Taking the plunge

Once in the water all is usually fun and well, it’s facing the fear and getting in that is the challenge …

Photo notes: Sandycove, Dublin. Zeiss Ikon ZM, Zeiss C Biogon 2/35mm, Ilford HP5 Plus @400 ISO, developed in Adox X-T3

From darkness to Light

Cloister steps towards the Chapel

I always enjoy trying out different cameras and so when I got the chance to use a Leica film camera recently, I was very excited. The Leica M-A is a beautifully simple camera, with no electronics whatsoever, not even a light meter. The combination of manual focusing and manual metering compels you to slow down and consider every photo carefully before pressing the shutter release. I found the process to be wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable and I soon realised I was paying more attention to exposure than I had ever done before.

Consider the scene above. A ‘normal’ camera, would meter the scene and work out an average based on the whole range of tones from white to black. I chose to meter though on the lightest part of the stone to the right of the archway – and thankfully am pleased with the result.

I like the way the steps draw us from the darkness to the light, an image of hope and encouragement that reminds me that ‘there’s a light at the end of the tunnel’…

Photo notes: Leica M-A, Zeiss Biogon 35mm f/2, Ilford HP5 Plus @400 ISO, developed in Rodinal.

A return to film and film cameras

I’ve got back into making photographs with film. Last year I saw an old Canon film camera for sale, an EOS-1V; it was such a good price! The EOS-1V was Canon’s last professional film camera: it’s big, solid, heavy and loud, but a joy to use. It has a large, bright viewfinder along with fast and accurate autofocus, a comfortable grip and excellent metering. A bonus is that all my Canon lenses work on it perfectly, though I find myself using just the 50mm lens most of the time.

The price of film has more than doubled since I last bought any (in 2011) and a number of my favourite films are either no longer available, such as Fuji Reala 100 or just too expensive, like Velvia 50. With cost being such a factor it means that each photo is worth taking time over and so framing, composition and exposure are given more thought than they might have had otherwise – a point I may develop further in a future post.

Below is a gallery of some photos made with the 1V over the last year. The black and white film is Ilford XP2 Super 400 and the colour film is Kodak Portra 400. I photographed the negatives with a macro lens (more on that another time).

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Welcome back…

Five years have gone by. Just like that. I mean to start writing here again; we’ll see how it goes. It feels like meeting an old friend…

Around Wastwater

Here are some landscape photos which I took back in August when we were in the wonderfully rugged terrain around Wastwater in Cumbria, England. I’ll put up some colour ones next time but for now here are four Black & Whites from the hundred or so pictures that I took. By the way if you are wondering about the sky in the second picture and whether it’s real or not – yes it is – the trick is to use a polarizing filter and stand at 90 degrees to the sun…

Roll 30

A few recent pictures.  These are taken with a Nikon F100 and 18-35mm and 50mm lenses using Ilford FP4+ (125 ISO), developed in Agfa Rodinal and scanned using an Epson 4490.  Kinsale harbour

Red Strand

Red Strand

Kinsale harbour

Barley Field

This field full of Barley (I think it’s Barley but please feel free to correct me) is growing nearby.  As is so often the case around here, it was just about to rain, so the sky was quite dramatic!  I think the photo looks a bit better in black and white.

A quick look on biblegateway.com shows a surprising number of references to Barley in the Bible – my favourite is the feeding of the 5000 as recorded in Chapter 6 of John’s gospel:

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.   ⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”   ⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.   ¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.   ¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Random Light

Here’s some photos taken over the last few weeks…

An ‘Early Purple Orchid’ growing on our front lawn. (Film: Kodak Portra 160 VC)

Long Strand, Co. Cork (Film: Kodak Tmax 100)

Garden Foxglove (Film: Kodak Tri-x)

From the hill down to Red Strand, with Galley Head Lighthouse in the distance.  (Film: Kodak Tri-x)

Not sure why I took this picture – something to do with patterns and textures I think! (Film: Kodak Tri-x)

Connonagh, Co. Cork (Film: Kodak Tri-x)

Clonakilty Agricultural Show 2011

It was a couple of weeks ago now, but I’ve only just got around to developing the film…

The ‘Tug of War‘ competition was fiercely fought…
The cattle (to my untrained eye) all looked immaculate.

I could come up with a sheep pun here, but ewe know I wouldn’t do such a thing.

Great to see a potter a work, amazingly undistracted by hoards of children (and an annoying photographer ;~)
Oh dear.  This made me pray, both for the ‘fortune teller’ and also for anyone who felt the need to have their ‘fortune told.’  God help them.
Not surprisingly, all these wonderful looking cakes were behind a protective wire screen – otherwise they would have been an endangered species!
This fella was also behind wire – with that look in his eye, it was probably for the best!
I could not resist taking this shot – though I’m not sure he was all that happy with my taking his picture!

Strange Tree

There’s that strange and surreal place between dreaming and waking where the two merge into each other.  The other night (or rather early morning) I awoke with a rather odd poem going around my head, about a tree…

It had all started the previous week when my better half and I were enjoying a pleasant walk along the beach at Long Strand.  We came across the tree in the photo above and well I thought it interesting enough to take a picture of.  Clearly my subconscious thought it interesting too, interesting enough to come up with a strange poem about a strange dream about a strange tree!  How did I remember the words?  Well, I happened to have my mobile phone nearby and just typed it in, all in one go…

Please take this poem about as seriously as you would read My lovely horse ;-)

Strange tree where have you come from,
What story do you have to tell?
Were you borne here on stormy seas, a refugee from fire or spell?
Oh what would you tell me if only you could say,
perhaps the hopes and dreams caught in your branches reflect the light from whence you came?

Strange tree what do you carry
What a load you have to bear?
Bottles, Tin cans, shoes and netting, things now beyond all care.
Oh what would you tell me if only you could say,
the hopes and dreams caught in your branches are so much more than things that were thrown away?

Strange tree where will you go to
When it comes your time again?
Will you roll upon the open seas to distant shores or mountain glen?
Oh the only thing I can tell you, all that I can say,
is that the hopes and dreams caught in your branches will live on in memories beyond this sunlit day.

(Hope I made you laugh!)