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.