Skyscraper

From a dander about last week, I give you Coleraine's one and only skyscraper, on the University Campus.  Yup, all nine floors of it (the ground floor is just out of shot).  You might remember this pinhole shot of the same building but today's is via a camera with a lens:

Ulster Uni campus building, Coleraine.  Hasselblad/50mm, Fomapan 100 in HC-110 (1:63 for 10 minutes), on Ilford Cooltone RC paper.

I haven't used Fomapan 100 before so this was a bit of an experiment but I exposed it at box speed and use the suggested dilution&times from the Massive Dev Chart app.  The negs came out looking good.  I would certainly use this film again.

The print required a burn-in on the bottom right and I over-cooked it every so slightly, so the building looks a little darker than it should in that area.  This one is going on a wall so I shall re-print it at some stage and try to be a little less heavy-handed.

Don't look too closely

Last weekend was busy - another trip over to Oxford to install Missy in her new Halls.  We should have probably flown over on the Thursday, given that we had to get up at 3am Friday morning to catch the 7 o'clock flight from Belfast to Birmingham but I was counting pennies.  This way saved a night in a hotel for the three of us but it made Friday very long and extremely tiring so in hindsight it was probably a poor decision.  Hopefully this will be the last 'move' for a while - until June at least, when it is likely Missy will have to vacate her room for the summer.  We'll deal with that issue closer to the time.  Logistically this is all very challenging for us, as when we are in Oxford we are car-less, so are reliant on public transport (which is very good) and taxis (also good, but expensive).

I was intending to take an old 'doesn't matter if it gets bashed about a bit' Pentax P30 with a 28-80 zoom but as usual we were tight on space so at the last minute I changed my mind and took the Yashica T4 instead, which is much smaller and lighter.  The downside is that it's auto-everything and I kept forgetting to make sure the focus patch was where I wanted it.  So I missed a lot of shots.  This one, taken on the Saturday as we had a dander around town, isn't too bad (provided you don't look too closely):

Irish girl in Gloucester Green outdoor market, Oxford, Jan 2022.  Cropped to square from 35mm.  Yashica T4, HP5+ in HC-110, on Ilford Cooltone RC paper.  I'm not a huge fan of the Cooltone paper, especially on skin tones, which is why I've still half a box full which has been sitting around for a few years.  I'm trying to use it up while thinking about what to order next as a general purpose paper.  

The Birds

I was looking for inspiration the other morning in Portstewart.  Well, to tell the truth I was looking for anything remotely interesting in order to finish the roll of Delta 3200 I had in the 'Blad.  These pigeons were feeding on the ground (I think someone had thrown some seed out for them) but they were very skittish and rose up at the slightest disturbance before settling down again.  As luck would have it just as I got into position "someone" made enough of a noise to set them off again :)

Pigeons in Portstewart.  Donegal in the murky distance on a very overcast and dull morning.  Same technical details as the last print (Delta 3200@800, HC-110 on MGV paper).  Grain is slightly accentuated as this was cropped a little.  I like the gull just standing on the shore, minding its own business as the pigeons flap about all in a dither.

There's a bit of staining/marking on the right of the print which I suspect are drying marks.  I do use a wetting agent but when I think about it, I open the spiral after the wash sequence and dunk the film in the final rinse - essentially water with a few drops of Photo-Flo added.  At this stage the film is still fairly tightly curled.  I think what is happening is that not all frames are getting sufficiently rinsed with the Photo-Flo and hence the drying marks. Now that the film is dried and cut what I need to do is re-rinse this negative in the wetting agent and see if the marks disappear.  I shall update this post accordingly. Stand By Everyone...

Update: OK so re-washing the negative in Photo-Flo has indeed removed the marks, so I need a slight adjustment to my process.  Namely, to uncurl the film in the final wash/rinse and ensure that all frames get a bit of access to the wetting agent.

Not Banksy

Portstewart has had a bit of street art appear recently.  Actually it's happened in a few towns in the area, funded by the local council in order to 'encourage footfall'.  More, please, in my opinion.  This one sits just under Dominican College:

Wall mural in Portstewart.  Hasselblad, 60mm lens.  Ilford Delta 3200 which I rated at 800 and developed in HC-110 1:31 for the recommended 7m30s.  It needed longer - I forgot to compensate for the fact that the day was very dull and overcast. As a result most of the shots were printed at Grade 4 or above, even on MGV paper.

Playground

I'm always drawn to this playpark when in Portrush - it has interesting geometry.  Unfortunately last week the light was very dull compared to when I last photographed it on the 'Blad (here) but it still offered something:

Playpark at Portrush.  OM4ti, 85mm on HP5+, Foma 313 paper.

Actually on reflection I'm not sure it offered very much at all, when I compare it to the previous shot. There's some repetition of the lines and curves (which I like) but it could do with a bit of sparkle. Can't win 'em all.  Still, sometimes it's just good to be out with a camera and not worry too much about the outcome.

Return to Portstewart Strand

A while ago I took a shot from the dunes on Portstewart Strand with the pinhole - (this one).  I thought it might be worth a return trip on another windy day so a couple of weeks ago I did just that, with the 'Blad this time.  This was how it turned out:

Long exposure on the dunes, looking towards Inishowen (Donegal).  Hasselblad 501cm with 50mm Distagon FLE.  FP4+ in HC-110, Foma 313 paper.  The sky was burnt in a bit and the foreground required dodging to reveal the detail in the grass.

You can't really compare the two shots like for like - different days, formats and fields of views (4x5, 21mm equivalent vs 6x6, 28mm equivalent).  Also, one is taken without a lens at all and the other (this one) is on one of the most expensive film medium format camera-lens combinations you can get.  This one gets my vote (that's a relief, eh?!) but I'm constantly surprised by the results from the Harman/Walker TiTAN pinhole.

Nobody Wins

You might remember my last post of a pre-Christmas visit to our friend June.  We were able to combine that visit with a short trip to my wife's mother's grave, to lay some flowers and think about her not being around the table for Christmas.  She was born and lived in Derry and was laid to rest about 18th months ago in the City Cemetery.   Derry/Londonderry is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and is perhaps most famous in recent times for the Civil Rights marches of the late 1960s/early '70s.  Unfortunately it had more than it's fair share of death and destruction during the 1970s, '80s and even into the '90s.  Thankfully when I landed there in 1997, fresh from almost 20 years in the South of England, change was underway and I have a lot of good memories from my time there - including meeting a certain significant other who now shares my life.

A few steps from my mother-in-law's grave and it's not hard to spot the memorials erected in memory of the many IRA volunteers who lost their lives during The Troubles - some through natural causes but many 'on active service'.  This is where large commemorations are held every Easter (as well as at other times to remember individuals) - remembering the Irish Republican insurrection against the British Government in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916.

Tribute in Derry City Cemetery to members of the IRA who lost their lives. 
Hasselblad, 50mm, FP4 in HC-110, Foma 133 paper. 

There are a lot of names on the marble, some more familiar than others.  Martin McGuinness is one that many will recognise - former leader in the Provisional IRA who ended up in government as deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland.  I picked another name at random - John McDaid, who died on 7th December 1974 when a bomb he was carrying prematurely exploded.   One article I read online described him as a seasoned and trusted volunteer.  He was 16 years old.  

Now I could leave the story there - after all, this place is supposed to be about my photography, but I think it needs a few more words.  How messed up are things when a 16 year old dies when transporting a bomb? As my wife (who grew up in Derry at the height of The Troubles) reminded me, context is everything.   Two years previously, in 1972, was the event that became known as Bloody Sunday where 26 people on a protest march were shot by British soldiers.  Thirteen people died that day and a fourteenth later died from his injuries.  Some 38 years later the Savile Investigation concluded that the killings were unjustified and unjustifiable.  At the time, this event and others in the City caused a massive backlash from the community in Derry and there is little doubt that many angry young people wanted to push back against the British Army.  It was not a normal time and certainly wasn't a normal life for many people in the City.  This article makes difficult reading but gives an insight into the sorts of events (and propaganda) that peppered everyday life for teenagers in this part of the world in the early 70s. Thank goodness we are in a far better place today. 

The Visit

We made one (and only one) visit to a friend before Christmas this year...mostly on account of Missy being home for the first time since early September.  Eighteen and a half years ago June was praying for my wife's labour to last a little bit longer than my wife would have liked, for the simple and selfish reason that the new arrival and June could share the same birth date - and that is indeed how things panned out.  So June has been a constant in Missy's life ever since and was longing to hear all the news from Uni and the City of Oxford.  We're all triple-jabbed but I was still a little nervous - June isn't as young as she used to be and well, the rest of us have our health issues too but we decided this would be our one-and-only visit of the season and we'd keep it short.   I took the 'Blad - probably not the best choice for indoor shooting in the dark days of December.   The scene metered about 1 second and without a tripod I was forced to prop the camera up on a footstool.  The result was predictably soft:

Missy and her life-long friend June, December 2021.  Hasselblad/50mm, FP4+ in HC-110, on Foma 313.

There's over a 60-year age difference between these two ladies.  I think we all, in our different ways, got a lot out of our visit.  But the next one might have to wait for warmer weather when we can all sit outdoors.

Taking the Air

Another pinhole shot from my walk around Ulster Uni campus the other day.  For this one I was able to set the small tripod on a wall so it is as sharp as a pinhole shot ever is.  Exposure was around the minute mark, if I remember correctly.  

Cropped to 35mm dimensions from 4x5.  Fomapan 200 @ 50, HC-110 1:50 for 6m40 (Uniroller), Foma 313 paper.  I rather like this scene on the pinhole...think I might have to return and waste some more film there.  Soon, hopefully.

As you can see I managed to capture the air as it moved during the exposure.  That's really the only feasible answer...