A little while ago, I came down with a very serious case of nostalgia. I think it started right around the time I was watching some film photography videos on YouTube. The nostalgia built over the course of a few days, at which time I could take it no longer and dug around in the cupboard of piled mystery and quickly found my Bronica 645 medium format camera. More impressive still was that after sitting idle since we moved to CorkRead More
Back in those ‘good old days’ when I shot (and processed) a lot of medium format Velvia. Before getting entirely sick of it and selling my Jobo processing kit and forgetting which box my Bronica got stored in. Amazing what jumps out at you when you haven’t opened Lightroom in a year or two. I should really look for that Bronica…
Taken an age ago on one of the increasingly less frequent (I know, I know) romps around parts of Kerry that aren’t 1; Molls Gap, 2; Kenmare or 3; Killarney. Back when I was only too delighted to leave the car, throw the tripod & bronica loaded with velvia over my shoulder and go off in search of a tasty foreground rock. Nowadays, Velvia (at least the developing and scanning part of it) has gotten old to the point whereRead More
It’s probably as much about the pilgrimage to the end of the world as it is about the photography, but Sheeps Head is one hell of a location. It’s almost always as windy as hell (or as windy as I imagine hell might be on a windy day) down there, soggy or even sinky under foot for at least 30% of the walk and you never really know if one of the animals roaming the headland is going to takeRead More
Until I actually produce some new images in 2012 (I haven’t picked up the camera at all this year yet), I’m not going to stray too far from safe ground. The safe ground is currently Velvia. Going back over the old images I should have blogged months and sometimes years ago, I found these images from Powerscourt in Wicklow that sat in Lightroom being tweaked and fiddled with every now and then. Velvia has always been, for me at least,Read More
A trip to Avondale park last year with Vlastik where I took the opportunity to use a few of the rolls of velvia in the fridge. I thought I’d get rid of the remaining slide film as my intention was to develop it then sell the Jobo CPE I bought a couple of years ago on ebay. I think I’ve had my fill of developing anything other than black & white and the Jobo, tanks, chemicals and all the E6Read More
Another from the couple of rolls of Velvia scanned recently. West Cork again, just as the sun was going down. After fecking about with Vuescan and a couple more for what seemed like an eternity, I think I’ve finally got close enough to the negative to stop worrying about it. This is pretty much straight out of the scanner. Just got rid of some of the more noticeable marks and spots.
It must be the very first time I got all the way through scanning three entire 120 rolls of Velvia without swearing loudly and thrashing my arms like a mad man. Anyone that’s ever been in that position will know that what you get on screen is a hell of a lot different than what you get when you hold the developed film up to daylight. Although these shots might not be the best examples of what Velvia is goodRead More
Back to the grounds of IMMA before I retire these two rolls worth of scans into the cavernous expanses of my photo archive. First, some Pan F 50 lovingly modified by lightroom. Secondly some SFX, split toned in the only method I know; Ham-fisted. That’s about it for IMMA this time around I think. Of the 26 or so photos from this session I haven’t put up, I think they’ll have to remain semi-retired sitting in the ‘current jobs’ folderRead More
Another from IMMA, this time shot on Ilford PanF+ (5o ISO) to somewhat illustrate the difference between this and the previous shot in SFX 200. Both rolls processed using Rodinal for the recommended time. I love using PanF+ but at 50 ISO, a tripod is quite often if not always necessary. Again I’m very impressed with how the metered prism did with the exposure and I’ll continue to use it now instead of carrying around the light meter or justRead More
After yesterdays ‘oh shit I can’t post what I wanted to post so I’ll post something else taken with the same camera’ entry, here’s what I wanted to post. Having got my hands on some fresh developer, this is the result of the test SFX 200 roll I’ve had sitting in the fridge for over a year. It taunted me every time I went in there for milk so it had to get used. Having looked over the roll, I’dRead More
A bit further up (if I remember correctly) from where I took this, but the same roll of film none the less. Spurred on today having just had the Bronica out for the first time in a hell of a long time. Shot two rolls of B&W in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, came home all enthusiastic ready to dev & scan. Nope, developer is well expired. Balls. Decided not to risk it with the rolls as one ofRead More
The weather is beginning to turn again and although some Donegal weather forecasting prophet has predicted more snow in the next couple of weeks, I think I’ll take a chance on a green Patricks day instead of a white one. So yeah, weather turning. Thoughts of getting back out and taking some landscapes. Loaded up lightroom and this jumped out of my catalog list. It’s from an almost forgotten roll of velvia I scanned some time back. I’m pretty sureRead More
Another view on a previous location.
I’ve always found velvia to be an absolute bitch to scan. Trying to maintain the colours you see when you hold the film up to the light is impossible. Probably why I post very little of it and why I still have nearly a dozen rolls of it to scan. Well, either the above or I’m just lazy.
You’ve already seen the ‘famous’ stairs of Charleville Castle. Here’s the other one. Taken during the visit last year.
I can’t get home tonight, or tomorrow night or possibly the night after. There are places I’d rather be and people I’d rather be there with. Also, happy 2nd birthday glasseyalley
An evening stroll on the deserted beach at Spanish Point in Clare. This reminds me that I need to break out the Bronica again very soon.
Making my way downstairs from yesterdays shot. There’s something about this area of the castle that both the Bronica and the panf really, really liked.
Finally developed and scanned a couple of rolls of PanF 50 from Charleville last year. Wouldn’t ya know it, grabbed the Bronica, stuck it on the tripod and headed straight for the stairs. Predictable or what?