Long Forgotten - Ilford Delta 100 in PMK

This is a scan of another 4x5 negative that I processed on the day of the Leap Year.  I ran a batch of Ilford Delta 100 4" x 5" Sheet Film on my Jobo Processor.  This batch received Normal Development, 11:45 minutes at 20C, in PMK Developer.  This batch of 18 sheets included images taken in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

This particular shot was taken on August 30th 2023, at about 11:45 in the morning.  I was out shooting with the Ebony view camera that I bought from my friend Rob.  This is my backup camera that I now keep out at my cottage in Nordegg.  I used a Fujinon-W 180mm lens with no filter.  The exposure was F22.0 with a shutter speed of 1/4 second.  I found this old car when I was out exploring on private property, with permission of the owners.

April Calendar Image

This is the shot I selected for the April page of my 2024 Fine Art Photography calendar.  I took this detail shot of the sprockets, chain and clutch on an old Threshing machine, in the spring of 2023.  I've tried to shoot stuff like this many times before, with limited success.  In hindsight I don't think this one is all that spectacular either.  But the light was nice, and the contrast and shadows add something.

Horse Tracks - Ilford Delta 100 in PMK

On February 29th, the day of the Leap Year, I set up my Jobo Processor and ran a batch of Ilford Delta 100 4" x 5" Sheet Film.  This batch received Normal Development, 11:45 minutes at 20C, in PMK Developer.   This batch of 18 sheets included images taken in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

There are a lot of wild horses out in the front ranges of the Rockies, in western Alberta.  We see them all the time near our cottage out by Nordegg.  Although the horses weren't present on this day, their tracks were prominent in the snow, against a backdrop of Coliseum Mountain.

I shot this on December 4th 2022 at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly wide 125mm lens.  No filter was used.  The exposure was F16.0 at a shutter speed of 1/30 second.

Quiet Nook School - Ilford Delta 100 in PMK

The old saying certainly did not hold true this year.  March came in like a lion and went out like a lion, not like a lamb as it was supposed to.  There were a few REALLY mild days in between, but most of the month was pretty crappy.  It was cloudy and overcast most of the time, with a bunch of snow off and on.  Except for a couple of days where we hit record high temperatures, most of the month was below average.  

I have been anxious to get outside with my camera and do some shooting, but with the poor weather, and ugly spring like conditions, I didn't bother.  Old dirty snow and brown, drab conditions are not very photogenic.  Instead, I spent most of the last month developing my backlog of exposed film.  Since back in February I have been running everything that I could, on my Jobo processor.

This included the batch that I ran on the day of the Leap Year, February 29th.  This was a batch of 18 sheets of 4" x 5" Ilford Delta 100, given  normal development in PMK.  

This is a shot of an old one room school house, that was called the Quiet Nook School.   It is part of a now closed historic museum that included a collection of old buildings.  We had permission to enter the property and photograph what remained.  Since our visit many of the buildings have been cleaned out, and some moved away to other museums.

I took this shot on August 16th 2022 at about 11:15 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  No filter was used as any possible option would have made little difference.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 4 seconds.

Raven Tracks

On February 29th, the day of the Leap Year, I set up my Jobo Processor and ran a batch of Ilford Delta 100 4" x 5" Sheet Film.  This batch received Normal Development, 11:45 minutes at 20C, in PMK Developer.

This batch of 18 sheets included images taken in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

This particular shot was taken in the fall of 2022 when I was out in Jasper National Park with the gang from the Monochrome Guild.  This was our annual Fall Photo Weekend trip, and our first such outing since prior to the Pandemic.  These were Raven Tracks, in a sandbar along the Athabasca River, just above Athabasca Falls.  The mountain visible in the background is Mount Kerkeslin.

I took this photograph on October 22nd 2022 at about 1:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long 250mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter increased the contrast a little, and created some separation in the clouds.  The exposure was F36.0 and a shutter speed of 1 second.

Color verses Monochrome - Horseshoe Lake

While I had my Jobo Processor set up, and after running all of my Black and White film, I also ran a couple of batches of color film.  The processor is ideal for color processing as the temperature controlled water bath nicely and accurately maintains the high process temperature [37 to 40C].  

First I ran a batch of E-6 chemistry.  This is the process used to develop color transparency film.  I don't shoot a lot of color film any more, mostly because of the cost.  4" x 5" sheets of color transparency film run about $10 each.  The larger 8" x 10" size runs about $30 per sheet.  The chemistry isn't inexpensive either, and a 1L kit, enough to run 30 sheets of 4x5 or 15 sheets of 8x10, runs about a hundred bucks.

The reason that I started out with Black and White film is that I'm somewhat color blind.  I struggle to recognize the difference between drab shades of grey, green and brown.  This made color printing in the darkroom virtually impossible for me.  It even makes toning of black and white prints a challenge.  But sometimes the subject is the color, and black and white just doesn't do the image justice.  For this reason I usually carry a sheet or two of color film with me when I am out shooting.  If I come across something that screams color, I will take a shot.  Usually this amounts to about two dozen sheets per year, a mix of transparency and negative film, in 4x5, and occasionally a couple of larger 8x10 shots.  I still have a bunch of old stock of various color films in my freezer.  I bought most of this stuff years ago, when the price was much lower, so I figure I might as well use it up.  In all likelihood I will continue to buy some new stock from time to time, just to take advantage of opportunities like this one.

I took this shot of Horseshoe Lake in Jasper because I liked the way that the color in the sky was being reflected in the lake.  I enhanced it a little with a color filter.  This shot was taken during the Fall Photo Weekend of 2022 attended by several members of the Monochrome Guild.

I shot this on October 22nd 2022 at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  In the mountains in late October, that is starting to get pretty close to sunset.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly wide 125mm lens.  A blue/yellow color polarizing filter enhanced the yellow reflection and added some blue to the sky.  I shot this on the now discontinued Fujichrome Velvia 50.  Despite the fact that the film expired ten years ago, in October of 2012, it still yielded pretty respectable results.  The exposure was F18.0 with a shutter speed of 1 second.

For comparison, here is the Black and White version of the same shot.  This one was taken moments before the color version.  The camera and lens were the same, and the tripod position did not change.  This one was taken on Ilford HP5 sheet film, developed in 510 Pyro.  Although it is a nice shot, it just doesn't have the pop that the color brings to the other version.  Most of the time I prefer the monochrome version, and the control that the negative affords me in printing.  But occasionally the color makes the image.  As there was no filter used for this shot, and the film was somewhat faster, the exposure time was less.  This image was given an exposure of F29.0 and a shutter speed of 1/15 second.

Prairie Cemetery

This is the last scan from the batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 4" x 5" sheet film.  This batch was run on February 26th on my Jobo Processor.  Development was N+1 in PMK, for 16:40 minutes at 20C.

This shot is from a trip to southern Alberta.  Margarit and I travelled for four days with our friends Sharon and Arturo.  We visited the Turner Valley Gas Plant, and then continued south to the Lethbridge area.  We found this old cemetery out on the prairie, not far from the Sweetgrass Hills.  Those hills are mostly over the border in Montana.

I took this photograph on June 21st 2023 at about 5:00 in the afternoon.  The moody sky makes the shot, in my opinion, and adds to the feel of the image.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a 135mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter increased separation in the sky, and bumped up the contrast a little.  The plus development further increased the contrast.

Name Plate

Thos is the second last post from the batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 developed on February 26th.  Once again, this is part of the batch that I ran on my Jobo and gave plus development.  This was 16:40 minutes at 20C in PMK Developer.  

This is the name plate on an old 1920's car that I found abandoned in central Alberta.  Obviously it is a General Motors product as the Fisher company is part of that corporation.  Some old car buff out there might be able to figure out the make, model and year, but I have no idea what it is.

I shot this on August 30th 2023 at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my newly acquired Ebony SV45Ti camera and a long 300mm lens.  As the subject brightness range was only three stops I elected to give plus development in order to pick up the contrast a little.  The exposure was F36.0 and a shutter speed of 1/2 second.  This included an extension factor of 2/3 stop for the long bellows draw required as a result of the close focus.

Lubricators

This detail shot was taken during our private tour of the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic site, last summer.  Arturo and I booked a private tour there, hoping to take some photographs that would prove suitable for our Apparitions project.

This one is also part of the batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 4" x 5" sheet film, processed on my Jobo, in PMK Developer.  This was the batch that was processed on February 26th and given plus development.

I shot this image of these lubricators in the Compressor Building at the Turner Valley Gas Plant.  It was taken on June 19th 2023, at about 11:30 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a normal 150mm lens.  No filters were used.  The plus development brought up the contrast a little and I really like the way this negative turned out.

Another One

Same batch of film... same trip.  Another Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 4" x 5" negative, from the batch of N+1 PMK run on my Jobo on February 26th.

This church was on some native land, beside the Trans Canada Highway, southwest of Kamloops.  Chris and Arturo and I stopped briefly on our way home from Vancouver Island.  I wanted to show some respect for the first nations land and not just go wandering around.  But this was right beside the highway, so it felt like it was OK to take a shot.

I shot this on Halloween... October 31st 2023, at around 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly long 200mm lens.  I remember that it was rather cold and blustery on this day, and not all that comfortable being outside.  The light was really flat too....  I chose not to bother using any sort of contrast filter, but did designate plus development in an attempt to pump up contrast a little.

Sanitorium

Yet another scan from the most recent batch.  This is Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 4" x 5" sheet film, run on my Jobo Processor, in PMK Developer.  This one is from the batch on that I ran on February 26th and gave N+1 Development.... thats 16:40 minutes of development at 20C.

I selected plus development for this image as the light was rather flat and dull.  Although I think the increase in contrast improved the image, the dull and gloomy mood that is imparted here, is very fitting of the subject.  This is an abandoned sanatorium near Kamloops, British Columbia.  I stopped to photograph here with my friends Chris and Arturo, when we were on our way home from Vancouver Island.  The site is privately owned and access is not permitted.  There was security staff present when we were there, and they were OK with us taking a few photographs from the road, but we were not allowed to enter the property.  I understand that the site is slated for demolition and is scheduled to become a residential development.

I shot this one on November 1st at about 9:45 in the morning.  I used a longer 200mm lens to get in a little tighter on the building.  No filter was considered or used as there was very little color in the subject under these flat lighting conditions.

Making Lasagna

Two or three times a year I get the inclination to make a big batch of lasagna.  I don't want to pump my own tires, but it usually turns out pretty good, and I get compliments, and requests for more.  This time around I spent 185 bucks to buy all the foil pans and ingredients and make several tubs full.  In the afternoon of March 18th I made one big pan for us to have right away, and three more for us to freeze for future use.  I also made two small pans for Hailey to take with her this summer when she moves down to East Coulee to work.  

I used four boxes of lasagna noodles, four pounds of lean ground beef, two large cans of diced tomatoes, two cans of tomato paste, three jars of pasta sauce, fresh basil, fresh spinach, two tubs of dry cottage cheese, and about eight pounds of shredded cheese, a mix of mozza, cheddar and parm.

By the time I finished making the sauce, cooking the noodles and building everything, it was too late in the evening to bake one for dinner.  And, the next day, Helena came down with the flu, so we ended up holding off a little longer on the first one.  The rest all hit the freezer for future use.

Before stowing them all in the freezer I weighed one of the big pans, and it came in at 6-1/2 pounds.  Should be good for a big feed for the whole family, plus some leftovers.  I can't wait...!

Aspen and Dark Forest

On February 26th I set up my Jobo Processor once again, and ran another batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  This was a batch of twenty 4 x 5 sheets.  This batch was given N+1 Development in PMK Developer.  The extended development time of 16:40 minutes increased contrast in this batch of images, all shot under low contrast lighting conditions.  I will share this and a handful of other scans from that batch, in the coming days.

About this time last year I was driving along the David Thompson Highway, west of my cottage, near the Bighorn First Nation.  This tree beside the highway caught my eye.   It was catching a little bit of afternoon light and really stood out against the dark evergreen trees behind it.  I also really liked the shape of the tree as I thought the sweeping shape showed much more character than the typical sticklike aspens and pines that mostly grown in this area.  I stopped on the side of the highway and set up my view camera.

I took this shot on March 9th 2023, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly wide 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter made the shaded background fall off, while the extended development raised the values of the aspen.

300,000 Page Views

Today a milestone was reached.  My blog has now received 300,000 pageviews.  This counter has been running since the very beginning, so these are all time views.  Some statistics are logged by the program and it seems my audience is global.  I have been getting views from countries all over the world.  Many thanks to those that take time out of their day to stop by and see what I have been up to.  When I started this, over a dozen years ago, I never dreamed that it would keep going for this long, or be seen by so many people.  I know that many of my friends and family tune in on a regular basis as I am continually receiving feedback about something someone has seen on my blog.  So I guess it is serving it's purpose.  I enjoy posting content to it, particularly now since I have retired.  I will continue with the madness and look forward to the next milestone.

Rain Forest

This is the last scan from that batch of Kdoak Tri-X pan 320 that I processed on February 25th.  Like all the previous images I've posted in recent days, this one was given N+1 Development, in PMK Developer, using my Jobo Processor.

This shot was taken in Cathedral Grove, which is part of MacMillan Provincial Park.  It is out on Vancouver Island, inland, along the highway to Port Alberni.

I shot this on October 26th 2023 at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  It was rather damp and cool and the boardwalk through the grove was slippery with frost.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a longish 200mm lens.  The exposure was F32.0 and a shutter speed of 4 seconds.  The entire scene, with the exception of the fallen leaves, was green, so a filter would have been of little benefit.