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The fist weekend in December – in Yorkshire – in the rain – with Fujiholics on an enjoyable workshop – expertly organised by Matt Hart and Matt Walkely. Really good choices for locations and, having committed to the workshop, I had to see what I could achieve in adverse weather conditions. The umbrella was a great asset! With such muted colours monochrome renditions work best – concentrating the view on the textures and shapes and tonal range. Location 1. Scale Haw Force. (BD23 5DS) Location 2. The Strid. (BD23 6EX) Location 3. Posforth Gill Force. (BD23 6EX) Location 1. Cray Waterfalls. (BD23 5JB) Location 2. Buckden (BD23 5JU) Location 3. Kilnsey Crag (BD23 5PS) Location 4. Kettlewell (BD23 5QZ) This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I was on a mission to find and photograph the snicket (alley) photographed in 1937 by Bill Brandt (follow link to see original)- wonderfully atmospheric yet so simple. Location on Google Maps Here is my effort taken with my Fuji mirrorless XT20. Followed by the image I managed to get on the circa1908 Thornton Pickard camera – problems with the paper negative snagging when I moved the slide in and out limited success here.

Extending the bellows of the Boots (Thornton-Pickard) camera – I can get in closer to the object (Euphorbia plant). Using a highish f stop I can keep the depth of field great enough. In this case I love the negative image best. (Positives made by contact printing). Boots half plate camera

The next step in the experiments with the #antiquecamera was to try a contact positive print. First step the paper negative. Now I have established that I can trust the readings from the Lux App (iphone) – with ISO 6. I wanted at least a 4 s exposure as it minimises vibration effects from removing the lens cap. This gave an F stop of 32. To make the positive successully (Under red light) I wetted the papers before putting the negative face to face with the print paper. The negative was on top of the paper. I then illuminated the papers from 2 feet above with a flash from a flash-gun. Some experiments with different flash intensity was needed. – And success 🙂 #antique #darkroom #halfplate

So, using the recently acquired “plate holders” to hold the photographic paper in the back of my, now modified, Boots Half Plate Mahogany camera, I have taken and processed some successful pictures. Boots half plate camera Taking the exposure using my iphone and the “Lux” app and judging the ISO of the paper to be 25, I made 3 exposures of the paper at f32 for 4s (as Lux indicated) and also, 8 and 16 seconds. As 8 seconds was the most successful. Seeing as the app had suggested 4s as the correct exposure, I will assume now the ISO equivalent of the paper is 50 and work on that basis for the next tests. I developed the paper and got three well focussed images with a full tonal range. The images produced are of course negative images. These I then scanned in to the computer and through photoshop inverted the tonal range to give the black and white image you see here. The dynamic range is too great and I understand “flashing” the paper before use can help reduce this. That’s the next experiment. #halfplate

A good find on E-bay this “Boots” the chemist half-plate camera ( #platecamera ) arrived a week ago and I have been gradually accumulating the accessories needed to make some prints. The camera has now been cleaned and checked. It didn’t come with any plate holders, so whilst waiting to find some I made my own from scrap wood in the workshop. This worked but has some light leakage. A search on E-Bay located 3 good ones which arrived today. However, whilst a close fit, they were slightly too big – so I have modified the runners at the back of the camera to accommodate these, slightly wider, plate holders. Now they fit snuggly. All chemicals have arrived, along with developing trays, but I am waiting for the tongs to lift the prints into and out of the fluids. My efforts without these were far too messy! Let the experiments commence …. One frustration – my #Dremel was doing a great job sanding the slot but then just stopped working – It came apart easily enough and check with a. multimeter identified the speed controller to be faulty. A replacement has been located by a google search – hopefully it will come soon as I have another job waiting for it.

A couple more hours work on the Bideford Black pigment, grinding, seiving and then mixing with linseed oil using a Muller. I was then able to print the final layer on my Guernsey Rocks print. This Bideford Black was much more black than the previous batch made from paler rock – bit it still had a brownish tinge – but appeared quite black when printed. I’m very pleased with the overall result of this three-block print.

#cattleegret walking amongst the cows on the Somerset Levels near Catcott. I had heard for some time that Cattle egrets were present now on the Somerset Levels, along with little Egrets and Great White Egrets, but I hadn’t seen them – until today. Driving towards the hide on Catcott Lows I glimpsed something very white flying near some cows. I reversed the car back up the road, parked in a layby and went to investigate – there they were 16 Cattle Egrets – smaller than other egrets and with a thick yellow beak – and living up to their name – walking amongst the cattle. I took some shots with my #Fuji #X-H1 and 400mm lens with 1.4 extender. I still can’t get the best out of this set up yet. The depth of field is so shallow and the focussing a challenge – still a few shots were reasonably in focus – I thought I had the shutter on 1/1000s but it was only 1/500 so the shots of the birds in flight are blurred by the motion of the birds, one of which was carrying a vole (type thing) it had caught. Very pleased to have got my first sighting of UK Cattle Egrets and to have a few pics – still need to return to get some better ones.

Very pleased to take delivery of a proper printing press to replace my makeshift vice-press (was great for seeing of I could do this print thing). Bought from the “Portable Printing Press Company” – Very good service and the press looks sturdy and well put together. I didnt waste any time putting some prints through it to test it out. I tried taditional lino – the newer plasti “lino” and a 15mm thich piece of oak with my woodpecker woodcut. All of these produced good prints – eventually. Understandably it is important to get the rollers level- producing even pressure across the block and this took a few test prints to get right for each new block as each was a different thickness. One problem took a google search to solve and that was the paper for the print was getting creased as it went through the rollers. The google search came up with a couple of discussion forums each recommending using a cutting mat on top of the felt sandwich. With that in place everything went through smoothly at low and high pressures. Now I’m ready to print my Gurnsey rocks using inks I’ve made myself …..

Today I got to make a good quantity of ink using #pigment collected from the North Deveon coastline (Thank you John Byrne for being our guide). Up till now I have made small quantities and used them right away. Now I have got hold of some new empty tubes, from Lawrence art supplies, and can store the ink I make – that’s the plan and it seems to have started OK.

What year it is for the autumn colours this year! Really intense colours with moody dark skies and occasional bursts of sunlight to make the trees glow. These photographs taken on a walk near our home – around Bleadon Hill,

We needed to get out for a walk this morning so went to Sand Point near Weston Super Mare and headed north towards Middle Hope. The beach there was strewn with driftwood and we were able to retrieve some good looking pieces that I’ll use for sculptures, printmaking and – still life photography. Results will be posted on this blog in the coming weeks.