This chapel sits a little out in the Mediterranean sea.  It’s pretty small and usually people take shots of it as you approach it from a little causway.  I tried something a little different with a Holga and Adox 50.  I have had to use a little bit of digital touching becasue there was a couple of draw line/scratches on the negative which is a shame.  I need to think how to deal with this in the print!  Welcome any thoughts.

I have been away from LiF for a bit and have also just come back from a vacation to Crete.  Wonderful place.  I have also used this trip as a chance to try out Adox 25 and 50 film.  What a revelation.  Adox is quickly becoming my favourite film.  Very high contrast (which I like) and a very old fashioned feel.  It is delicate (had to mix my own hardener) and on the Holga there is a real chance of line scratches as the emulsion and film is thin.  That said the results can be stunning.   This shot was taken with a Holga with the Asa 50 film.  The light being so good, I could use the Adox 50 without any problems or need to do some fancy timings in the darkroom.  May not go back to Ilford!

 

I have been busy making a series of encaustic panels for a few photos I took last year in Tuscany.  I guess that this is really only a glimpse of the panels as a digital image don’t seem to quite give you the textured feel and the right colour balance of this 26″ x 24″ wax panel!

The image was taken on a Yashica MAT 124G.  The print is selenium toned on MGIV warmtone paper so it has a warm brownish/purple hue which isn’t quite so obvious here.  Also the panel is maybe a little whiter than shown here with a distressed light blue surround.  The photo is also waxed giving a slightly raised textured feel and it is also recessed.  The print is about 10″ x 10″.  I really enjoyed making this and very much value your thoughts.

I meant to post this a few weeks ago but was a little distracted.  This is an example of some of the photo/encaustic work I am trying to experiment with at the moment.  I recessed the photo in a wood panel I handmade.  I wanted to try and somehow reflect in the encaustic panel/frame something of the photographic subject so I tried to make the encaustic wax surround appear something like the bark on the tree itself.  I built up a lot of different wax layers up to give a tactile or textured look (I hope).  I think the actual piece is a little darker brown than it maybe seems on this image but I hope you get the effect.  The photo is recessed and mounted on the panel and the overall piece is about 26″ x 24″. The silver gelatin photo was pasted onto a plywood panel and also lightly covered in pigmented encaustic wax giving a slightly textured feel.  I love the encasutic process and really want to develop further the photo/encaustic process.  Not sure if the digital image I have here quite gives enough detail and maybe the piece is not to everyone’s taste but I put it out there and welcome any thoughts.  Thanks.

Camera –  Holga

Film – Ilford HP5+ developed in Rodinal 1:50

Paper - Ilford MG IV Matt, selenium toned coated in pigmented encaustic wax.

Frame – Encaustic wax on wood panel

 

Some months ago I bought an antique 180mm Petzval lens which I have had some difficulties sorting with a lens board. In the end I made one (at least to try out the lens). This is the first shot I tried with this old lens and although it’s maybe a little dark I am pretty pleased. There is a line on the left side (still not clear what caused this) and there are a lot of flecks (it’s an old lens and I probably need to do a better job cleaning this old workhorse). I used the cap from a tube of Wilson tennis balls as a lens cap and set the f-stop and lighting to give me a 2 second exposure which I just counted out.  I wanted to keep the poppy heads in focus and was quite surpsised by the selective focus effect on the bottle without any tilt/shift on the Shen Hao.  I really want to try and improve on my still life work and will also try this lens out with a portrait. I think I would like to contact print this shot with one of the ‘alt’ processes.  Thanks for looking and welcome any thoughts.

Shen Hao 5×4, 180mm Petzval lens, Adox CHS 50, f8 @ 2 seconds, developed in Rodinal 1:50 (9 mins)

I have been struggling on a print in the darkroom.  It was a tricky negative, the paper count was getting high and I couldn’t work out whether I should do a digital negative and start all over again.  To break the frustration I thought I would change tack completely and do a photogram. Maybe a little ‘clip-arty’, I don’t know. Anyway I just drew some shapes on paper, pencilled in some areas and cut them out.  I have to say that I really enjoyed it and might try a few others.  A bit of light relief really but seemed to come out quite well.  I will selenium tone and as I printed a couple may also copper or sepia tone to see how that comes out.  Bit of fun maybe in the sometimes seriousness of our work, I guess?  I hope you like them too.  Thanks