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'.