What's going on here then?

 A few weeks ago I hooked up with me old Uni mates for a couple of days.  I'm not saying where I was (just yet) but came back with this shot on some FP4+ courtesy of a little Olympus mju point 'n' shoot:

On Fomabrom112

At the time I thought there was a decent shot to be had but things were moving quickly so I had to act on the moment.  I was very happy with the outcome.

So, where was I and what on earth was going on?  The clues are all there so I'll let you think about it a bit.  Answers can be found by scrolling down.

So, let's see how y'all did with my little photo quiz.  

The girls (possibly from Japan) all had apples with them and as you can see, were busy trying to get the best shot on their phones with the aforementioned apples and the tree in the background.  The tree is significant and sits outside what was once a certain famous person's office in Trinity College, Cambridge.  OK I guess you're there now - that person was Sir Isaac Newton and the apple tree was grown, apparently, from a cloned cutting of 'the' tree from his childhood home in Lincolnshire.  You know - the one which he was sitting under when an apple fell and inspired his theory of gravity.  10/10 if you got it.   

One year ago

Next Monday in the US is Memorial Day and traditionally that is also when the Indy500 race is held.  At least it was last year, when the Brother and I attended.  I've written about it before and even posted a different version of the shot below but I rather liked it so I re-printed it a few weeks ago and sent it to my brother as a memento of our day.  One for his home office wall, I thought.  Printed on Fomabrom112 and given a light homebrew tone:

The cars were too quick for my panning technique, but I like the result
Leica M6ttl and some lens on FP4+

Not much else to report here, although I do have a few films sitting the darkroom ready for printing.  Which I hope to get to soon.  We're coming into summer although it's a slow process here at 55°N - so slow we still light a fire some evenings to take the chill off the air.  But the swallows are here and nesting so everything is looking good and by all accounts we're in for an uptick in temperatures towards the end of this week.  About time. 

Cow on Main Street

We see plenty of cows here around The Liberties of Coleraine, but I didn't expect to see one on the main shopping area of Faro. I don't think this one had a body, mind you.  But there it was, sticking its head out to see what was going on. 

FP4+ on Fomabrom112

 

This shot shows off the rather lovely tiles that paved the thoroughfares in and around Faro, which made walking around a very pleasant activity.  As expected, there were cafes and restaurants every few steps.  A most enjoyable place to visit for a few days.  

That's it for the Faro shots, you'll be glad to hear.  Hopefully I'll get to printing something else soon, although the twin grandkids are taking up a lot of our time at the minute.  They're a year old now, "mummy" has gone back to work part time so both sets of grandparents are stepping up.  Thankfully both are walking now, albeit a bit shakily at times, but that does make things easier.  And just lately we're getting better feedback from both of them - a vigorous shake of the head when they've had enough to eat or drink. With warmer weather around the corner (hopefully!) the aim is to get out and about on our days with them, although the chances of carrying a camera at the same time are a big fat zero.  Ah well, some things, believe it or not, are more important than taking photographs. 

 

I did not

Just to clear up any doubt, I did not go on this particular fairground ride in Faro, electing to stay a safe(ish) distance away and be content to point the Yashica T4 in the general direction:

FP4+ on Fomabrom112 paper

And yes, it was as noisy as it looks.  But in a good way - it was impossible to not get in the spirit of the fair and watch the young ones having an absolute ball.  The lads trying to look cool and non-plussed in spite of the terror of the situation and the girls screaming to high heaven.  All good fun and what a fantastic way to mark the end of summer.

Chestnuts and churros

I finally finished the last few frames of the film (FP4) that had been lurking in my Yashica T4 since Faro, which seems a very long time ago now (it was last October) and, even better, I found some time to print some of them.  

At the entrance/exit to the big end-of-summer fair we had the chestnut-sellers:

All very makeshift - apart from maybe the lights everything else about their stall looked like it had been in use for a very long time.  We didn't buy, as we were saving our appetite for later but they did smell good.

Food was a big thing at the fair - 'farturas' are a Portuguese type of churro and were very popular:

Both prints on Fomabrom112.

Not much else to report from The Liberties, except to say it is awfully cold right now.  The place is heaving with tourists for Easter weekend - I read that the seaside towns of Portstewart and Portrush, just down the road from us, were log-jammed with cars yesterday and today.  The 'car cruise' scene is a big thing over Easter - young people come from all over Ireland (and Scotland) to show off their motors and try to avoid getting pulled over by the local police for minor infringements.  If I had the energy/interest to spend an hour in the traffic to go about a mile it might well be worth wasting some film on, but I decided to pass.

Equivalents

 I know, I've some nerve using Stieglitz's 1925 term for cloud photographs but we do get some interesting skies in this part of the world. 

FP4+ via the Blad, on Fomabrom 112 paper.
The white dots aren't as noticeable on the print, by the way.  Not quite sure what is going on there but it’s the same for all negs on this film. Reticulation? 

Songs of the sky was another term of his for these shots, which is rather apt.  If you think you've seen this sky before, you may well have (here) as I first printed this as a lith print.  

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.