of lovely restaurants, bars and bistros - but on this occasion they eluded us.  We left with the impression Buxton's best days are well and truly behind it.  

Inside Derry's Guildhall

The Guildhall in Derry~Londonderry is really something - and it has a great permanent exhibition on the Plantation of Ulster, where large swathes of land were given over to the London Guilds (Drapers, Clothworkers, Vintners, Mercers etc) on the understanding they would invest and build a brighter future for everyone.  It didn't quite work out like that, of course, but that's another story for another day (and probably somewhere else other than this place).  Anyway, I took The Brother and his daughter up to the city for a day and we did the Guildhall, the Walls and Badger's Bar & Restaurant for a spot of lunch.  I had the OM4ti with me and these handheld shots were taken with the Zuiko 24mm, on HP5+ rated at 800:

Norman & Beard Pipe Organ in the Guildhall, from 1891.  A thing of beauty it is, too. 
On Ilford MG Classic paper.

The Organ dominates one end of the Great Hall and the other end is given over to a decent amount of stained glass windows:

Stained Glass Windows of the Great Hall. 
The detail and colour of the glass is impressive - but you'll have to take my work for that. 

In other news, both my wife and I have been a bit under the weather recently, with what we assumed was a bad cold/flu.  My wife had a bad head all week whereas I was just a bit under the weather, feeling a little tired and with a bit of a cough.  We never even thought about that-other-thing, until someone suggested we do a test and sure enough, both of us tested positive.  My wife has been hit a lot harder than me but I had my last booster in May, whereas my wife's was almost a year ago, so that may well explain it.  Either way, we seem to be on the mend, albeit slowly.  As Covid began to spread, I was pretty sure we couldn't avoid getting it at some point, but the goal was always to try for that not to happen in the first wave so Mission Accomplished with regard to that.  Hopefully we'll bounce back without any lasting issues.  

S at BH

Here's my American niece, who we shall refer to as S, enjoying some good sea air at Ballintoy Harbour the other week:

'Blad/150mm Sonnar, FP4+ on Foma 133 paper.

Should that be 'whom'?  I think it should, but I'm a tad hazy on these things.

Dunluce Castle and Benbane Head

Looking East from the new viewing platform at Magheracross - the ruins of Dunluce Castle in the foreground and Benbane Head (Causeway territory) in the distance:

The view changes, not surprisingly, depending on the light and on the day we were there, the light was good.  There was a fierce wind, mind you, but that's hard to capture on film when there aren't any trees or flags around. 
Via the 'Blad/150mm Sonnar, FP4+, Ilfotec HC and Foma 133 paper.

 Apparently there was a castle here in the 13th Century but the ruins you see here date from the 16th&17th Centuries.  Dunluce served as the seat of the Earls of Antrim - either the McQuillans or the McDonnells depending on when you happened to pass by.  Eventually, when the money dried up, it was abandoned to the elements - various bits fell into the sea and stones were scavenged for other projects.  At one time, due to marriage, it was part-owned by Winston Churchill but he gave his share to the Northern Irish government in 1928.  I had a walk around it a few years ago and to be honest there isn't much to see, but it's a pleasant enough place to dander about, sit on the stones and wonder what life must have been like back in the day.  Fairly brutal, I'd imagine.

Big Seas at Ballintoy

Naturally when The Brother was over we had days out.  Pretty much every day, actually, which was great.  Ballintoy Harbour was a given and on the day we visited, the seas were spectacularly big and the light was good:

  

Big seas at Ballintoy Harbour, October 2022. 
Hasselblad/150mm, FP4+ in HC, on Foma 133 paper. Slight burn in on the sky.
Not long after this we could see rain coming in across the sea from the North, so we beat a hasty retreat to the car.  We didn't mind as we'd had a great couple of hours walking about and, well, just looking at the sea.

Old friend

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by an old friend who I kicked around with at Uni some 40 years ago. Hadn’t seen him since then although we hooked up on social media a while back. The gist of the message was that he & family were having a short break in The Liberties (Portrush) and if I was around it might be good to grab a drink & a catch up. So we did just that - and obviously I brought Mr Hasselblad with me to capture the moment:

Mike, by the banks of the River Bann, September 2022. 60mm CB lens, FP4 on Foma 133 paper.
(Updated scan from the original post)

Although obviously a lot of years have passed since we last saw each other, it doesn't take long before the traits and personality of the person we used to know surfaces.  Soon we were reminiscing about our carefree student days in the lovely city of Bath.  These days he seems to spend a large part of his life travelling to and from The Continent with work, so he was bemoaning the whole Brexit thing, which has introduced a whole new level of paperwork and hassle for him.  I'm glad he reached out - it was good to catch up.

The Diamond Hall

The Diamond Hall at the Ulster University campus next door to where I live is a real 1960s classic.  It was refurbished about 10 years ago.  To be fair, I don't think Foma 133 was the right paper for this subject matter - it could do with a less toned paper with a bright base.  Something like Adox MCC would have been a better choice although it didn't help matters that it was a very dull day when I was there:

On the 'Blad, FP4+, Foma 133.  The shadow lying across the quad is down to a little problem I had in the darkroom - a bit of light entering where it shouldn't have been.  Fixed now, I hope.

Yesterday I took Brother and Niece to Belfast, to start their long journey back to Illinois.  The trouble with us living so far apart is that when we do hook up it's for a limited time and so we fill our days.  As a result, my wife and I are completely zonked now.  Still, it was worth it - what with Covid we hadn't seen each other for about 3 or 4 years, which has been the longest time not seeing each other for...ever, actually.  So it was great - even if our chat this time around was peppered with talk of retirement options, pension funds and the general bad state of things in the world.  While there are still decisions we can take, there's a lot in the world that we as individuals can't change and so there comes a point when you just have to get on with things that are in your power to do.  So I'm off in a minute to catch up on developing a few films from our days out over the last couple of weeks.  There's still a buzz at the moment I take the film out of the Photo-Flo and grab a first look at the negs as I hang them to dry.  I don't think that will ever change and I know I'm not alone in that.  When I get them on the light box for a decent look then I'm automatically thinking which ones will be worth sacrificing a sheet of paper on.  Hopefully there'll be a few in this batch worth showing on this place.

Busy busy

I'm grabbing a few minutes on a very wet Sunday to write this post.  Brother and his daughter are here for a few more days before they head down to Dublin and then back to the US of A.  It's great having them here but it's busy busy, with lots of days out and lots of cooking.  We've done OK with the weather - managed to dodge the worst of the showers so far - but the last couple of days have seen a notable downturn and today it's rained all day.  Given we're well into October now that's to be expected in this part of the world.  I've no chance of getting into the darkroom for another few days but the good news is I've a couple of films waiting to be developed, so I'm looking forward to catching up when things get back to normal.  In the meantime, here's another print from the Portstewart Prom series from a while ago:

The lady with the pram has obviously clocked me but seems OK with having a Hasselblad pointed at her.  Probably the 50mm Distagon, FP4+ on Foma 133 paper.

He didn’t drink here

In my youth I frequented many an Ale House in England, and it was a common sight to see a sign hanging saying that ‘William Shakespeare’ drank here. Or maybe I’m confusing him with Charles Dickens. Anyway, my wife and I ventured into Stratford’s oldest pub, The Garrick, for a small libation. Although the building dates back to the 1400s it wasn’t a public house until after Shakespeare’s time so it seems fairly safe to say that he didn’t drink here, which is a tad ironic. Inside, it’s obviously a very old building, with small cosy rooms, stone floors and lots of timber beams and we had a pleasant time while figuring out options for dinner. We could have eaten there but it’s run by a big chain (Greene King) and I’m generally not a fan of these chain eateries.  We opted for a Thai Restaurant next door and in hindsight that wasn’t a great choice, Both my wife and I are ok with spicy food but both our dishes were off the scale hot and we came away wishing we’d gone elsewhere. In fact, we didn’t get good food anywhere on our trip this time - even Oxford let us down. Or maybe we were all tired and out of sorts. Part of the problem I think is that we cook pretty well at home, so when you are forking out decent money in a restaurant it’s annoying when you come away thinking you could do a lot better in your own house for a lot less.

Inside The Garrick, Stratford.  I presume that's the Man Himself on the extreme left, or a representation of him.  For this shot I placed the OM4ti on the bar and pressed the shutter, as it was pretty dark in there.  HP5+ at 800, developed in Ilfotec HC, printed on Foma 133. 

I read that the hospitality industry in the UK is in dire straits - mainly due to the huge increases in electricity and fuel costs.  This month our electricity increases by 40% - and that's on top of earlier rises his year of 30%, so it has pretty much doubled in a year.  Much like the cost of gas and kerosene, which we use for home heating.  I think there isn't going to be a lot of spare change around UK households this winter, so I expect a lot of pubs and restaurants will be under severe pressure.  It's going to be a tough winter and no doubt it'll be the coldest on record, as that's the way it seems to go in life.

The Bard's House

We didn't hang about too long in Oxford - decided it was best to leave Missy to it, once we'd stocked her fridge and larder and made sure she had all the essentials for her bedsit.  Her bedsit, which costs an arm and a leg, by the way - Uni Halls of Residence are not cheap. Still, she's safe and warm and that's one less thing for my wife and I to worry about.

We planned to take a couple of days to ourselves before getting the ferry back from Liverpool-Birkenhead to Belfast, and the first of those days was spent in Stratford upon Avon - birthplace, as I'm sure you know, of a certain Bill Shakespeare.  

This was one of those 'compose-and-wait' shots.  Wait until there was decent separation between the actors in the foreground.  That's Shakespeare's house in the background, of course, and it sits in the middle of Stratford's high street.  To be honest, there ain't a lot else in the town other than the museum (out of shot to the right) and the huge Royal Shakespeare Company theatre down by the river. It's pleasant enough but we'll not be rushing back any time soon. 
OM4ti/35mm Zuiko, HP5+ on Foma 133 paper.

Apple on gate

Close by Harcourt Hill campus in Oxford lies a very pleasant nature walk (North Hinksey) and it was perfect for a stretch of the legs after the 3-hour drive from Birkenhead the day before.  Someone (not me) had placed this fallen apple on top of a gate:

I did think about how I wanted this scene to be represented - although it might not seem that way ;)
In the end, I left the foreground dark, with just a hint of detail showing.  Too much detail and it would detract from the apple. 
So this is it. I briefly flirted with the idea of doing an exaggerated dodge around the apple - a bit like Ralph Gibson’s hand on doorknob shot, but I didn’t this time around. If I’m ever bored enough to print it again I might try it.
OM4ti/35mm/HP5+/Ilfotec HC/Foma 133 paper.

I just looked at Ralph Gibson’s shot again and it’s more subtle than I remembered. The hand is dark, so it looks like he dodged the area behind it before printing the hand. And then the shadow of the hand appears on the opposite wall, so it’s a very cleverly constructed (and executed) image.

Teacher and child

This statue sits in the grounds of the Harcourt Hill campus of Oxford Brookes - we've walked past it a few times en route to the bus from Missy's Room.  There's a quote from the bible on the plinth (Proverbs: Train up the child in the way he should go - the statue is Christ and the Child) but I took it more as Teacher-Learner kind of thing.  It's a big 'un - stands around 30 feet tall.

The scan doesn't do the print justice, unfortunately - the figures appear darker and the sky lighter in the scan.  I haven't the PS skills to make the necessary adjustments.
OM4ti, 35mm f/2.8 Zuiko.  HP5+ rated at 800, developed in Ilfotec HC 1:31 for 9m30s, printed on Foma 133 paper.

I thought it was made from concrete - it looks like concrete - but I read that the Uni commissioned a fibreglass replacement of the original, which had deteriorated since it's construction in 1958.  So I'm not sure.  If I'd touched it I might have been able to figure it out, but I didn't.

Close-up of the lower part:

Lovely mid-tones with HP5+ - well, in the print there are, if not the scan.

It was bittersweet getting our daughter re-installed in her room for another year.   Great that she was looking forward to it but sad to be saying Goodbye.  We made it a quick farewell, so as not to prolong the agony.  She'll be fine once she re-connects with her friends and her course gets underway.  My wife and I will be fine too, once we get used to the empty nest again.  Anyway, my brother and his daughter arrive in 4 days time, so it'll not be empty for another couple of weeks.  At the moment we've no time to think about anything other than getting beds made and giving the place a bit of a clean in preparation. 

Nettlefold Countersunk Screws

Here they are, or the boxes at least:

FP4+ via the 'Blad and probably an extension tube and Softar filter as well.  One taken a couple of years ago but printed last weekend, on Foma 133 paper.

As you read this I'm not here.  I'm ‘across the water’, taking Missy back to start her second year at Uni.  (Across the water is a good old Northern Irish saying, which means I’ve crossed the Irish Sea and am somewhere on the mainland. The Mainland is another one, of course). 

Unfortunately our planned trip to Rathlin Island before we left home didn't materialise - substituted instead for a trip to Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast to get her hip scanned, as she's been having some pain in it recently.  They think it's bursitis and with some exercises it should go away.  Still, I wish it hadn't appeared in the first place, especially just before a long car journey and then the start of a busy year for Miss.  Fingers crossed it'll settle quickly.

This trip will almost end a summer of monumental busyness in my life. It’s been non-stop since we dropped The Wee One off in Wales for her field trip at the end of May, before driving to Oxford to clear her room for the summer.  Heck she had a lot of stuff! The end of June saw my stepson’s wedding, closely followed by his Best Man’s wedding in July. Then Missy dropped the bombshell that she was breaking up with her boyfriend of over two years. That required a lot of us siting talking it out and supporting her through a difficult time. He didn’t take it well and things were starting to get a little troubling at one stage, but it all seems to have settled now. In the middle of that my mother had a new central heating system installed (and a couple of new windows) and we had major groundworks around the house, including the felling of about a dozen big trees. There was a lot of mess and since we opted to keep the wood felled to burn, the place still looks like a bomb site. As a result, - as you have probably noticed - the number of times I’ve been out with a camera has been very few.

The end is almost in sight. Almost, but not quite as a week after we get back from England my brother and his eldest daughter arrive from Chicago. We used to see each other every year, either in Ireland or in Illinois but because of Covid it’s been about 3 years since we last saw each other. I’m looking forward to it immensely, but I know there will be work involved.  

Fast forward to November and my wife and I are planning a much-needed holiday - just the two of us, a few books and a chance to do very little. It takes a lot to prise me away from home these days but this time around I’m ready for it. That’s assuming Easyjet don’t screw us up, of course. 

PS I’m unable to reply to comments while I’m away - Google isn’t letting me sign in.  Could be a browser permissions thing. Anyway, I’ll get to them on my return home later this week. 

Just there

As I wandered around the Palm House in Belfast's Botanic Gardens the other week (sheltering from the showers, as you do in August in Ireland), I couldn't see much to photograph with the Nikon F2 I had with me.  (My F2 has a metered DP-11 Head (which makes it an F2A, I think, but I’m not really on top of the myriad of F2-Head combinations that exist). I really wish it had the simpler, non-metered, DE-1 head instead.  That would save a little weight, which would be good and I don’t use the meter in the Nikon anyway. It’s hard to see and I'm used to metering with an external meter (usually the little Sekonic L-308 unless I'm feeling all creative & Zone Systemy in which case I take the larger Sekonic L-508 spot meter).  I’ve looked at acquiring a DE-1 head, but it would probably be cheaper to buy a complete F2 with that head rather than the DE-1 head alone. No, I can’t quite figure that out myself either). 

Anyway, as I peered a little more closely at the plants in the Palm House I noticed a figure sat among them.  It was roughly carved but it was kind of just right the way it was, playing silent music for the Palm House flora and fauna:

Palm House Musician.  HP5+ on Foma 133 paper.

I found a second figure, in stone this time:

At peace in the forest of the Palm House, Botanic Gardens, Belfast. Not entirely sure about the ‘at peace’, though - the figure looks rather sad and maybe a little defensive posed as it is.

Breaking Wave

 At Dunseverick, from a while back:

I'm not quite sure what happened to this print - it looks like someone has scrawled all over the sky with a pencil. It’s not on the neg. 
HP5+ via the 'Blad and some lens.

I see that William Klein has died, at the age of 96. Seems to be a popular age to go these days. What a body of work he has left behind, eh? Wiki has him as ‘25th on the Professional Photographers 100 most Influential Photographers’. He’s not on my go-to list of people for inspiration but when I searched online for his work I was surprised how many photographs I recognised & how much I liked his work, so perhaps he should be. He certainly got up close and personal to his subjects. Is that do-able today, I wonder? 

Taunton, 1987

Back in 1987 I was working and living in Taunton, Somerset.  Looking back, it was pretty idyllic.  Taunton was then a lovely small market town, the people were typical West Country (very friendly) and the surrounding countryside was stunning.  The country pubs were pretty amazing, too.  I was in my first job after graduating, teaching at the Richard Huish Sixth Form College and the kids were all in the 16+ age bracket, full of life.  They were the most pleasant students to work with and I was only a few years older than some of them, which made for some interesting times.  It was all good though.  Well, apart from my health, which was beginning to impinge on my enjoyment of the situation.  By the end of my first year teaching I was called in for my second hip replacement and so I found myself in Musgrove Park Hospital, first for surgery and then for physiotherapy.  I'm getting to the point of this story soon, I promise.

On my elbow crutches, so not long after surgery in 1987.  I don't have too many shots from this era, as when you are starting off teaching you hardly have time to draw breath, let alone take photographs.  On Kodachrome, via OM-1.

Whilst in and out for physio, it was announced that a new wing of the hospital was to be opened - and a very important person, or people, were to cut the ribbon.  The new wing was to be known as the Queen's Building.  Ah-ha, now you see where I'm going with this.

For some reason I was invited to be part of the day - and all I had to do was lie on my bed and pretend to be doing my exercises when HRH passed by.   Sure what else would I be doing, I though to myself - might as well.  A week or so before the Queen and Duke were due to arrive the whole place went into lockdown - police were everywhere.  The route they would be coming was swept and manhole covers were sealed.   Inside the hospital was thoroughly searched and uniformed officers were posted at all the entrances and on the wards.  I didn't have a badge or pass or anything but I guess I looked sick enough to be genuine as I don't remember ever being stopped and asked the purpose for me being there.  Though I did remember thinking 'Did no-one here ever watch the film, The Day of the Jackal'?  Remember how the character played by Edward Fox smuggled a rifle through the lines of police when trying to assassinate de Gaulle?  I was able to walk through all the police that morning in Taunton on my crutches, without once being stopped and searched.  Had I been stopped, things might been interesting, what with my Northern Irish accent.  But I wasn't and I ended up on my hospital bed as planned, as we all waited for the arrival of you-know-who.

Suddenly the door to the ward opened and in they came.  The Duke immediately went over to chat up a young lady in the bed opposite to me and next thing I knew the Queen was standing at the foot of my bed while the Director of Nursing explained why I was there and what I was doing.  My physio put me through my usual leg strengthening exercises as the Queen looked on.  'It looks jolly hard work' she said to me and then she gave me her trademark smile, which was, I have to say, rather beautiful.  

So that was my story about meeting Queen Elizabeth II.  I'm sure countless others have stories too, for she certainly got out and about over the what, 70 years and 214 days of her reign.  That was a heck of an innings.

As I thought about it later that evening there was only one thing I wish I had done differently.  Given that the exercise I was doing when HRH was at the foot of my bed was working on my leg adductors and abductors (moving my leg in and out to the side), I wish I'd worn a slightly longer pair of shorts. 

Farming Life

One thing that stood out in the Ballymoney Agricultural Show was the engagement of young people - there were a lot of teenage boys and girls wanting to show off their farm animals. 

Young fellow with Belted Galloway bull.  I assume the bull is young but I don't think these boys grow as big as other breeds.  I like this shot, not just for the subjects centre stage but for what's going on in the background.
M6/Canon 50mm ltm lens, HP5+ on Foma 133.

Life on a farm is pretty busy and while the young 'uns at the Show were clearly enjoying the day I wonder how many will end up in the business.  Our neighbour DC has recently sold off his dairy herd, which was a bit of a shock.  Understandable, though, since he's not getting any younger and neither of his children were going to carry on the business.  It's sad as this looks like the end of the road for full-time farming in that particular family - DC took over the farm from his father, who is now in his late 80s and not in good health.  But DC senior still rolls out of bed at 4am most days and heads down to the farm to help, in whatever way he can - milking was at 5am and on a clear still morning we could hear the faint hum of the milking machines.  Same again at 5pm.  Some evenings DC is out until midnight on his tractor, maybe cutting silage or turning it. My mother would be complaining to me the next morning she couldn't get to sleep for the noise.  I'm guessing DC has no trouble sleeping, when his head finally hits the pillow.

Decay

You might recall we've been doing some tree-felling around home recently, on account of a number of big old trees that were diseased.  Ash die-back is going through our country like a dose of salts at the minute - I don't know that many, or any, will survive and that's going to have a real impact on our landscape.  We also had a couple of big sycamore trees that had fungi growing on them and apparently that's a sign that all is not well.  Eventually, the tree will rot and usually from the inside, so you probably won't even notice - and that's a tad worrying when the trees are too close to the house for comfort.  Here's another shot of one of the cut logs and you can see the beginnings of decay in the middle (eventually there'll just be a big hole through the middle of the trunk, as shown in an earlier post):

Via the 'Blad/150mm Zeiss Sonnar, FP4+ on Foma 133 paper.