Still looking at clouds that way

 Walked my daughter to school the other day. As the sun started rising I was greeted with these stunning views:

Takes your breath away. 

In the words of Forest Gump: "And that's all I have to say about that."

Nature's Paintings

 I love sunrises and sunsets. They are truly natures' paintings. Yesterday I walked my daughter to school. On my way back, there was this little beauty, thanks to the mobile life of iPhone.

That made me think; there has been a couple of really beautiful sunrises and sunsets in our neigbourhood. I should make a point of documenting it better.

I have however, on a whim, taken some stunners while out walking or just looking out the window.

Here are some I could find at short notice.

Out for a jog one morning in September 2020, I was greeted with this spectacular view.

This one was taken from an upstairs bedroom one morning. The photo does not do it justice, it was humbling.

And then there was this one on a frosty January morning.

As for sunsets, I can only find this one offhand, although I know there are more, especially taken in the park nearby. I will have to go and find it. 

This one could probably do with some post processing. Just too lazy at the moment.

Another project on the list then. Sunrises and sunsets in Dublin. 

Pop!!!

 Just love it when colours pop. It draws the eye and, let’s face it, it’s just beautiful. Thanks to the age of smartphones it’s really easy to get a picture taken. So no excuses. This one was taken on the way to my daughter’s school. 

And this one was taken on the way back. Love the colours!!

So, no excuses. Rip out the phone and get snapping!!

Pinhole on Paper

 I have a new obsession, as I mentioned previously. Pinhole photograpy.

In fact, I think I might be obsessed with film photography as well 😉.

I recently printed myself a 4 x 5 pinhole camera on the old 3d printer. I managed to secure some 4 x 5 film holders all the way from Japan and some 4 x 5 Illford direct positive paper.

And off I went.

This one is a photo of my back garden. Of course still mucking about with the exposure times etc.

For this one I concentrated more on the flowers. A little bit of a close-up, Mr. DeVille.

This was a shot taken in my front garden. There was a nasty little light leak and I had to crop it out when I scanned it. I am going to venture a guess that the film holder is not 100% light proof because the photo taken with the reverse paper also had a nasty little light leak. Still working on a solution...

I then drove down to a weir near my house. This was the result.

You can see the light leak in the corner there. Did not want to crop that one out though. Adds a little to the ambiance. 

I have also made a tin can camera from an old coffee can. The pinhole was punched in using a needle, to I am still experimenting with the exposure times, but the initial experiments looks promising....

Clearly a little underexposed, but I am happy with the outcome.

And this one was clearly a little over-exposed. I prefer the darker image, I have to admit.

I need to get out and do some more shooting with the printed pinhole camera. I am thinking the beach. 

So "Watch this space"..... more to follow.

Sneaky Little Murals

 There is a lane that runs to the back of my house. I use it a lot, but mostly to get around to the street in front. If you make a left, you can actually get quite far via the lane. I did that the other day. Just because.

Coming around the corner I came across this one:

I had to smile.

Out came the iPhone (whatever did we do before the iPhone).

Turned round and followed the lane. 

Then, just around the corner I came across this little masterpiece:

Very Grace Jonesy.

Not sure who the artist is, but well done Sir or Madam. That is some serious talent there.

The moral of the story? Always have your phone at the ready, you never know when art will happen.

New adventures in analogue

 And then I bought a Praktica BX20 camera, because... well, you know. And I have been running around, shooting all manner of photos.

Now, when it comes to me and lighting, I believe that I am cursed, or at least very unlucky at a minimum. If I take a camera out without a tripod, then it will, without warning, cloud over and I will be shooting blurry images, or using trees, fences and other paraphernalia to support the camera.

With film photography, it now seems that the opposite is true. When I have an ISO400 film loaded, it will magically turn into the brightest, sunshine day that Ireland has ever experienced.

But I will not be defeated.

I have managed to get at least a handful of decent shots. I also managed to overdevelop the film, which does make for a much grainier effect than was intended. 

(Note to self, do not touch your timer when it is running. That stops it).

I have also noted that the light meter of the Praktica seems to be about 2 stops out when compared to the light meter app that I installed on my iPhone. A light meter app that came highly recommended. Funny that I get the same result when I measure it against my digital camera's light meter. 

Ups (with the correct German pronunciation).

But I will prevail. I have also noted that my DSLR scanning seems to be the culprit causing the soft focus on the borders. I am currently using a close-up filter to zoom in close enough on the negative and I suspect the filter, which is quite convex, may be the issue here. No, I do not have a macro lens (not one that works at that close a range anyway). So I ordered some extension tubes. They will be here tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

Which now begs the next question, is my scanning the issue, or am I not getting the focusing 100% correct. I will admit that this is my first venture into a rangefinder focusing system, and it takes some getting used to. I wear varifocal glasses and it is just impossible for me to focus a DSLR with them on. I always have to pop them on my head and put them back on when I am done shooting. With the rangefinder I do not have that problem, but I do find that I am not framing up 100% squarely. Something to work on. Getting there.

But am I loving it? Hell, yeah! I cannot remember a time when I have enjoyed photography as much as I am right now. And the more analogue I do, the more I want to do.

So I have now also bought a Medium Format Illford point and shoot. Cheap as chalk, but with no guarantee that it will work. I have checked and it seems that the "Sunny" setting might be a bit of a problem. Looks like the shutter opens only half way. But I will give it a go. The "Cloudy" setting has everything working as it should (seemingly) so I will have a try.

My pinhole camera is all printed and ready to go. Just waiting for the pinhole lens to arrive. I have also made a drinks tin pinhole camera because, why not. Just waiting for some decent weather to try it out.

F Stop on the tin can - F250 ish. Should be interesting.

Obsessions and Addictions

 

OK, confession time. 

I have developed an (un)healthy obsession with pinhole photography.

What started out as an experiment in "something different" has now turned into a full blown obsession.

I have always been a bit of a tinkerer, and this journey is really engrossing me. Unusually, I got the order the wrong way round, starting out on the digital side of pinhole photography and now working my way back to the more traditional way of doing it. 

The photo above is of the Dodder Waterfall in Tallaght, in Dublin. This is probably my 10th attempt at making a perfect pinhole. Definitely getting better at it, but not quite there yet.

In desperation, I have now succumbed and ordered pinholes from this lad. Unfortunately he is on vacation at the moment, so there I am, waiting.

No worries.

In the meantime, I have dipped my toes gently into the trap that is analogue photography. 

I am hooked.

I have previously written my Ode to the instamatic camera and it's 4 x 4 prints. I can now, with confidence, say that it was due to the 126 film, that this square format was the flavor of the month. Shortly after writing that, I wondered what it would be like to take a similar type of photograph in this day and age. Enter the 35mm point and shoot. A Ricoh I bought on ebay. I tested it on a trip to the beautiful Glendalough and then took it with me to Bohernabreena Reservoirs. Instant addiction!!

There is nothing with as much soul as a proper film photograph. Pity that processing and printing has become so costly. In my ignorance I purchased an Illford HP5+ film to test the camera, only later to find out that the developing cost for this film is higher as it cannot be developed locally by the lab!? Has to be sent away.

So I bought my own development kit from thephotohsop.ie, because that is the type of person I am.

Doubly hooked now.

There is nothing to compare with the feeling of developing your own film.

And then on to the digitizing of the film. Now if you look at the bottom of the photo above, you will see that the focus has gone a little south there. It could be the camera... the last 35mm film camera I owned back in 2002 did exactly that. Or it can be that the film is not held 100% flat when I scan it (a process that will be the subject of another post, to be sure).

So being the tinkerer that I am, I have now designed my own film holder, and will be designing a more manageable scanning process to get it all spot on. Watch this space.

I am however now firstly busy with building a pinhole camera. Yes building or, more accurately, printing. Will test drive it with photo positive paper and may then try film on it as well. Or negative paper. Oh the endless possibilities!!!

And that is my story for today. I have sooooo much I want to explore in film photography, that I find myself doing more than one thing at a time. Bad idea. 

So, deep breath.

4x5 Pinhole Camera first....