Grandkids!

The big news here in The Liberties is that my wife and I have become grandparents!  My wife's youngest boy (who is now in his early thirties) and his wife have somehow managed to make two lovely babies at the same time.  A boy and a girl, who of course are just the cutest most perfect little people imaginable.  So be prepared for the odd photograph or two, once things settle down a little - they just came home at the weekend and are still very tiny (the girl is just over 4lbs weight, the boy a little bigger).  It was an emotional week for everyone but mother and babies are all well so that's the main thing.

(You might remember this shot of the new mummy from a while back).

In the meantime, here's another lith print for you, detail of the front of Holy Trinity Church of Ireland in Ballycastle:

Hasselblad, 150mm, FP4+ on Foma MG Classic 133 Velvet paper, Moersch Easylith developer

Portstewart Bay on lith

I actually got myself out and about a bit over the last couple of weeks and Saturday just past the cloud formations were rather nice.  This was the view over Portstewart Bay, with Donegal in the far distance.  I had a few sheets of Foma 133 left, the fibre-based chlorobromide emulsion which, they say, is suitable for lith and bromoil.  Here's what I got:

'Blad, 150mm; FP4+ in Ilfotec HC on Foma 133, lith

I was expecting some a bit warmer, closer to the Foma 131 classic paper.  In the end the result was maybe halfway between the the almost-too-warm 131 and the oh-so-cold Slavich paper.  Quite nice, I thought.

Central Arcade

The Central Arcade in Newcastle looks like it was built a long time ago - the mosaic tiling on the floor, the antique lights and the curved glass ceiling make you stop and stare for a good while as you pass through.  There used to be a very large and beautiful music shop on the right - the sort of place where you could drool at the guitars in the windows and browse the extensive collection of vinyl records.  Extensive and expensive.  On our last trip the shop had closed and all stock removed.  What a shame. 

Central Arcade, Newcastle. 
HP5+ on Foma 313.

St Patrick's Day Shenanigans

Happy St Patrick's Day!  Patron Saint of Ireland and all that.  Legend has it that the big man, when he was a young man, was captured from his home in England and transported to Ireland, where he tended swine on nearby Slemish Mountain (more of a big hill, truth be told).  Then he got a kind of enlightenment or something, went back to England (strange decision that one) before returning to the homeland and bringing the message of Christianity with him.  Oh and he banished all snakes from the country too.  Good job,  I say - and definitely beats tending pigs up Slemish where it kind of rains a lot.

Anyway, I actually stole a few hours in the darkroom last week and printed a few more from my Newcastle walkabouts:

The famous bridge over the Tyne, Newcastle.
HP5+ on Foma 313.

The Nikon N80 coped remarkably well saying as I was pointing it directly into strong sun in auto-exposure mode. The negs weren't overblown and still retained a little detail in the shadows although it can be tricky to keep that detail in the final print.  I think I ended up printing around grade 0.5, which gives you an idea of the dynamic range in the negative (multigrade papers can handle anything from grade 0 to grade 5 and the norm would be around grade 3). 

It's very pleasant down by the river in Newcastle but actually getting there from the centre of the town was not so easy for me. The nearest Metro is some way away and there's a big drop in elevation to get to the river.  Missy and I ended up traversing several dozen stone steps which were clearly very old and very uneven.  Not my favourite pastime, that, but we managed it OK and had a lovely stroll along the water.  Coffee and cake included. By the time we hiked back up to town I was ready for a small libation, not to mention two small collations. 

Not much happens in Coleraine for St Patrick's Day, by the way.  We don't turn the river green or anything, like they do in the well-known Irish city of Chicago.  There's probably a parade of some sorts but it's nothing to write home about.  You have to go to Derry or Donegal to get a sense of the pride Ireland has in the Big Day and saying as I'm increasingly adverse to hoards of people that's a no-no for me.  Anyway, I spent most of last night attending our local Accident & Emergency Department on account of a severe infection I have in a finger.  Stupid finger!  But boy is it painful.  And got even more painful at around 4am this morning when the doctor decided to cut into it to relieve the swelling.  I'm all bandaged up now and back home, albeit with about 4 hours sleep.  Hope you appreciate the effort typing this drivel has been!

Still here

 Still alive but not doing much camera-wise at the minute.  Apart from the inclement weather (apart from the weekend just past) there's a lot going on 'around the house'.  Well, around the garden to be more accurate - cutting back of trees and shrubs before the new growth starts and lifting up the million+ sticks that have fallen onto the lawn so I can give the grass a first cut.  I say lawn, but that's somewhat optimistic - it's mostly moss and bare patches but hopefully that will improve as the temperature picks up.

I've not been out with a camera for a while and can't get into the darkroom either, so it's an oldie for today. 

Bergamo, Italy - just before Covid struck when the scenes from Bergamo were horrific.  There have been a number of articles about it, including this one.

Coffee time

 A shot from the hip (maybe) as we wandered around the Indoor Market in Newcastle a while back:

Sharing time in Grainger Indoor Market, Newcastle
Nikon N80, HP5+, Foma paper

Not much news to report at the minute.  Not out and about much at all - too cold.  Waiting for spring to make an appearance, but apart from the odd snowdrop and daffodil there's not much sign of it yet.  My wife reminded me that it was St Patrick who 'turned the stone' - and that's exactly one month away.  Let's hope the big guy comes good this year.

Young, fit and tipsy

Back around 1980 or so The Jam released the classic track 'Going Underground', of which I was a big fan.  Fast forward to 2024 and that's what Missy and I were doing on the Newcastle Metro:

One of the lights was out, which I didn't realise until I printed it.
Nikon N80, HP5+ on Foma paper.

The Newcastle Metro is, I have to say, rather useful.  Although we did nearly get stampeded on by a group of over-enthusiastic (and probably over-inebriated) girls one night, when just as we were reaching the bottom decided they would try to run the wrong way up the moving stairs.  Missy was alert to the danger to her old man and quickly guided me to safety, so there was no harm done - to me, anyway.  A quick glance back showed that the girls didn't get very far up the stairway until they lost their footing and collapsed in a heap, the stairway doing it's best to transport them back to the bottom.  All good fun when your fit, 20-something and tipsy. 

Almost every time we rode the Metro there was a significant presence of security guards - both on the trains and at the stations.  I'm not sure if this was due to a lot of problems in the past or a decent attempt to stop problems from occurring in the future.  The latter, I think - so well done Newcastle.