Secret Handshakes

A while back I gathered all my late Uncle's Masonic gear together in an attempt to document it, using an Olympus OM-1 and standard 50mm lens.  FP4+ was the film of choice and of course none other than the current favourite paper, Foma 133.  According to the manufacturer's notes, ideal for portrait and retro-style photography.  

I've posted before about my Uncle, who lived and worked in Belfast pretty much all of his adult life.  In the 60s and 70s it was common for men to have their societies and for professionals who were also Protestants, that pretty much meant Freemasonry and similar, such as the Royal Black Preceptory.  There were probably others too - I'm not big up on these, having never personally felt the need.  I suspect that membership is falling but I've no evidence for that, it's just my haunch given that society today is a little more inclusive and the need for all-boys-clubs is perhaps less than it once was.  I could be wrong, of course.

Impressive certificate (on very heavy parchment)

My Uncle had a ton of gear - they seem to have been highly ceremonial and ritualistic Societies (and probably still are).  Aprons, badges, medals, certificates, rings, sashes - you name it, he had it.  My mother finds the whole thing a bit scary - she refused to have the stuff inside her house.  I don't know if 'Secret Societies' would be an accurate description, but certainly parts of the ceremonies are shrouded in mystery to the outsider and certain words are never written down but must be communicated verbally only.  And we all know about the secret handshake.  Fair enough - I don't judge and to be honest I don't really have that great an interest in the whole thing.  My Uncle never really spoke about them to any degree that I can remember, other than to say they were, on the whole, Charitable Organisations.  He rose to be quite high up in several of them, from what I can see.  I suspect part of the attraction was simply to 'get out of the house' for a while and enjoy a night out with the lads - good food, interesting company and almost certainly a glass or two as well. 

A fraction of the regalia gathered together in a rather random fashion. 
I've no idea if this stuff belongs together or not, by the way. I also hope I don't get visited by shadowy figures any time soon for revealing anything which should not be have been revealed, but I'm also sure there's a lot more information 'out there' than appears on this page.

In the early 1980s, when my Uncle would have been big into this, I was living in England and for a year I found myself working at the British Gas Research Station in Solihull. I was on a 12-month placement then from my undergraduate degree.  When my time was up, I made an appointment to see the Divisional Head - someone who I never really had any dealings with other than to say 'Good Morning' when our paths crossed.  We said the usual things in that situation (Thanks for the opportunity, Good work well done etc) and as I took my leave we shook hands.  That was, I think, the one and only time I experienced 'the handshake' but it was only as I exited his office I thought to myself, What the heck was that?  

Foma 133 was the answer

What, you might well ask, was the question?  Well if you've been following my posts on the Ballymoney Agricultural Show prints you'd know that I've been lamenting the awful sunny weather that day.  I know, ironic for someone living in Northern Ireland - you'd think we'd be glad of full sun when it comes.  Most times we are, of course, but it does present challenges when out with a camera - harsh shadows and bleached out whites to name a couple.  Still, that aside, I couldn't seem to get a decent print from any of the negatives - and they looked OK on the light box, with visible texture in the black hides of the cattle and some detail present in the white topcoats of the people showing their animals.  Just that the results I was getting on paper were distinctly average.  I tried Ilford MG Classic fibre paper (see here) and then a few sheets of Fomaspeed RCVC Oyster paper (here) and neither really worked that well. 

So yesterday morning I was lying in bed wondering what to do (Sunday morning is my usual slot for darkroom work, when the house is generally quiet).  I thought I'd give the negs one last try before moving on to something else and decided to go for an old favourite - Foma 133 Velvet fibre paper.   I'd had good results on it for some Still Life shots and it had worked a treat on some older negatives (see here and here). 

Firstly, I sacrificed a sheet of Ilford MG Classic paper, for reference: 

Then I printed the same using Foma 133.  It's a much slower paper than the Ilford, two stops at least.

The guy at the front has rather cleverly managed to hide one of his legs.  HP5+ developed in HC-110.

The warm tone of the Foma paper has really taken the sting out of the strong sunlight and it works so much better for this shot.  Looking at them side-by-side the Ilford looks a bit under-printed but I'm not inclined to do any more with it.  I'll settle for the Foma for this set of negatives.

Tinker, tailor, soldier...

Well, maybe not quite John Le Carré characters but sure we all need a bit of imagination.  The Country Shows are usually a good hunting ground for 'characters' and Ballymoney was no exception.  None of these shots are are for the wall but anyway, here they are for your amusement - cattle man, horse man and sheep man:

Cattle man, taking a well-earned rest.  

Horse man, keeping a watch on proceedings (or maybe waiting for the Apocalypse).  Amazing the amount of gear needed to bring animals to the the Show.

Sheep man.  Into the sun this one so not getting much detail on his face, unfortunately.  Still, the sheep look happy.
All on the M6/50mm Canon ltm lens, HP5+ on RCVC Oyster paper.

The Union Theological College of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

 The title says it all, really:

In Belfast, it is.  It's an impressive building.  One lonely wee car looking a bit lost in the big forecourt - is that symbolic of the state of Presbyterianism in Ireland, I wonder?
HP5+ on Fotospeed RCVC Oyster paper.

St Mary Magdalene

The original Church of St Mary Magdalene, in Woodstock, was built a few years ago for the convenience of Henry 1, William the Conqueror's fourth son.  So roughly sometime around the year 1100.  OK it's been rebuilt a few times since then but still, that's pretty impressive.  It's a really lovely Church and the adjoining graveyard was probably the most peaceful place I have ever had the pleasure of walking around.  

Beautiful Church stonework.  HP5+ on one of the last few sheets of Fotospeed RCVC paper that I have.

Surprisingly these days the door was open - they are trusting folk in Oxfordshire!  

I should probably have dialled this down a bit but there's slightly more roof detail present in the print than on the scan.

You can read a little about the Church here.  The church clock is no ordinary clock, apparently - it's a carillon (that's a new one for me) - a musical clock which plays a tune four times a day, with a different tune for each day of the week.  

Woodstock

That's Woodstock the village in Oxfordshire, not the other one with all the bands.  This Woodstock is still famous, though, being the location of Blenheim Palace, one of the greatest of all the great buildings in England.  Home to the Duke of Marlborough, birthplace of Winston Churchill, etc etc.  We had an evening to ourselves last time we were over there and we drove out to the village for a very pleasant dander about.  I suspect during the day it's heaving with tourists coming to visit the Palace but it was virtually deserted when we were there, which was rather nice.

A cosy little corner in Woodstock.  OM4ti on HP5+.  Fotospeed RCVC paper.

¡Carpa!

Almost all the buildings in the village are stone and the whole place is very easy on the eye.  

Note the Northern Ireland registered car outside the hotel - they get everywhere, the Irish.

At the end of the village we came upon one of the back entrances to the Palace and the Park and as there was no-one around we snuck our heads through the gate to take a look.  I took a couple of shots but the Palace itself was about a mile away and barely visible - you can see it better here.  I noted the cost of an entrance ticket was a princely £40 but I guess it's the sort of place you should be figuring on spending a whole day in, exploring the grounds as well as the buildings, so on that basis I suppose the cost is about right - it's a once in a lifetime thing.  

All the lads, young and old

There was a good mix of girls and boys, young and old at the Ballymoney Show - it's a real family affair.  I'm sure in the farming community these shows are probably a rare day off for many, so everyone is in good spirits - the camaraderie was obvious. When I was lining up the shot in the previous post, of the girl showing her prize-winning Charolais, I suddenly felt my cap being lifted off my head.  The girl's dad (I presume) took it without saying a word to me.  Next thing he was in front of the bull waving it about, trying to distract it and get it to lift its head.  I didn't mind in the least - in fact, I was secretly rather chuffed that he felt comfortable enough to do that...as if my mere presence at the Show meant I had been accepted into the community.  We had a laugh about it as he passed it back to me.  

At times the lads seemed to congregate together - there must have been something of interest with these animals, though I never found out what:

Belted Galloway at the front (not sure of the other ones). 

I like the expression on the boy's face as he looks at the animal in this one:

Again, I'm not sure of the breed but this was definitely one of the smaller animals at the Cattle Show.

The Show must go on

We're back to the Ballymoney Agricultural Show for a couple of posts.  I shot 2 films fairly quickly that morning before the energy levels started to drop and I was looking forward to seeing the results.  But overall I was disappointed with what I managed to capture and as yet can't quite put my finger on the reason.  Probably not any one thing in particular, more likely a combination of things (including my ineptitude).  It was, unusually for here, full sun which I don't think helped.  Compounded by the fact that the people showing the animals had white-than-white topcoats on - everything was either bleached out or in strong shadow.  The Canon 50mm ltm I had on the front of the M6 didn't seem to cope too well with the conditions.  

This girl was very proud of her prize-winning Charolais bull - and rightly so.  He was quite the boy.  I'm not au fait with the art of showing animals but here in the prize-winners enclosure she spent a long time getting him in the right position, walking him around and around until she was happy with how he was standing for the official photographer (not me).  They all had a long-handled crook device, with a sharp pointed end and hook - it reminded me of one of those things they had when I was at primary school to open high windows with - they used to hook it round a metal ring attached to the window to pull it open/push it shut.  In this context, they used it to prod the gap in the hooves of the animals, which caused them enough discomfort to move their legs back in order, obviously, to get them standing properly.  The handlers were brave enough at times, I thought - this fellow let out a few bellows when he was being prodded.  But she obviously knew what she was doing.  On HP5+ printed on MG Classic paper.  Yep, white(ish) bull, handler in white coat, against a painted white background - just the thing for a bright sunny day...