Equivalents

I'm not doing much new these days, hence the lack of posting on this place.  The weather over Christmas has been horrendous and we're all pretty much house bound.  What I am working on is a presentation to 'The Club' in just over a week's time...the first I've done for a couple of years, so I thought I'd post some shots I'm using just to keep things ticking over.

The working title of my talk is 'Looking for Inspiration' and the goal is to suggest some practical ways of overcoming the photographic doldrums that we find ourselves in from time to time.  

You may be familiar with the work of Arthur Stieglitz, who was a photographer back in the early part of last century.  He took a series of shots of clouds - about 350 in total.  In his own words, "Through clouds [I wanted] to put down my philosophy of life—to show that my photographs were not due to subject matter—not to special trees, or faces, or interiors, to special privileges, clouds were there for everyone—no tax as yet on them—free."  He called his series 'Equivalents' and you can see some of them here.

I like clouds and we get some great cloud formations in this part of the world.  And the best bit is that you don't have to go anywhere special to photograph them - just look up.

So here are a couple of my Equivalents, taken over the last few years and all from the skies above the North East Liberties of Coleraine in good ol' Ulster.  As you can see, not too many are of 'just clouds' - I've a lot more shots where aspects of the land are included, albeit with the cloud formations still a dominant feature. 

Compare and contrast

Another lith print for your amusement today, of a shot you might remember from a while back.  I'll put the two print scans on this page to make the comparison easier.  Here's the lith print:

And here's the original one developed in Multigrade, on the same Foma 133 paper:

I liked the original well enough at the time, but comparing the two prints side by side the lith definitely takes the prize, for me.  I like the warmth in it.  Both the stone and the ironwork have responded better to the lith developer. 

Back at it

Some lith, for a change.  The shot you might remember from a while back (click here to compare it to a straight print):

Somewhere in Oxford.  Foma 133 in Moersch Easylith

The difference between using lith developer and good ol' Multigrade isn't vast on this paper.  It's the first time I've tried lith on the Foma 133 and it's OK.  It's not as warm in the lith as Foma's sister paper 131 and the look isn't as striking. Development was pretty standard by lith standards - around the 10-12 minute mark, at 27-ish degree temperature, but the infectious development part wasn't very infectious, if you know what I mean.  It just kind of got there, pretty uniformly slowly and not much signs of development speeding up as it normally would in lith. Still, the result is acceptable and it's nice to have another paper option which works in lith.

You may recall I’ve been to the Rheumatics hospital in Bath. It was good, I enjoyed the course, although I was pretty bushed after two weeks of stretching and hydro work.  It is kind of a weird time, being away from home and cast into the midst of strangers for two weeks.  Sharing breakfast, lunch and dinner….as well as group based therapy. There’s good and bad, I suppose.

The journey back didn't help the fatigue. Bristol airport is undergoing major works and the place is chaos.  Plus, the only road into and out of the airport from the Bath/Bristol side is also being redesigned.  The tailbacks in all directions were severe - what should have taken about an hour from Bath ended up being nearly 2 and half hours.  Fortunately I had noticed the traffic backed up when I arrived, so I got an earlier coach than I would normally have picked.  Even so, there were a few minutes near the end when I was starting to think I wasn't going to make my flight. I did make it, just, but it was a closer call than I would have liked.  It felt very good to be home.

Taking the waters

I’m away from home for a little bit, in Bath, having treatment to help the aches and stiffness resulting from a lot of years of ankylosing spondylitis. I used to go every 3 or so years, but since everything stopped during Covid it’s been over six years since I was last here. In that time the old Mineral Water hospital in the centre of Bath has closed and the course has relocated to the bigger hospital on the outskirts of the city. The facilities are first rate, as is the accommodation, but it just ain’t the same not being in the centre of town.

Phone snap of the new 'Min'.  The hydro pool is on the right, behind the fancy windows.

Facilities in the Brownsword Therapies Centre. 
Right at the top is the Ankylosing Spondylitis Course.  Quite right, too!

Having called it ankylosing spondylitis (AS) for several decades we now have to get used to a new, umbrella term: Axial Spondyloarthropathy, or AxSpa for short (phew!)  Well, AS is still valid, but only where skeletal changes are present under X-ray.  With the advent of biologic drugs some years ago, there are fewer cases presenting with bone fusion, which is of course a good thing.  So with my fused spine and neck, I come under Radiographic AxSpa, whereas someone without the fusion (but still with inflammation and probably pain) would be labelled Non-radiographic AxSpa.  Got it?!

Ivy, in iron

 While standing around the square near the entrance to the Bodleian I noticed this rather lovely bit of railing at the base of one of the stone columns:

Spotmatic/28mm/FP4+/Foma133
I reckon this would lith well.  It's a while since I've done any lith printing - I'll rectify that soon.

I like the way it wends its way around the column, almost like an ivy.  Although the little spikes look like happy jesters (or sad, for the drooping ones).  Either way, it must have taken a bit of skill.  

My mum was listening to a radio programme the other day and it happened to offer a reason why the beautiful buildings in Oxford weren't obliterated during the Second World War.  It's an interesting reason.  Wanna take a guess?

Scroll down and I'll tell yah, then.

The reason?  A certain Mr Hitler rather fancied setting up home in Oxford after his successful invasion of England. Obviously he didn't want to live in a bombed out shell of a city.  I told you it was a good one!

Contrast to Bath, which was bombed a lot, especially around the Circus and Royal Crescent.  Amazingly both survived untouched, but most of the buildings around them were destroyed. 

The Temple on the cliff edge

It's challenging (for me, anyway) to get a good shot of Mussenden Temple from Downhill Beach.  If I walk down the beach and get closer to the Temple then it's just a big black blob against the sky.  Maybe I don't go at the right time of day.  I've photographed it manys-a-time from up top - like here, which you might recall.  Anyway, this is about the best I have managed from the beach recently:

Spotmatic/28mm/HP5+/Foma133

The Temple is as near as damn it right on the cliff edge - more so than it looks in this shot.  A few years back the National Trust drilled a number large steel bolts into the cliff in order, I guess, to underpin the foundations.  

On the Prom

 Portstewart Prom, of course:

Enjoying a catch-up, with a good view of Donegal.
Olympus OM-1, 50mm, HP5+, Foma133