Panoramas

I processed a few rolls of film recently and included in that batch were some images shot with my 6x17 medium format panoramic camera.  These were taken back in the spring.  This camera yields negatives that are approx. 2" x 7", and I get three exposures to a roll of medium format 120 roll film.  These were shot on Fuji Neopan Acros and processed in Rodinal.  I didn't really notice until I posted these three images, but I have an obvious tendancy to place the center of interest near the far right...

More 8" x 10" Negatives

I processed another batch of 8" x 10" negatives a few days ago.  This time around I repaired the leaky "Fixer" tank that gave me problems last time.  I also made a couple of racks to hold these tanks.  These racks prevent the tanks from being tipped over in the dark, and also keep them spaced apart and organized in proper sequence.  This sure made processing a lot easier.  This time around I processed a batch of Fuji Neopan Acros 8" x 10" in Rodinal.  For the first time ever I managed to process this batch of these large sheets without any issues or problems.  Aside from the fact that there were no compositional, focusing or exposure errors in the original shots, the processing also went very well with no scratches or damage, no light leaks, and no processing errors.  This encourages me to shoot large format 8" x 10" more often.

When I first moved up to this 8" x 10" camera a thought little of it and had no real concerns.  I had a lot of experience by that time with 4" x 5" view cameras and thought that the move up to larger sheet film would be no problem.  But, these negatives are four times the size [in area] of 4" x 5" film and are a lot more cumbersome to handle and to get used to.  The camera equipment is much bigger and heavier and difficult to transport.  The longer focal length lenses required with this format have a lot less depth of field.  And it is a totally different mindset as I need to pay a lot more attention to the composition of the images.  Most of these larger negatives will end up being contact printed, which provides no opportunity for cropping of the image in printing.  This process involves sandwiching the negative [putting it in direct "contact"] with a sheet of paper and exposing it to light.  The resulting print is the exact same size as the original negative [in this case 8" x 10"] and there is no enlargment of the image by projection.  Some day I hope to find time and space to set up the used 8x10 enlarger that I bought a few years ago.  For now it remains in storage and I am temporarily limited to only contact printing these negatvies.  I finally feel as though I am gaining some level of proficiency with this format and feel encouraged to work with it more.

This current batch that I processed include five negatives that I shot up at the Russian Monastery earlier this month.  It also included one negative that I took way back in 2010...

Sunday Day Trip

I felt rather crappy all weekend as I had been stricken with a bad cold.  I went to my hockey game on Saturday night, hoping that a hard skate would sweat it out of me.  We won the game, but I didn't feel much better.  The next morning I decided to head out with my camera.  This time around I took out my old Sinar F1 4x5 view camera, for the first time in quite a while.  I have been shooting almost exclusively with my Ebony since I bought it in the fall of 2012.  It is much more compact and lighter to carry when hiking.  But, the Sinar is a more precise technical camera with a longer bellows draw.  This allows me to use a different selection of lens, mostly longer focal lengths.  Since I knew it would be just a day trip that did not involve any amount of hiking, I chose to take out the old Sinar.  Hailey decided to come along with me for the day.  We got a late start because I had slept in.  So we made a lunch stop and then hit the road.  It was mid afternoon before we got up into the area of Two Hills and Smoky Lake.  

We stopped and checked out an old yard that I had driven past previously.  I thought that these buildings looked rather barrack like and thought it might have been an old harvest camp or even a Hutterite colony.  But, on closer inspection I found that it was just a regular old farm yard with a number of similar sized building arranged in a somewhat regular pattern.

We continued on and eventually found an interesting old house in a stubble field.  This was the first opportunity for the big camera to come out.  It didn't take me long to gain some familiarity and comfort with this camera.  It was like getting back together with an old friend.  While we were shooting here a flock of Sand Hill Cranes clattered over, riding the thermals in a generally southward direction.

After finishing up here we back tracked to another abandoned farm yard that we had passed just up the road.  This one had an old abandoned easy chair sitting amongst the rubble of an old building.  We pulled off the highway and set up the camera to shoot over the fence.  While we were there a truck zipped by on the highway, screeched to a halt, and backed up to where we were set up.  I'm pretty used to my big camera drawing a lot of attention and I was prepared for the usual questions.  We were set up outside of the property so I knew that trespassing would not be an issue.  I was expecting to here... "what are you surveying"... "what is that thing"...  "can you still buy film for that"... all the usual questions.  Instead I was asked... "you know there's a bear over there?"  I looked up and saw a black bear across the field about 100 yards away.  I replied... "I do now, thanks very much for the warning".   I managed to get one snap shot of the bear with my digital camera before it wandered off into the bush.  That was the last we saw of him, though we kept our eyes open the rest of the time we were here shooting.  After finishing up this shot we packed up and headed for home.

Weekly Riding Lesson

On September 16th I took the girls to their weekly riding lesson at Kel-J-Do Stables.  Helena came along as Margarit had to go to a parent teacher night at school.  It was a beaufiful warm evening with wonderful fall light.  I brought my new digital camera along and took a bunch of photographs with the girls.  

Winter Hockey - Game Two

I was feeling barely alive all day today.  The girls brought a cold home from school, and although I fought it off for a while, the cold eventually won.  I went to bed early last night and slept for about 12 hours.  But I still felt exhausted all day.  I took a nap for an hour before the hockey game and headed over to the rink for a 6:45PM puck drop.  Though I felt feverish, and had a headache, I thought that the exertion and the sweat might do me some good.  I did feel a little better after that came, but my head is all congested and sort of spinning.  I'll get to bed again early tonight and see if I can get enough sleep to feel a little better tomorrow.

This game was against the Hungry Beavers... a good team that we have played against numerous times in the past.  We got the first goal less that a minute into the game for an early lead.  But, the Hungry Beavers scored four times through the rest of the first period and the second and we were down by a score of 4-1 to start the third.  The Hungry Beavers seemed to get tired and slowed down and there was a huge momentum shift our way.  We scored five goals in the third period and were holding a 6-4 lead late in the game.  They scored one late goal to make it close, and then we had two soft penalties assessed against us in the last minute of the game.  But we hung on for the 6-5 victory despite being outshot 43-35.

Processing 8" x 10" Sheet Film

After shooting some 8" x 10" sheet film last weekend... for the first time in a couple years..., I felt inspired to set up and process some of the negatives.  So I mixed up the chemistry and set out to process some Efke PL25M in Rodinal.  This batch included a couple sheets from the recent weekend day trip, as well as 9 sheets of old stuff....

I used some plastic tanks that I made at the shop, with some stainless steel film hangers.  This was the first time I would use these items for processing.  Much to my dismay, when I turned the lights on after processing, I found that my fixer tank had a leak and that the negatives were not properly fixed.  I quickly realized what the problem was and flipped of the room lights, and turned on a weak safe light.  This type of light is safe for paper, but not completely safe for film.  Fortunately at this point in the process the development was complete, and is was only fixing of the negatives that was lacking.  I think that exposure to the weak safelight would have had little effect on the image.

I quickly mixed up a tray of fixer and transferred all the partially fixed negatives into it.  After a few minutes I was able to turn the room light back on.  The images were obviously salvaged, but there was some mottling of the tones and this error on my part certainly didn't do the negatives any good.  I need to rebuild these tanks and test them before attempting any further processing.

Most of these negatives date way back to 2008 and 2009.  It was interesting to find that I had a shot of the old barn up by the Russian Monastery from 2008, as well as one from this past weekend.  It was obvious that the elements and gravity were beginning to take their tole on this picturesque old structure.  I don't think it will be around for too many more years and should probably try and get out to shoot it a few more times as it dies a slow death...

This particular film is very slow.  Even in broad daylight, exposures are often several seconds, particularly when filters are used.  I think it works particularly well for stationary subjects like buildings, and I don't mind the effect created when the wind moves the leaves, the grasses, and the clouds during the longer exposures.  

Busy Weekend

Yet another busy weekend...  This one was really enjoyable, but when all was said and done it seemed as though it had flashed by in the blink of an eye.  On Friday evening I hosted the first meeting of the season of the Monochrome Guild.  It was good to get back together with everyone again and to have some serious discussion about traditional photography.

On Saturday Anna had her birthday party.  She actually turned NINE about a week ago, but this was the most convenient time to have a few friends over to celebate.  She had a few friends over for the celebration, and two of them stayed for a sleepover.

I had a late hockey game, the first of the winter season, on Saturday night.  The game didn't even start until 11:15PM.  By the time I got home it was nearly two in the morning.  As I put my gear away and went for a quick shower I smiled at Anna and her friends, crashed on the rumpus room floor.

The next morning I slept in a little but was up and about by around 9:30AM, despite not getting to bed until 2:30AM.  I decided to head out for an afternoon drive.  None of the girls wanted to go with me, so I went by myself.  I decided to head back out to the Russian Monastery to photograph the site, but this time with my 8x10 view camera.  It has been quite some time since I have done any shooting with this big camera.

I passed through Elk Island Park on my way up to Smoky Lake County.  I saw a really tame juvenile coyote on the side for the road, but didn't get a very good shot of him.  It was after 3:00PM before I arrived at the monastery.  I quickly set up my 8x10 and started shooting.  I was still intrigued by that abandoned piano out in the bush, and mostly that was what I shot.  When I finished up there, I continued back down the road and made a brief stop by the old barn that I had stopped at the weekend before.  This time I set up the big camera at the side of the road and took a couple shots.  There was no rain this weekend, and the light was a lot better.  By the time I packed up here and checked my holder count I was surprised to discover that I had exposed 18 sheets of film.  There were duplicate versions of each shot, but still not bad for a short afternoon of shooting.  I packed up and headed for home.  The only thing of note on the drive home was a couple of swans on one of the ponds in Elk Island Park.  I took a couple digital shots of these before pounding the pavement for home.

After work on Monday I decided to back track on my commitment to printing and invested one more evening in processing some film.  This time around it would be 8"x10" sheet film, as I was anxious to see a couple of the shots from the day before.  I loaded up all the tanks that I had made some time ago at work and turned off the lights to get started.  I soon came to realize that this was the first time that I had actually used these tanks, and that one of them had a leak.  When I turned the lights on after my processing session a quick look at my negatives demonstrated that development had worked, but that about 2/3 of each image was still white.  This indicated a problem with fixing, which is a process that removes the unexposed silver emulsion from the film.  The fixer had escaped from the leaky tank and as a result only a portion of each negative was properly fixed.  Realizing the problem I quickly turned the lights off again, mixed up a fresh batch of fixer, and dumped all the sheets into a tray.  It appears as though I salvaged these images.  It also appears as though it has been quite some time since I processed any 8"x10" film!!! Aside from the two sheets of the day before, the rest of this batch were all images that I had exposed in 2008 and 2009.  Coincidentally one of old negatives I processed was of the same old barn that I shot yesterday... though this one was taken in 2008.  The effect of six additional years of gravity is quite evident!  Once these negatives are washed and dried I will scan and post a few here on my blog...

Winter Hockey season is underway!!!

Last night the 2014/15 Winter Hockey season finally got underway.  I have been off skates since our summer season wrapped up back in July.  I've spent the last month or so collecting league fees and getting our roster filled up for the upcoming 30 game winter season.  We will be playing hockey more or less once a week from now until April.  Our roster remains mostly unchanged.  A couple of guys did not return to the team for this season.  Some guys swtiched between full time and spare positions, and a couple former members of the team returned for this season.  Our first game was on Saturday night at 11:15PM at KofC Arena.  We were the visiting team against a team of fast young guys called the Thunder.  I had a full roster and all the lines set up for the game when the puck dropped at 11:15.  I immediately got tossed into the penalty box on my first shift with a 2 minute minor penalty for tripping.  Shortly into the game two of our guys fell sick with nausea and had to leave the game.  We had to juggle the lines a little, but kept battling.  The game was close until early in the third period and we kept trading goals with the Thunder.  Finally, in the last 8 minutes we scored three goals and a solid lead.  I actually got an assist on one of them.  We ended up being outshot by the Thunder, 39-31, but the more important statistic, the scoreboard, showed our 8-5 victory.

The last batch of Fuji Neopan Acros

On September 4th I processed a batch of Fuji Neopan Acros 4x5 film.  As I previously indicated, this was to be the last batch of film processing that I will be doing for a while.  I intend to devote my darkroom time over the coming weeks to some printing.  The mushroom images that I posted a while back were part of this batch.  The rest of the negatives were all images shot last October down in Utah.  These just hung around in my drying cabinet, until yesterday, when I found time to scan them all.  Here they are...