49 year old negatives

For most the past week I've been printing some negatives shot back by The Brother way back in 1977 when we were both spotty teenagers.  An old school friend of his had requested prints from the Stranglers concert that we all went to - my first 'real' concert and from that moment on I was a Stranglers fan.  The group themselves evolved from the 'punk' label to, well, I don't know what exactly, but evolve they did and are still going - albeit with only one original member playing.  Two have passed away and the lead singer left a long time ago to pursue a solo career (Hugh Cornwall, who is still touring).  Hard to believe that was almost 50 years ago.  Where does the time go, eh?

Anyway, the printing was challenging as the negs were very thin, low in contrast.  A good bit of dodging and burning was needed to try to inject some atmosphere into them.  Here's the final offerings, which included a wash in pot ferri to tease out those highlights and bring the contrast up.  On Fomabrom112 paper, which might not have been the best choice but it's all I had to hand.

 

 

This last shot is a little risqué so if of a nervous disposition don't scroll down.  In fairness, it was the punk era and the t-shirt is a now-iconic Vivienne Westwood creation, or so I'm told.

Fairground ride

Still printing shots from the Feira De Santa Iría, all taken on the Yashica T4 on FP4+.   The fairground rides at the Festival were out of this world - the organisers have clearly honed their craft over the 400+ years the festival has been running.  At night, the place came alive with people - especially young 'uns.  The music was loud, the air full of dry ice and heavy with the smell of street food - a great atmosphere I had to admit.  It felt like a very safe place to be for teenagers - there was no evidence of antisocial behaviour or out-of-control drinking, which unfortunately is all too common in the UK these days.  My wife and I enjoyed a mosey around but after a while we were happy enough to leave it to the young people and head off to somewhere quieter for a bite to eat. 

The Yashica did a pretty good job of sorting out the exposure - it's a small 35mm point'n'click camera, auto-everything and a reliable little travel companion.

Spectacular rides in Faro.  Fomabrom112 paper