dev-tank

2008-02-09T13:12:00.000Z

Lith print on Fomatone MGFB Classic, gold tonedSilver Gelatine print on Ilford MGFB IV, sepia tonedSilver Gelatine print on Ilford MGFB IV, sepia tonedSilver Gelatine print on Ilford MGFB IV, sepia toned

Lithed Lily

2008-01-21T19:44:00.000Z

RB67|Film|5x7 Lith print

Seven Sisters

2007-12-21T20:10:00.000Z

RB67, 50mm prime | HP5+, Diafine

Stately Homes

2007-11-10T13:59:00.000Z

While on a week off work I visited Lacock and Kingston Lacy, two English manor houses, the former being the home on Henry Fox-Talbot, the man who invented the negative. I had all sorts of trouble that week trying to avoid building works that seemed to be going on everywhere, Corfe castle was a complete blowout as the scaffolding surrounding it completely spoiled any photo opportunities. The shots

Yorkshire

2007-08-07T14:12:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I went on holiday 'oop north' with my wife, we stayed at her aunties house in a beautiful little village called Burley on Wharfdale, which lies somewhere in between Leeds and Bradford. During our stay we visited the Gordale Scar, Bolton Abbey and Ilkley Moor. Below are a few images from these trips.Gordale Scar | Mamiya RB67, 50mm Prime. Rollei IR 400 scanned on 4490.Near

Been busy...

2007-07-11T10:04:00.000Z

Rather than concentrate on one subject I'm going to ramble a bit and try to write down a little of all of the things I have been doing lately (photographically speaking).My latest group of photos involved visiting a church I pass every day while driving to work. St. Alban's Church is off a side street and up a small hill from the main road and I thought the road lines led in an interesting way

Flowery Liths

2007-06-21T08:55:00.001Z

I had a chance to try out Kentmere Fineprint VC in Fotospeed lith developer the other day. I had wanted to try it out with a couple of my flowery shots and was looking for a very graphic image with nice warm highlights. I'm happy with the results on the chive shot as its exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. By the time I got to the other shot the developer was nigh-on exhausted and I

Seven Roses

2007-06-03T16:54:00.000Z

It was our first wedding anniversary yesterday, being the paper anniversary I thought it prudent that my wife should get a print for her present. As I had no photo that would work well as a present for her I decided that I would take a totally new photo and work from there.Originally I had thought of photographing one single rose, but after some thought I chose to use seven (one for each year we

Lithovision

2007-05-16T08:24:00.000Z

My Fotospeed lith printing kit turned up the other day so I took the chance last night to give it a go. The kit comes with all you need to do your first lith printing: Developer (parts A & B), 10 sheets of fibre based paper, a couple of funky white powdery chemicals and some rather vague instructions.The first thing I needed to do was to mix up the developer, the bottles said to mix it 1:9 with

Corrugated Iron

2007-05-10T08:04:00.000Z

Last weekend, I got back to the Race Methodist Church to improve on the quick snapshot that I took the last time I walked past. The shots have definitely developed nicely and I am thinking of asking to see if I can get inside to shoot an interior photo that would go with the exterior. Before I do that I'm going to have to make a couple of prints that I could take with me to show that I'm serious

Near Glyn Pits

2007-04-25T09:21:00.000Z

On the weekend me and a friend went on a short hike up to Glyn Pits, an old mine, with the intention of taking some photos of it. Unfortunately when we got there the Mining Authority had decided that the site was unsafe and felt the need to establish that point by building a ruddy great steel fence around it. A little disheartened by this we walked around the fence in the vain hope that we could

Chepstow Castle, Cliffs & Currents

2007-04-22T09:58:00.000Z

Chepstow castle, situated right on the cliffs next to the river Wye, which is the border between England and Wales. The conditions were poor (bad skies) and this was the only shot that worked here. It seemed that people didn't mind the blown sky because the photo had a really old feel to it. I think I'm going to print this one on some warmtone FB paper that I've ordered and at the same time tried

Tree Hugger

2007-04-14T12:43:00.000Z

I've managed to get a few hours in the darkroom under my belt now and I'm feeling a lot more confident about assessing prints and figuring out what needs doing to improve the look/mood. I can't wait to try out some fiber based paper rather than the resin coated stuff that I've been using so far as it's supposed to have a much nicer look and feel to it. It does have the down side of needing to be

My first wet session

2007-03-26T10:44:00.000Z

After buying a small kitchen table from Ikea on the weekend I finally had a home for my enlarger, almost there... Post moving stuff around in the office and I found myself on the verge of my first printing session left with only having to sort out the chemicals before I could really get my hands wet. Skip forward 30 mins or so and I was there, the room fully blacked out and the developer, fixer

I've bought an enlarger... Probably not the type you are thinking

2007-03-19T09:44:00.000Z

After having my eye on picking up an photographic enlarger for some time and going through a few attempts on eBay to no avail, I finally managed to win an auction. To my utter amazement I paid a lot less than I had expected to. By the time the auction had finished I had only to part with 63 of our shiny English pounds, for which I bagged: LPL C7700 6x7 enlarger with a basic timer50mm Schneider

The Skirrid Mountain

2007-02-08T09:22:00.000Z

Last weekend I visited the Skirrid Mountain with my wife and parents, this is another mountain in the Black Mountains range and commands some great views of the Sugar Loaf on one side and views into England on the other. The walk starts from the roadside leading up a rough chipping-lain track that quickly moves into a small forest. On the way up, on one of the regular stops, we chanced across the

Wooden Mountain

2007-02-05T13:04:00.000Z

I revisited the mountain that is on the way to the folly on Saturday to try and get some more out of the amazing old tree stump that we stumbled across the last time we visited the area. This time I was armed with HP5+ and the idea of using high-contrast as well as a very low angle to create the perception that the stump was a rocky mountain, enhanced even more by the use of a dark red filter to

The exploding camera trick

2007-01-29T10:12:00.000Z

I've just learned a very important lesson, never leave a camera unattended and unweighted in high winds on top of a mountain.A bunch of us hiked up a local mountain called the Sugar Loaf yesterday, we got to the top and the views were fantastic. After stopping for a nice brew. we headed off to the other side of the peak where it was very windy. This side of the peak held an amazing array of huge

Branching out

2007-01-20T19:03:00.000Z

Mamiya RB67 Pro S, 50mm prime. Ilford Pan F , scanned on Epson 4490.Mamiya RB67 Pro S, 90mm prime. Ilford Pan F , scanned on Epson 4490.Mamiya RB67 Pro S, 50mm prime. Ilford Pan F , scanned on Epson 4490.

IR film & Diafine

2007-01-16T11:53:00.000Z

Money that I was given for Christmas was hastily put towards a box of Rollei IR 400 film and a Heliopan 715IR filter so I could try out infra-red photography for the first time. Last weekend I managed to find the time and a good location to try the stuff out; I was down in Dorset visiting my mother-in-law, so I took the opportunity to re-visit Durdle Door.Mamiya RB67 Pro S, 50mm prime. Rollei IR

The Folly

2006-12-20T11:45:00.000Z

The tower in Pontypool Park was probably built in the early 18th century, by the Hanbury family. In the latter part of the 18th century it was used as a summer house and later a gazebo.Its prominent position commands striking views across the Black Mountains, Severn valley and over to Somerset, and it is in turn very visible from far and wide. It is this high level of visibility which turned out

Kymin Forest

2006-12-18T12:46:00.000Z

I visited the Kymin in Monmouth on the weekend with the intention of getting some shots in the woods which are in the grounds of this National Trust site. The shots below are the best three from the roll I shot there. This was the first time I have shot either of my Mamiya lenses wide open consistently, trying to separate the subjects from the messy background that is a forest.Mamiya RB67 Pro S,

Mynydd Du Forest

2006-10-19T10:34:00.000Z

I inadvertently ended up hiking through Mynydd Du forest last weekend (14/15th Oct). We were supposed to be going to walk up the Sugarloaf but we got lost on the way and ended up on in this place instead. I turned out to be really good though as there was some pretty dense fog that day, this coupled with the forest made for some very eerie scenes. I was hoping to be able to capture this mood; I

Amsterdam

2006-10-16T09:47:00.000Z

I went to Amsterdam with my wife last week for a short city break (3 nights). It's a very interesting city, lots of things going on all the time; a real 24 hour city. As far as photo opportunities go I wasn't presented with many and only took about 50 the whole time that we were there. The main problem was the sea of cars that were lined up infront of virtually all of the houses, probably parked

Waterfall Country

2006-09-01T09:31:00.000Z

On the weekend I managed to get out of the house and visit Waterafll Country, an area in the Brecon Beacons well known for it's massive beautiful waterfalls, fast flowing rivers and rocky surroundings.I have recently decided to shoot almost exclusively in b&w for a while to try and get into the b&w mindset; it was pointed out on phototakers that I might be just taking colour photos in b&w instead

Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad

2006-08-14T10:58:00.000Z

For the first time in quite a while I went on a hike with my friends into the Brecion Beacons. Ince we had ventured up Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du a couple of time already we decided to go up the other side of the valley, this would gives us views of said mountains that we had not experinced before. In an attempt to both focus my thought proess and lighten my backpack I decided to only take the Mamiya

Clwbing It

2006-07-27T10:57:00.000Z

On Saturday we went to Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff to watch Supergene. One of the band members who plays guitar works with my wife which is how we came to here of them. It was put to me that I might want to come along and take some photos. Since I knew it would be an interesting experience I brought my D70s along equipped with the 50mm 1.8; I knew I would need this for this kind of lowlight

Durdle Door, Velvia and the RB

2006-07-04T08:53:00.000Z

Last weekend while visiting Maria's mum in Bournemouth we decided to go for a short jaunt down to Lulworth Cove with the intention of watching the sunset down on the beach where Durdle Door can be found. Durdle Door itself is a giant rocky arch created by the erosion of the sea. It's a very impressive structure that is well worth a visit.I wasn't overly happy with the digital shots that I managed

Roma: Day 3

2006-06-16T09:56:00.000Z

By now we had visited almost every site that we could think of, the only place left on my list was the Domus Aurea (Golden House) which used to be Nero’s Palace and is well known for the abundance of frescos it has on the walls. After looking on the map it turned out that it was very close to our hotel and we had even walked through the park it was in at one point without realising it! However

Roma: Day 2

2006-06-16T08:11:00.000Z

On our second day in Rome we decided to start early and get to the Colosseum before a massive queue appeared. We were partially successful as the queue was pretty short but we still had to wait a fair while to get in. To be brutally honest from the inside it was a bit of a let down and was made more frustrating by the mass of people who had already been able to get in before us. I did manage to

Roma: Day 1

2006-06-13T08:40:00.000Z

I recently spent four nights in Rome on honeymoon with my now wife Maria, I took a load of photos (read 300) and we managed to visit a plethora of different sites within the city so I thought that I would split this up into three parts (one per day of the trip).Monday 5th June was our first full day in Italy’s capital, the night before we had decided on which sites we would visit, we started out

Raglan Castle

2006-05-21T15:02:00.000Z

A few weeks ago we visited Raglan castle, I was surprised by how much of it remained standing since the ruins we have been to recently have all been in a pretty bad way. I took my OM2 with me on this trip as well as my D70 since I had already started a roll of HP5+ when taking some shots of my friend Paul's dad's pub, he has built it himself in his backyard! See the pictures here.Since I had half

Flowery

2006-05-16T11:43:00.000Z

I have been meaning to try out a little flower photography for a while now and on the weekend I managed to pick up some A3 sized Black and white card to use as backgrounds. With the new backgrounds in hand and some new flowers (thanks to Maria) I took the chance to get some shots.The two flowers that I took photos of were Osteospermum (some kind of daisy apparently, pictured above) and another

The Dags

2006-05-15T12:00:00.000Z

I recently had the chance to try my hand at some group portraits with the aid of some willing subjects, The Dags. This was a far cry from the usual stuff that I get stuck into, but I still managed to get a nice landscape into the shoot (notice the backgrounds).They wanted a moody look to the shots so I used mostly b&w with the colour shots desaturated a little to take the edge off the colours.

Desolate Landscape

2006-04-20T09:42:00.000Z

Last weekend my friends and I went on a short hike near a small town called Trefil, not far from Ebbw Vale. The weather was not as good as the day before, see below for evidence, as it was horrendously overcast. It even threatened to rain a few times, which is not a nice feeling when you have an expensive digital camera in you hands! Luckily it decided in the end that rain was a bad Idea and it

Blaenavon Ironworks

2006-04-20T09:34:00.000Z

I finally managed to visit Blaenavon Ironworks last Friday to see if I could get any nice shots of the lift, by far the largest remaining structure on the site; it must be around 150 feet tall. I was blessed with extremely good weather for the whole time that I was there, which was lucky since it has been all over the place lately. I took shots with both my Mamiya and my D70 which gave a nice

Cardiff in B&W

2006-04-20T09:29:00.000Z

Last Thursday I had a half day in work so I took the chance to get some photos on the Welsh capital on film, my choice of ammunition: Ilford HP5+, the camera; a second-hand Olympus OM2 that I had picked up from Jessops earlier in the day. I only had 1 roll of film so 36 exposures was my limit, I was quite surprised since this seemed about right; I didn’t find myself cursing the fact that I only

Bracelet Bay revisited

2006-03-20T14:16:00.000Z

After reviewing the shots I took over in Swansea last weekend I decided that I wasn't very happy with them so I took it upon myself to get back down there and get some good ones! The weather wasn't so good this weekend, there was too much cloud cover and the tide was high so things looked a little different. The wind was blowing a gale; standing on a massive rock teetering over the edge of the

Bracelet Bay

2006-03-13T11:38:00.000Z

I visited Bracelet bay on Saturday, it’s a very picturesque place found right on the end of the Mumbles in Swansea. We got there at low tide so there were plenty of rock pools which Maria went off to discover, while she was doing this I settled down an tried to get some nice photos.After taking a series of shots on slide film with my Mamiya I switched to the D70, I wanted to get some shots of the

Fun with Slides

2006-03-12T13:27:00.000Z

I got my first transparencies back from the lab on Friday, all I can says is wow. I had no idea that they would look as nice as they do. Here are a couple of the good ones:Both were taken with my Mamiya with the 90mm lens on Velvia 50, 1/8th @ f/32.

Llanthony Priory

2006-03-06T09:54:00.000Z

I revisited Llanthony yesterday to get a few more shots of the beautiful scenery that resides there. I was pretty glad when I walked around the first corner I spotted an old barn which looked like it would make a nice photo, here is the result:Rather than go on a proper hike it was more of a trip centred on getting some nice photographs so we (me and Maria) only went part of the way up the

Fire Starters

2006-02-26T12:39:00.000Z

Went on another hike up the local mountain yesterday evening, this time planning to get some more night shots of Cwm Lickey. Adam, Paul and myself set out at the later time of 4pm from the Lamb and basically went via the mast, the local reservoir, up to the top on the mountain, back to another mast and finally bounced off that back to Cwm Lickey.I know I said it was cold in Cardiff on Friday

Curb Crawling

2006-02-25T11:42:00.000Z

Spent four hours in Cardiff city centre yesterday freezing my ass off with the intention of getting some nice 'urban' shots (something I've never really done much of before). I met up with Hoodi Ansari (link to his webby), who is the brother of one of my friends from work. Neither of us had a plan of what we wanted to shoot so we wandered around rather aimlessly until things 'hit us in the face'

Sunset Hunted

2006-02-20T09:04:00.000Z

Well I got back in one piece from the night hike, although we did get a little lost (almost came down in the wrong valley!), had good fun and managed to get a few nice shots of the sun setting. We started out from the Lamb (local pub) and headed off in our usually direction, straight up to Cwm Lickey. We stopped here so I could get a few shots with my Mamiya and digital. Next we walked a little

Sunset Hunting

2006-02-17T12:16:00.000Z

I am going on an evening/night hike tomorrow with a group of my friends. We are heading towards Twmbarlwm (an Iron Age hill fort) to see of we can get some nice photos of the sun setting behind it. Below is a shot I took a few months ago of the path leading towards the fort, Twmbarlwm is the bump on the horizon.I'll be sure to post a pic or two if I manage to get any good shots and there is

Positive Comments

2006-02-15T20:02:00.000Z

I haven't been able to take any more photos yet due to bad weather and time constraints :( But I have managed to get my first set of test negatives scanned in properly, the picture below is a photoshopped collage of four of my test shots in positive form. I'm pretty happy with the results and might get one or two enlarged properly.

Negative comments

2006-02-12T19:39:00.000Z

Today I developed my first roll of 120 film (a few of the final negs pictured <--). It was a scary but fun experience, the main problem being that you can't see the finished product until right at the end of the process so I had no idea how well/badly things had gone until then. Here's a short overview of the complete process: I first had to load the film into the developing tank, I did this last

Developing on the horizon

2006-02-10T10:18:00.000Z

My equipment for developing film turned up last night; I am now the proud owner of:A Paterson system 4 universal developing tank;Ilford developer, stopbath, fixer and wetting agent;A spirit thermometer;Various graduates and a mixing jug.Add to this list a mixing stick (freed from the work coffee bar), scissors, a water supply, stop watch and a very dark place and you have all that you need to

Lost in the ether

2006-02-09T09:14:00.000Z

Well its day 2 of my blog and I have had some bad news, the first roll of film that I shot in my new camera up and around an old abandoned colliery has been lost in the post. I posted it on Tuesday, with the film in the envelope, somehow the roll of film managed to liberate itself between the post box and the Lab I sent it to; I was really looking forward to seeing how my first roll of Velvia had

Where to start?

2006-02-08T12:02:00.000Z

Well as I am running out of things to look at on the internet these days I thought it might be a good idea to start up my own blog, therefore adding to the wealth of complete nonsense on the interweb and at the same time filling my free time. Since one of my hobbies is photography I thought it prudent to have a photoblog as this would serve to be a ‘log book’ of my experiences with photography