I love cemeteries, not that I would ever want to be in one.
This is Woodlawn Cemetery here in Guelph. On a cold, snowy day it has it's own, special, appeal especially to a black and white photographer.
This was taken with my Bronica SQ loaded with Shanghai GP3 B&W film. Developed in Rodinal 1+100 18min at 20c
A blah sort of day, typical February.
A typical Black and White day !
My friend Dave and I took a short, casual stroll around Elora. That and a cup of hot tea to drive away the chills.
Someone commented on Flickr about the Zig Zag patterns in this image. Yes I like them too, enough to make it my "photo of the weekend"
Taken with my Kodak Retina IIC rangefinder.
AGFA APX 100 black and white film that expired in July 2003
Developed in Rodinal 1+100
If I hadn't captured the last of the flock of birds I would not have chosen this as my "photo of the weekend".
A difficult choice this weekend. Only because there were few candidates.
The majority of Sunday's photo's were made with Shanghai GP3 shot in my Bronica. The development left an ugly grain so I wasn't to pleased with them.
The Fuji Acros has promise but I need to let them 'mature' for a while before I revisit them. So I picked one of the very few digital shots as my favourite.
Why? The shadows scurrying back across the frozen lake to hide in the woods until the sun went down really caught my eye.
That plus the juxtaposition of the warm palette of tree's and reeds vs the cold blues of the shadows. Makes this image.
I spent hours on Saturday playing with my new 'light shapers', shoot through umbrella and a 20" square soft box plus a few other bits and pieces.
After borrowing a couple of wireless triggers I set out to see if I could tame the shadows.
This is one of my favourites a book of essays by Francis Bacon and an old pair of glasses that I picked up as a prop. I am quite pleased with the light on the pages but less so with the overall, front to back, lighting.
Practice Practice Practice !
C'est moi
Last week we were fine tuning a portrait lighting workshop we will be putting on.
Grant and Dave were the teachers, Doug and I the pupils.
I took some of what I learned and made this shot. It came out exactly as I had envisioned! So it had to be my choice even if it is a mug shot of yours truly.
Why this one?
Well, recently I was given a 100' roll of Kodak Kodalith Ortho 6556 film, ISO 10.
It was unopened and in the original packaging, date of expiry 12/1985.
My first test roll was, shall we say, a little short of the mark. I learned quickly that the emulsion on this film is very sensitive and pin holes and scratches were everywhere.
This was my second attempt.
With help from the flickr group "I shoot film" I found a new developer recipe and routine.
The results? Well I really like them.
Developed in Xtol at 1+1 dilution
6 min at 20 deg c
