Category Archives: Books and Stuff

Fantastic Plastic Book

Books and Stuff, Thoughts and Musings, , , ,

I have finally finished the book about Frank Hurley. It was a heavy read. I don’t think I will read another biography for a while.

So now I have picked up this book…

I am thinking about the cameras I want to take to Japan tomorrow. I have to take my Nikon D750, but what camera for fun?

I have a suitcase with at least 5 cameras in it safe with a friend in Japan. Inside is a 35mm SLR, a TLR, and compacts are easy to get. So a toy camera seems the best choice at the moment….I am ignoring the golden half I know is in the case too.

I thought I would look through this book for inspiration. I do have the Diana F+ with an Instax back, plus the super wide and slim which I have yet to test. I don’t want to fill up my luggage with cameras I own in case go shopping for some bargains.

If you could take one camera for fun, what would it be?

Book: Frank Hurley, a photographer’s life

Books and Stuff, , , ,

I have been reading this book for a while. It is thick, heavy in terms of size and readability. Honestly, I am amazed by his life and what he went through to get his photos, but I will be glad when it is over. At least I can sit outside and read for a while. Actually the book reminds me of a TV series I just watched called, Chimerica. It was about a photographer who manipulated a news photo. Well, so did Frank. Many of his photos were composites.

What are you reading?

Sale at QEGS Antiques Fair

Books and Stuff, , , ,

I am very excited to announce my first ever live sale.

On Saturday 2 March 2019 I will be at QEGS Antiques Fair selling cameras and accessories.

So far I have a variety of approximately 30 cameras for sale. I should be sharing the space with another seller who will have other cameras on offer. I will also be selling keyrings, handmade straps, a few magazines, and a selection of books. Plus there will be many other stalls to peruse with a wide variety of none camera related items.

Why? I am selling most of my camera collection to focus on using a few cameras that I really love. So you could benefit, get yourself a tried and tested camera.

Come along for a day out in Wakefield. Even if you don’t buy something from the fair you could visit The Hepworth or West Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Developing Issues and Darkroom Courses

Books and Stuff, home processing, , , , , , , , ,

I recently switched from using Kodak D-76 to Ilford Ilfosol 3 to develop my films. I tended to reuse the D-76 and got used to that process. What I didn’t know or read was Ilfosol was a one use only developer. So when I started developing my own film again, the first one was great. The rest got lighter and lighter, tremendously so. I was increasing the developing time, thinking it was my fault. It was, but not in the way I thought. After the 3rd roll, I went back to the bottle and read the instructions…one use. Crap.

I managed to get images from all the rolls with a fair amount of post-processing, but they were obviously not the best negatives I have ever seen.

It was disappointing as I had just come back from Iceland and had been to a gig in Manchester.

For the busy negatives, they are OK. But the ones with sky you can see a definite issue.

The gig film was the last one I developed before checking the instructions. I actually thought it was blank and didn’t take too much care of it once I took it out of the wash. When it was dry, I saw a reflection of a faint image. To be fair the location was very dark and the singers were wearing black, but still, I expected more.

The first person with the drummer is from Hater, and the lady in the hat is Jennifer Castle. I actually liked both artists though they were quite different. I used my Nikon F2 for both locations, the gig used Ilford Delta 3200 pushed to 6400.

Luckily I did take a medium format and a digital camera to Iceland. I read the instructions again before I developed those…no development needed for the D750. If you want to see more results from that trip you can check out the iBook.

Screen Shot 2018-11-09 at 13.57.44

 

Download it on iBooks. (There are some errors in the description which I have corrected, but the new version has not updated yet.)

 

 

 

 

While I was contemplating the development issues I received an email from an outfit in London. A darkroom! Or rather a Bright Room. They run courses on developing and have darkrooms to hire. I am thinking I might take a trip to London and include this location as a stop. You can never stop learning apparently. But wait, they have a pop-up van…maybe they can visit me and some friends??

Delving into their website more, there is an Artist series, where you learn directly from an artist to see how they work. That is just up my street. OK time to save or sell more cameras to try one of those.

They did tell me they will be starting an online gallery on the 30th November 2018, but I haven’t been able to find a link online for that. Sounds interesting though as I love looking at other photographer’s work. I will look back at the end of the month.

I am glad I can develop my films again, I am relieved I know what the issue I was experiencing actually was.

New T-shirt line

Books and Stuff

I added a new design to the CafePress Store. While I was doing that I noticed I had my first sale 🙂 AND not to just someone in my country, but someone in my county. So I might see this shirt on someone one day.

Screen Shot 2018-09-29 at 13.08.02

 

Anyway, this is the new design. You can find it on T-Shirts and other merchandise.

I created the photo by double exposing a roll of 35mm film in the most awkward way. I am going to try some more double exposures using a Canon A1. That camera has a multi-exposure feature. That means I won’t have to fiddle about aligning the film precisely on the second sweep through the camera.

Analogue Wonderland and Street Candy

Books and Stuff, , , , , , , ,

I do believe as part of the film community we should support each other, especially new films.

I recently tried a roll of Street Candy and immediately ordered more through Analogue Wonderland. They recently posted a great article detailing their rewards program.

But why was Street Candy my first order after joining the program? Well, I liked it, it is new. Though I did find the actual film very thin, very, very thin. In fact it was returned from the processing lab ripped and damaged. But I loved the contrast of those shots that did make it through and if I process it myself it should be ok. I just need to add a thicker leader.

Here are some shots, some with the damage.