Week 40: Berlin Airlift Memorial ...
This is an image of the Berlin Airlift Memorial. If you want to know more about it and why it is there: Click!
A bit late this week, I know.
Week 41: Goldfischli ...
This is the left over from an evening with friends - snacks and it took all of my self-control to wait the 14 minutes for the pinhole exposure.
I did some kallitypes of the heliopsis negative I showed weeks ago. So I thought about doing this negative also as a kallitype. Unfortunately it was not developed in my favourite developer for negatives which will end as kallitypes. The contrast was not high enough and I had to use a kallitype developer which increases contrast but disappoints tonality. Note to self: Next time think first!
What a Nice Surprise in the Mailbox ...
Today the door bell rang and my daughter opened. I just heard that she was talking and that is was the postman. Then she called me that there is a small package for me. "Who is it from?" I asked and she responded something that sounded like "blurb" Well, I almost told her not to talk while eating ... But then it really was a package for me from - "blurb".
Never heard of them but remembered that a friend told me that he is going to send something. Since we often talk about photography and from the size of the package I thought it might be a pile of images. But then I got a really nice surprise. He took all the content from my blog and produced a nice litte book. Very nice. And, if I would not see it in front of me I would not believe it, the print quality of the images is really good. And also the rest is good. Great job.
Thank you! Crazy Craig! The one and only reader of my blog.
The book is about week 1-26 and now I am even more motivated to make it through the rest of the year.
Week 42 (kind of): Okubo Field Camera ...
This week I wanted to present my new toy, a 4×5 field camera - yes, sometimes I use cameras with lenses. The good thing about the 4×5 is that you need not to take 12 or 36 images to get to the result. Just one image and you can develop it. But I am not really convinced if this image really counts. It is not a scanned print. It is a scanned negative.
Usually I develop 6 sheets of film together in a Jobo 2500 tank or one sheet alone in a tray. The reasons are obvious, if you have more than one sheet of film in the tray you will need to move them and shuffle them around, bring the bottom one to the top etc. and all that can do no good to the negatives. Well, this time I tried my luck and developed two sheets in a tray. And this time I learned my lesson the hard way because it resulted in a concert of scratches all over my negatives. So I decided to go the - for me unusual - negative scanning route. And I imediately remembered why I like working in the darkroom so much more than working on the computer.
Anothoer Interesting Pinhole Site ...
Hey, just a short note. Today a site setup by Jon Grepstad got my attention. Very comprehensive. Give it a try.
Troubles with Sheet Film ...
... and how to avoid them
So here is what happened with one of my last 8×10" exposures. I thought it is time to get big again. So I went out in an early morning to get some (well two) exposures with the rsph810. I found two subjects which I liked very much. Setup the camera, did the light readings, did the exposures and headed back into the darkroom to develop them.
But when I opened the film holder my fingers felt the notches of the film at the wrong side and it was clear to me, I loaded that side of the holder with the emulsion side of the film to the back which means: I exposed through the anti halation layer. Not a good idea, especially if you assume that your film has a good one. Fortunately the other side of the holder was loaded correctly so that I have at least one image from my short trip and already a good plan for the weekend.
Now how do you deal with this fault? I do not know what the darkroom gods do in this case, but maybe it never happens to them anyway. I had a very quick solution: Do not develop that sheet of film.
Week 43: Old Fence ...
So, a bit late for this week. Here is the image, a lith print of the negative which I had loaded correctly (see last post). It is an old fence I found a few meters away from the street. The camera was set up under power lines. You could hear the power and you could feel it by scuffing the tripod, there was a light vibration.
The image itself shows a light leak which I produced myself when I tried to push in again the dark slide of the sheet film holder. When I first realized it when switching on the lights with the negative in the fixer tray, I was a bit annoyed. But then again when switching the lights on with the finished print in the fixer tray, I thought that it kind of belongs there. Maybe nothing for the guys seeking for perfect images, but I think it is all the little imperfections which sometimes breath the soul into the print. For me, this image is a perfect example for this.