a printer's life

From a while back, this one.  I never really got this one looking the way I wanted on regular paper&developer  - the print never reflected what I could see on the negative.  I can't show you, as all the prints I did went in the round filing basket in the darkroom (you know the one...gets emptied now and again).

Anyway, I was looking through my recent negs the other day and thought I'd try it again, in some lith developer this time and this is what came out (Foma MG131 paper if you're interested in that sort of detail).  For sure it's not perfect, but I felt it was getting there - in the sky at least:

I just had to stop the car at the side of the road when driving back home that day and point the old Square-shooter over the barbed wire fence.  The light over the North Antrim countryside was pretty spectacular at that moment, I must admit.  I had no meter with me and anyway the sun was threatening to go behind one of the many clouds up there at any minute and dull everything down so I guessed the exposure and hoped for the best.  Turned out OK - the neg holds all the information I need, that's clear.  The next step is to go back and print it using regular developer...try to get that sky coming through and see what gives. Naturally I'll let y'all know how it goes...

Oh, nearly forgot - I found a blog the other day which I'm enjoying.  It's by a dude called Laurent Girard who has been darkroom-printing professionally in New York for several decades - with many top photographers.  As might be expected, it's not your usual 'darkroom' blog - he seems to have forgotten to post anything for about a year and I'm not too fussed about the last post he did write.  Hmm...sounds great so far, eh? But his older posts are, well, simply a fascinating insight into the life of a professional printer - a dying breed for sure.  If you like your darkroom printing, or are even interested in the process from afar, I can seriously recommend a printer's life (the link takes you to the first entry in the blog).

Downhill Forest

A favourite walk of ours is through Downhill Forest, just a short drive from here and which is lovely at any time of the year.  So-called as there is a right big hill which leads down to the sea.  Well, unless your coming back home, that is, in which case it's uphill of course...

I took this one a while back but never got around to printing it.  Yesterday I snuck into the darkroom in the morning and used Foma MG131 Fibre paper in some Moersch Easylith developer - about 20ml of A + 20ml of B in 1litre of water, about 25 degrees.  The image came good after a couple of minutes and was done in about 5 minutes.

I'm happy with this one - the print looks good to my eyes.  The lith brings out the texture in the stone wall to the right of the stream nicely and the foliage too.  Handheld on the Hasselblad, 50mm lens (I think) and a yellow-green filter.

Derrykeighan Church

Derrykeighan Church of Ireland lies almost in the village of Dervock, just a short drive away:

I had stopped the car at the side of the road and got out with the 'Blad, got my composure sorted as best I could and was thinking this was going to be OK - as a documentary sort of snap, y'know.  Now Dervock is a fairly quiet wee place - as you can imagine there ain't a whole lot going on there, so imagine my dismay when just as I was about to press the shutter release a car drives past me up to the church.  I'm a little ashamed to say the thoughts inside my head weren't particularly God-like at that moment.  But the little car trundled up around the side of the church and thankfully parked up so that it was completely hidden by the Notice Board.  So I got my snap off OK in the end - and that's all that mattered, right?!

The church is built from basalt and the stone is a lot darker than it appears in the shot above.  That's what using Foma MG131 Fibre paper in Moersch Easylith developer does for you, but I think it makes for a more interesting print.

Derrykeighan was one of those places we used to pass through on a Sunday afternoon when my father would drive us all up to the Antrim Hills for a day out.  There used to be a little corner shop and he would stop there and buy choc-ices for everyone.  In those days it seemed like it was a long way from home but in reality is wasn't more than about a 20 minute drive.  Funny when I think about it now, how time seemed to pass slower as a kid.  I suppose it's all relative to your age...

Believe it or not, I once knew of a girl called Kerry Deighan.  Not that she lived in DerryKeighan, mind you - that would have been just too good.

A game that no-one wins

It's been a tough day today, with the news coming in from Manchester.  It doesn't help when you've a teenage daughter who has tickets for a very similar concert in Belfast later in the year.  Just when we thought we'd got rid of all that nonsense in this part of the world, eh?  My thoughts are with the families of those murdered and injured.

This blog is not the place for politics.  I generally don't comment. But for some reason this one has got my dander up.  Let me say my piece and then no more.

In this part of the world we had 'The Troubles' where there were bombs going on and off for the best part of 30 years.  I'm lucky - I chose good parents.  I lived in a place that was relatively immune from it all.  And I'm stupid enough to realise I could have a very different outlook on life given different circumstances.

It's hard to make sense of anything these days, it really is - the more I read, the more I despair about the human condition.  Well, perhaps not the human condition per se, more so the way the world is going, I suppose.  I do see the struggle that certain communities have to survive and thrive in difficult environments and there are grass-roots movements which offer hope.  That, I think, is where the future lies, even if those voices aren't heard by the large part.  What I don't get - and never will - is the point where a person thinks that detonating a bomb in a place where innocent men, women and children are going about their daily business is a Good Thing.  For sure it gets people attention, but at what cost?

In this part of the world we have what is called the politics of 'What-about-ery'.  For every Bloody Sunday there is a Kingsmill.  Arguments dissolve into a 'He started it' slanging match and before you know it we're talking about events that happened hundreds of years ago.  What-about-ery is often used to justify anything, no matter how base a deed. It's a bloody game that no-one wins.

But you didn't come here for this.  Life must go on - 'tis the nature of the thing.  As trivial as it seems, here we go - back to the usual photographic observations on the state of play in the North East Liberties of Coleraine in May of 2017.

The symmetry of these two parked up on Portstewart Prom last week caught my eye:

Notice the flashy new chromed railings and the new pavement, part of a large refurb last year.  I like the railings - they should be good for lines and that.  We've got fancy new LED street lights as well, but Mother doesn't like them.  I don't either - they're dark in colour and keep getting in the background of me snaps and standing out like a sort thumb - like in this one of Missy here from a few days ago.

Taken on the 'Blad/50mm combo.  I cropped it, just to see:

Not sure which I prefer.  I might try a lith print next, just to inject some, well, lithiness to it. You never know...

Triumph

Another one from Portstewart taken during Race Week:

HP5+, Warmtone RC paper.  Via the 'Blad/50mm combination - roughly equivalent to 28mm on a 35mm format although it could be any one of three possibilities, since the aspect ratios are different.  This page tells all.  The square format is very addictive.

Buttermilk pancakes and an Indian

This Bad Boy was parked up on The Prom last Friday and I have to admit, it looked pretty damn good.  All shiny chrome and luscious lines with that big V-Twin engine what have you.  Not sure it would be my cup of tea were I a biker, but I can appreciate something different and well put together from time to time.  This is a tightly cropped version of a print I made for my Facebook Fiends - crop of a scan of the original print with a digitally added border (I know - yuk!):

Indian Easyrider bike, Portstewart Promenade, 2017.  On HP5+/Ilford Warmtone RC paper.

Here's a scan of the original print, just for good measure:

The reason I cropped it was the crane in the background - OK so I lost the cow-horn handlebars and the funky wing mirror, but I felt the crane in the background was too distracting so I did what was necessary.  In hindsight perhaps I was too critical.  

There are cranes all over the place these days - can't move for them on account of all the new building going on.  Properties in Portstewart with a "Sea View" go for a premium - well north of half a £million is not uncommon. Mostly outside money, of course - there are no jobs in the area which could support local ownership of such expensive properties and not that many businesses either.  What passes for industry around The Liberties would be farming and tourism.  We'll soon be like all those other seaside towns across the UK - full of people who 'come down from the city' for the weekend expecting skinny lattes and croissants and wine bars and what-have-you and then the place is deserted on a cold wintry morning in November and you'll be lucky to get a decent drop of tea and a buttermilk pancake.  Actually, come to think about it, I'll take that any day of the week - I quite like cold wintry mornings in November without many people around.  And I'm happy with a decent cup of tea and a buttermilk pancake too.

Race week

At this time of year in The Liberties the annual North West 200 road races take place (motorbikes).  The circuit is on public roads, which are of course closed for the practice and race days.  As speeds of up to 200mph are reached there is a huge effort made to make it as safe as possible, with many hundreds of straw bales attached to lamp posts, stone walls etc.  Still, when accidents happen they can be pretty bad, as you can well imagine given the speeds involved.  Thankfully this year there were no fatalities even though one of the winners described the course as 'terrifying', largely due to the fact that there had been quite a lot of rain on the main race day (Saturday) and the roads were somewhat greasy.  I can only imagine what that must have been like.

Now I do get that motorsport is not everyone's thing,  but it's part of what we do in this neck of the woods, with races in Cookstown, Tandragee, Dundrod, and Armoy to name a few.  Indeed, the road-racing season is a big thing in many peoples' lives in Northern Ireland.  If it is your cup of tea, you might be able to catch some of this year's NW200 action from BBC here.  I'm not sure but I think the BBC might restrict access to some of their content so if you can't see that link then there are a few YouTube videos that are good - this one I think is still one of the best - New Zealander Bruce Anstey passes the end of 'our road' at about 1m38s in.

It's one thing riding the circuit at high speed, it must be quite another when you are doing 190mph and only a few inches from another rider - hopefully someone who knows what they are doing, eh? US film photography blogger Jim Grey of Down the Road fame might possibly remember the part of the circuit at 3m10s, where him and his new wife Margaret took time out from their honeymoon to meet me in Portrush last September.  It's funny watching this video - these are the roads between Coleraine, Portstewart and Portrush that I drive every day to and from school and the beach.  Not at these speeds, of course.

When I was a callow youth I liked nothing better than crawling up to a hedge at the side of the road and poking my OM-1 and 200mm lens through it to photograph the bikes as they sped past.  But I don't photograph the racing any more - it's hard these days to get close to the action.  Also, to be honest I don't want to get that close - I don't know if it's my age or the fact I'm a parent but these days I'm thinking more about the danger rather than the thrill.

So now I contend myself with a walk around Portstewart on the Friday evening of Race Week and see what ends up on me film - sometimes not a lot, it has to be said.  But this week I'll show you a few of the darkroom prints that I made at the weekend.  I was out with a camera not always known for its street-photography prowess, a Hasselblad 501cm.  Certainly not as convenient as a 35mm camera, but when you get those negs back in the darkroom it's hard to not to think you made the right choice...every time.

I asked this biker lad and ladette if they would mind if I took their photograph and they duly consented.  Ice-creams almost finished, coffees ready to go they were clearly enjoying themselves.  I kicked myself afterwards - I should have asked their names. The band is setting up in the bandstand to the right (that funny building to the right with a roof like a witch's hat).

This particular print, on Ilford Warmtone RC paper, looks way better than the scan - I don't enjoy scanning and like to get it over with as quickly as possible.  I know I should spend some time learning how to scan better, since I'm doing this blog-thing, but nowadays the less time spent at a computer the better.  That's just the way it is.

Anyway, there's something about this shot I really like.  I had asked the couple just to carry on as normal and ignore me while I attended to the usual composition and focus.  Certainly they knew they were being snapped (hard not to with a 'Blad pointing at them) but they still look pretty relaxed.

I dunked the print in some sepia toner just to see what gave - not sure if it helped or not, mind you.