Showing posts with label V&A Dundee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label V&A Dundee. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Occam's Razor (ish)

Morning folks - well I got there eventually - sorry for any tardiness in publishing, but sometimes, well sometimes you're busy.
Anyway Spring is a Springin'!
Mornings are getting lighter and every photographer worth his salt should be getting out from under that thiosulphate-stained quilt and heading out with some fresh film and an attitude!

Attitude?

Oh yeah.

You've got to get moving!

Over the latter Winter months this year, I photographed seriously around (on average) three times a week. Now that's a lot for me, but it was good from the point of view that it helped sharpen my compositional viewpoint and instilled in me a realisation that I am really not getting any younger, and any day lost, is one less day of light.

Oh what a yawn dahling, what a lazy use of English.

It is true though, because it is the light that defines us.

It's easy for me to write that this morning, when the sun is up, but it is still brisk outside, but trust me, the light 'round these parts has run the gamut from utter pish through to heavenly. 
Overcast ghastliness and liquid silver; chucking rain; hard, low Winter sun; calf-length snow and bitter winds - I did them all.

It's been fun though; intensive and hard, and I discovered I rather like photographing buildings. 
I've done the found objects to death, so concrete stone, glass and steel it was. 
But rather than boringly detail each and every building I thought I'd get this melange of photos together and  show you what I did with relatively simple (albeit exquisite) equipment.





Oh, and why Occam's Razor? 

Well its underlying principle is that the simplest explanation is often the most correct. 
Not only that but I like the expression!

Photographically, I think there's way too much guff spoken about photography, both in the execution and also in the production of an end product. 
For instance, regular readers will know I have a total aversion to split-grade printing as I think it may possibly be useful, but on the whole feel it is far too footery for my ends. 
In the darkroom, and paraphrasing my old mentor Joseph McKenzie, simple is best.

I also re-read some of Fred Picker's Zone System Manual recently and oh boy, no disservice to Mr. Picker, but it really makes you want to put your lens cap on. 
Well it does me, even though there's plenty of useful stuff in there, the sheer complexity and footeriness really is enough to send one running.

So, simple is the by-word and without further ado, here's the pics!


Wall


Extreme dullness in the extreme, the above has something about it I like. I think it is the off-kilter banding from a mixture of pillar shadow and low sun.
This was made with a newly acquired, super-cheap 250mm CF Sonnar. It's got a couple of cosmetic issues but is a fine lens. As sharp wide open as it is stopped down, it has made me reconsider viewpoints. 
It was taken on HP5 rated at 200, processed in Pyrocat-HD and printed on Grade 3 Ilford MGRC.


1960's Concrete Brutalist


D'amore of a D'asame, as me old mate Sting used to say. 
Sonnar 250, HP5, Pyrocat and MGRC.
There's something gruesomely beautiful about the 'new' building at Duncan Of Jordanstone.
I think there's an air of Cold War stoicism about it.
Dundee has actually modelled for Russia in TV and film a few times - weird eh!


Progress


Back in the 60's the old Hawkhill was a mix of cottages, lanes, tenements and mills. It had character in spades and was torn down in the name of progress. 
When i arrived here, the last of the Hawkhill was condemned buildings, small shops hanging on by the skin of their teeth, and major works.
A great shame.
The modern thing in the background is part of the Life Science Centre and is a world leader in all things, er, life sciency.


Tree And Wall


There's something about the juxtaposition of tree, shadow and wall that I really like.
The sun was low and hard and weirdly I was wielding Ilford's SFX with a deep red filter. EI was 6!
The lens was a CF 150mm Sonnar. Hasselblad's cheapest secondhand lens on average and a sterling performer at all apertures.
It was processed in Pyrocat and printed on Ilford MGRC again.
I use the RC to make work prints, which I'll turn into 'proper' prints on fibre paper when I get the time.
Making work prints this way on 5x7" paper is a quick and easy way of working that doesn't cost a fortune.
Again the old simple is best epithet applies.
Occam's Razor!


Winter


Yeah I know you Pickerites, there's no texture in the snow. 
Well actually you're wrong - there is, but this was just a quick print to assess things, so I shall burn the snow in slightly when I print it properly.
The snow is actually quite gungey and ugly from slush - maybe it's better pure white?
Film was HP5 in Pyrocat,  printed onto Grade 3 MGRC.
Lens was the 60mm Distagon - as fine a lens as anything you'll find. 
Zeiss recommended it for weddings, but I think it works brilliantly for landscape and 'tecture.


Future Dream


I haven't taken reflection photographs in a while, but I was so taken by this, that I had to take it. 
Sadly the double glazing has totally mucked up the quality of the reflection as it always does - bring back Victorian Plate Glass!
This was the 150mm Sonnar again and pretty much wide open.
Film is SFX and a deep red filter is in use.
Oh Yus . . .


The Hanged Man


Can you seen him? 
Me too, well I would wouldn't I because it was me. Not that I was hanging or anything . . .
This was taken about 2 weeks on from the last one - amazing the changes Winter will wrought. Snow was calf-deep in places, but I didn't let that stop me. 
The light is what I wanted to capture, but sadly it hasn't appeared here - maybe a better print would do it.
Lens was the 60mm Distagon.
It's a simple straight print on Grade 3 MGRC.


What If They Gave A Party And Nobody Came?


This was off the dreadfully under-developed roll of FP4. 
I now know my timings for next time so all is not lost and at least I hadn't walked 10 miles!
It's actually pretty underexposed too, but them's the breaks.
Camera was the SWC/M, and it was handheld at 1/15th at f8. 
It's very sharp.
The print was Grade 4 on MGRC - no need for split trousers or bleaching.


What The F?!


I really didn't realise I'd captured a Wild F, but I had. I just liked the shadows on the wall.
It was a tricky shot, me being on the ground and this being halfway up a fire escape.
I developed the film and lo and behold a Wild F!
Sadly the print is nothing like the contact print - could do better is what I'll say.
Lens was a Sonnar and Ilford SFX again.


Tunnel Of Weirdness


You know where dogs keep going back and peeing on the same wall?
Well . . . 
Though it doesn't look it, again this was the 150mm Sonnar with Ilford SFX.
I've tried to keep the composition as simple as possible, yet it's an enormously complex image.
Grade 3 print on MGRC.
Dead simple.


I.T.M.A.


Whilst technically not an architectural photo, I feel remiss for not including our old mate.
There's been many photographs of him since I discovered him, but this is one of my favourites, and I suppose that IS a building so I am excused a bit.
This was 1/15th at f8 with the 250mm Sonnar. 
I was a loooong way down the lane and it sort of shows what a long lens can do to space.
I actually like it very much.
Film was HP5 rated at EI 200 and developed in Pyrocat.
Print was a Grade 3 on MGRC just to snap things up a bit.
There was no wafting or wizard cloak involved in making the print: set grade, shove paper into easel, expose, develop. 
The whole thing was done in a few minutes.


Where Man Meets Nature


This isn't technically a 'simple' photograph as it is from the fogged and yucky roll of Bergger I detailed in the last FB, however it is a simple photograph.
Camera was the SWC/M, print was about Grade 5 on old Tetenal MGRC, which was already a very contrasty paper.
My nose was nearly touching that right hand wall!


Aliens At The V&A


The above is my absolute favourite. That marker post is so inutterably 'alien' that is sets the whole thing off.
It was taken on Ilford FP4 rated at EI 80 and developed in some really ancient HC110. 
Sadly the film is well under-developed simply because I couldn't get the right time. 
Times these days are all over the place - I think the assumption in all the literature out there is that you will be scanning the negative rather than actually projection printing them. 
Oh how the times (!) have changed.
I have to say, that I err on the side of Ralph Gibson and prefer a negative to be slightly on the cooked side - it gets you more meat and potatoes in a print. Not only that but a more developed negative is more easily correctable than an under-exposed or under-developed one. 

Oh and you might be wondering why I am talking like this - it's simply because I have nearly run out of Pyrocat, and am using anything and everything else I can find, and not only that, a change is as good as getting arrested.

Anyway, given the thinness of the above, I had to execute a swift side move. 
And what was that? 
Well, simple really, given the lack of snap in the negative I just printed it on Grade 4! 
It's a straight print apart from a wee bit of dodging to the out of focus beam at the top left.
That simple.

I really like the tonality.
It's weird really, FP4 is the most reasonable, consistent and reliable black and white film out there. I am stating that as a fact. Why waste your time testing films where the QC isn't a patch on the Mobberley Mob?
I am done with spending time composing, only to come back and develop something either flawed or inconsistent. I would use Kodak films too, because the quality control is impecable, but since they've decided to be so expensive, I'll no longer use them - shame.
Anyway, FP4 - its tonality can be wonderful. 
In my opinion, it is the pinnacle of monochrome tonality.

Photographically it couldn't have been simpler, albeit I was lucky with some really wonderful light and an eminently photogenic building.
The camera was my Hasselblad SWC/M and the photo was handheld, 1/15th of a second at f5.6.
As those bleedin' meercats used to say "Simples"!

And that's it really. 
Occam's Razor
Keep it simple.
I could probably have done the same with a Holga or the old Rollei T, or even the knackered Autocord . . . in fact that's a thought . . . . 
You really don't need bells and whistles to make images you are happy with.

There's an acronym: K.I.S.S.

Keep. It. Simple, Stupid.

I totally agree with that

Till next time, try it.
Unburden yourself from technicalities, sub-plots, menus, footeriness!
Go simple, and if you have a darkroom, get rid of all the stuff they tell you you have to have and have to use to get a result.
Use a single grade and your gut feelings about how the image should look, and have a go
You might well be surprised.

I guess what I am trying to say, is that at the end of the day, the final image is all that counts - if you can get there with the least possible number of complications, then that is all the better.
Why?
I don't really know actually, but probably backing it up is my old college conundrum whereby, given a problem to solve or a graphic to create, the more processes that went into the final thing, the more that thing was rendered null and void. 
Enthusiasm was sapped.
Energy drifted.
Creativity was stifled to the point of tedium, and at the end of the process, the initial thoughts and roughs seemed to be the ones that worked best.

Mies Van Der Rohe's epithet "Less Is More" rings true in so many situations, both literally and metaphorically.

Over and oot - beam me up Scotsman!







Thursday, September 12, 2019

Tunnel Vision

Well folks, a mercifully short one today!

Y'know, there I was farting around with digital colour stuff recently, and I would enthusiastically go out and make a few photos and come home and view them on screen and they looked nice and that was that.
None of them have ever been printed.
Same with holiday things too - see my recent posts about holiday cameras for all the boring detail . . .
You know, since acquiring a 'digital holiday compact' about 11 years ago we've only printed ONE set of photos whereas when we used to send the film off, despite the groans, we always had something to file away!

Anyway at the same time I was thinking about upgrading digitally, I was also reading a book by William Boyd called 'Sweet Caress', whose main character, Amory Clay, is a female photographer (! I know, who'd a thunk it !) . . and there was one bit in it, that hit me like an ice-pick between the eyebrows . . 
She said (semi-retired and photographing her growing family) that when colour processing and colour film started to become more readily available and cheaper to use, she couldn't see things in colour, only black and white.

"Amongst the few pictures I did take some were in colour - Kodachrome slides, expensive but becoming the norm. However even as I could see my pictures reflected the world as it was I somehow wanted the world as it wasn't - in monochrome. That was my medium, I knew, and in fact I came to feel it so strongly I wondered if, as the world turned to colour photography, something vital was being lost. The black and white image was, in some essential way, photography's defining feature - that was where its power lay and colour diminished its artfulness: paradoxically, monochrome - because it was so evidently unnatural - was what made a photograph work best.
  I would carefully rewrap my cameras    - my Leica, my Rollei, my Voigtlander - and place them back on their shelf in the cupboard and, as I locked the door on them, I wondered if I'd ever be a proper photographer again."

© William Boyd, Sweet Caress, Pub. Bloomsbury, 2015

And like a seagull coming down and crapping all over your bag of chips, there it was . . ME DEFINED.

I am a monochrome photographer.

Suddenly the fartiness and cobwebs blew away and I thought, what on earth was the point in chasing a digital dream in colour, when I only, trulydream like early Ai - they were making them back in the 1960's y'know - that is comprehensively and completely in BLACK AND WHITE.

Boyd (not a photographer, though he'll often jemmie in a Leica or Nikon into his books) has somehow managed to nail something so firmly and perfectly that I (as someone who takes a fair number of photographs) has had to stand back and think.

Thank you William.

I've enjoyed the majority of his writing over the years since discovering Armadillo back in the 1990's,  but since Lorimer Black (of Armadillo fame) I've never empathised with a character of his like I did with Amory Clay - even though we are of different sexes (well, we were last time I looked) . .

It's funny recommending books - does anyone actually read any more???

All I can say, is if you don't mind a bit of swearing and sauciness, and enjoy the living of other lives that good writing can bring, give it a shot.



Chinese Gentleman Plays Tale Of Tale's Game "The Graveyard"
V&A Dundee, June 2019
Leica M2, 35mm f3.5 Summaron, Ilford FP4+

The above was shot on FP4 at f3.5 on the Leica. I think I was braced against a wall - exposure was about a half a second. It was pretty much dark darkness, and I thought:

Bollocks, I'll have a go with the Summaron wide open and see what comes out. 

It was one of those Noctilux moments with not a £3000+ piece of glass in sight!

There's a lovely quality to the f3.5 Summaron that isn't as contrasty as the f2.8 version - it somehow lets light breath.

It was processed in my new mix of Pyrocat from Wet Plate Supplies. I am standardising down a few minutes from my usual, so now I agitate everything to 14 mins (Constant first 30 secs, then 4 gentle inversions every minute) then let it stand to 17 mins. Seems to work fine.

It was printed on some really really old Kentmere fibre - I'll tell you how old it is, it was made in Cumbria before Ilford took them over!
The paper is fine and still fast and gives super blacks - the print will outlast me and somewhere down the road if it doesn't get skipped someone will wonder what on earth was going on in 2019 (I always write printing details and dates on the back of my prints in 2B pencil).

Were I of a different bent I'd have said:

"Well the camera was stopping me taking the picture because it thought I was wrong, but I hunted through a few menus and managed to over-ride it. What you are seeing is a RAW file on a screen. The bloody lens was hunting all over the place though and the Chinese man, concentrating on leading the old lady around the graveyard, started to get really annoyed when my focus assist light kept going off."

And where's the charm in that?

Anyway, trousers firmly nailed to the flagpole.
Never say die.
Black and White tattooed on my bum.
That's me.







Monday, May 13, 2019

Archie Texture

OK - so I didn't know that this pun was somehow going to involve a royal babe at arms, but there y'go - might get a few more hits . . . and don't worry there's none of this Danny Baker foolishness - honest, see that Twitter man . . . fecking hell - I honestly think that it makes people believe they're untouchable and above everything.
Well, there y'go - he's a wee bit older than me and should really have known better.
This is after all the world of the non-gender specific Gingerbread Person . .

Seriously . . you didn't know?:


An eye opener isn't it, and certainly puts a new spin on the children's favourite:

 ". . . Run Run As Fast As You Can, You Can't Catch Me, I'm The Gingerbread Person . . . and if you do catch me, I'll have the rozzers on you so there . . ."

We've hit a point where you can't even say boo to a goose without a bunch of goose lovers telling you you're a total b'tard.

What a strange time we've created.

Anyway, what has that got to do with photography?
Exactly,  NOTHING.

Dreamland, V&A Dundee, Easter Morning 2019

So, here we go - I found myself needing to go and take some pictures. I also found myself using the last of my wonderful kit of Pyrocat-HD.
I'd got the kit from an Italian seller on ebay - a chap called Vincenzo whose shop was called

processialternativi 


if you click the link it'll take you to his shop - he's not doing Pyrocat at the moment though.
Anyway, I thought I'd look around and actually found a place in the UK doing kits - yes I could have ordered around £40 of raw chemicals and had enough to do me a lifetime, but having over-enthusiasticised the heating of the Sodium Metabisulphite last time, I thought I'd make it easy for myself.
So, Wet Plate Supplies it was - here they are:


Their premix was £6.99 for 100ml (in Glycol and Distilled Water no less).
I combined an order for 300ml with some other stuff I needed and despite the heavy duty postage price (they said it's because few carriers will carry chemicals these days) it promptly arrived and has sat waiting to be used.
But more on that in a minute.

Firstly, I was up and out by 5.40 AM on Easter Sunday.
I'm not a particularly religious person, despite my dark past as an acolyte, but arriving and parking up at Mary Slessor Gardens there was something in the air, and it wasn't water vapour, though there was squidoons of that. 
I was surrounded by peace, despite the higher than expected levels of traffic at such an early hour.
The Biblical statement: 

The Peace Of God Which Passeth All Understanding

rang loud in my head . . .  alongside Nigel Molesworth's Skool Dinner Grace:

"This Piece Of Cod, Which Passeth All Understanding"

Yep, Peace (with a capital P) was in the air and I genuinely felt optimistic for the world as I loaded a roll of nearly expired Delta 400.
My weapon of choice was the SWC/M.

The light was . . well, William McGonagall, a Victorian poet par excellence and a man way before his time (as indeed seems to be the case with a fair chunk of the Victorian population of this fair City) called the River Tay "Silvery" . . and it is at times and quite often, so before I go on, please take a dander through Mr. McGonagall's poetry . . you'll laugh and cry all at the same time:


Anyway, onwards and downwards as they say.
I was ready to go at a shade before sunrise, but pressed for time with regard to taxi duties, I set off at a pace.
How it went is seen here:

Film # 66/57





Oh alright, you did ask for them . . . here's my notes:

#66/57, DELTA 400 EI 200, 21/4/19

1./ 1/4, f8, ZIII MLU Wall
2./ 1/4, f8, ZIII MLU Wall
3./ 15 Secs     - - -   > 55 Secs f22 ZIII??
4./ 1/8th f8 ZIII
5./ 1/8th f8 ZIII
6./ 1/30th, f16, ZIII
7./ 1/8th, f16, ZIII Pool
8./ 1/8th, f11, ZIII Staffroom
9./ 1/30th, f11, ZIII Ugly
10./ 1/30th, f11, ZIII
11./ 1/30th, f11, ZIII
12./ 1/2, f16, ZIII


*NEW* PHD 5+5+500 22℃.
Agit 30 sec, then 4 per min, to 17 mins then stand to 21. No waterbath.

Very overdeveloped negs  - probably just finishing at 17 would do it.
Not sure how they will print, but eyeballing them just now they're dense, but totally readable - remarkable really


My erstwhile companion was this chap:




He looks perky doesn't he, especially on the photographer's friend, the Leitz Table Top Tripod.

I've banged on about the TTT before and whilst these days I tend to find anything with that red logo ridiculously over-priced, the TTT is reasonable AND sturdy. Really sturdy actually - you can easily hold a 500C/M on one - not only that, but in poor light conditions it really does make for a wonderful camera brace - highly recommended from yer Sheephouse.




That's my basic travel light SWC/M kit - it's a Think Tank Suburban Disguise 20, which fits the SWC/M and Lowepro bag (with light meter inside) inside the bag, or, I can also fit a 500C/M with 150mm Sonnar (and hood!) in the bag with the meter/lowepro combo outside. The TTT pops in the back pocket.
You can't really get more unobtrusive or lightweight/easy access. I rate the Think Tank bag too - it's well made with some thoughtful bits and bobs.

Anyway, I keep getting sidetracked don't I.

I just set off photographing anything that caught my eye and wandered along to the V&A, where I encountered a group of people (actually older ladies and a man) reading biblical passages and singing hymns quietly as the sun rose.

It was one of those moments when you could have removed all aspects of modernity and buildings and noise and suchlike and moved back several handfuls of centuries. 

The feeling was profound

Their emotion was subtle and raw and hung in the air with the water vapour.

I didn't want to intrude on their worship, so I passed them without photographing and moved a good way under the tunnel, dropped to the floor with the TTT, levelled the bubble on the top of the SW (not easy to do in such low light conditions) metered the walls for ZIII and got 15 seconds . . . which translated to 55 secs for reciprocity.


Easter Sunrise,  V&A Dundee, Easter Morning 2019


I rather like it - weirdly the folks stayed pretty still for 55 seconds!

The above is a scan from the print - not a great scan and not a brilliant print, but there's subtlety which gets lost on-screen.
The print was on ancient Agfa MCC fibre. Because of the over-exposedness of the negatives I actually printed this on Grade 0 (80 Y) and developed it in Kodak Polymax. 
It's had some selenium too. 
The one thing I would say, is it has done a Adams, and dried down to a dull thud - it is probably a combo of incredibly old paper developing a base fog and Grade 0. I might try printing this set again at a different Grade - they're all Grade 0 on this 'ere post.

Anyway, I moved through to the other side, took a picture which Bruce thinks I should have printed, and came back through as they'd finished.



End Of Praise, V&A Dundee, Easter Morning 2019


This is where the TTT proved its usefulness - braced against my chest, an 8th at f8!

Again I rather like this  - the light had lifted a bit and the signboard at the right hand side looks like some sort of serving robot.

Again the print is a tad thud-like . . . the missus just eyeballed both just now and said it looks better onscreen than it does in the flesh which says I need to up the Grade on any subsequent reprints . . . the power of a different pair of eyes!

The strange thing to me is that now they had stopped their worship and were just chatting, the atmosphere changed completely. I said Good Morning as I passed and got the same in return - one of them walked away towards the docks, and after I photographed frames 6,7 and 8, the rest scooted past me, hopped into a very small car (yep, all 5 of them) and zipped off somewhere at breakneck speed.

I carried on taking pictures of shapes - some of which I should really print - I'll maybe get a handle on that for a Part 2 - and finally finished the whole thing in the space of around 40 minutes, which I suppose says something.
Solo, photocentric trips aid concentration - you can throw yourself into the feel of a place and hopefully come away with something.

I developed the film on the same day with the new Pyrocat.
Interestingly, well, it was for me, on my home mixed stuff, when you added Part B to Part A, you went slightly grey, and then when you added water there was a distinctly bluey-grey hue to the solution.
With the new stuff, this was pinkish.
I should have thought twice about this, because when I'd been making up my original batch, I'd overdone the temperature in the double boiler and as such (I think) overcooked the Sodium Metabisulphite.
That would probably explain why my times were quite different from the online guides' times - anyway, I pressed ahead with my old (consistent) time and ended up with this:




OK, so no prizes won for composition, but anyway - they look pretty darn dense to me - how about you?
The density is really thick, but somehow, it has leant something to them. 
Were these developed in a non-staining developer, they'd have been perfect replacement frames for your sunglasses, but in Pyrocat-HD they've gone somewhere else, and in the case of the super-dense ones you can see at the top left, it appears to be dreamland.


V&A Dundee,   Easter Morning 2019


Well there she is, Goode Shippe V&A sailing out of a thick morning fog!
It's really hard to get an idea of the subtlety of the light on the hoardings (which conceal a wasteland reserved for who knows what . . . ah, typical Dundee!) from the scan of the print, but it is there, albeit in a thudlike manner.
There's definitely room for improvement on the printing front, but that's good - if you've nothing to push against you might as well put your trotters up, smoke a couple of cigars and congratulate yourself on how great you are.

And so I have saved my favourite print from this session till last, and I can't even describe what I like about it, apart from the fact that to me it looks like a scene from one of my dreams.



Dreamland, V&A Dundee, Easter Morning 2019


It's a combination of that bollard (writ tiny because of the extreme wideness . . . no not me you cheeky bugger) and the mysterious Z on the hoarding.
The bollard looks like a lost handbag to my eyes, and the super-dense-density has rendered the light in such a way that it has isolated the hoarding for its own mysterious purpose . . .

Bollards! I can hear you shouting and quite rightly - that psycho-babble is a load of old bollards.

It's an OK photo, that's what it is, and that'll do for me.

Well, it would do more for me if it was printed on a more effective paper - I reckon I'll use up some of my old super-rare Galerie Grade 2 (thanks Ilford - can't believe you consigned it to eternity)

And, that's it folks - more grist to the mill, and more fun had by me.

How do you cope reading about all this exciting stuff - it must make your lives seem:

Oh So DULL Dahling, yawn . . . 

Over and out till next time

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Complex Brexit Negotiations

Morning folks - well, after the doom and gloom of the last post, I've only gone and done it!

Whit? Biled Yer heid at last Y'big lummock?

Er, no, not quite, and forgive the above local parlance.
Y'see, I live (according to the BBC) in one of the newest, most urgent, creative cities in the world - yes, it's Dundee . . .
As a creative icon (sic) of said city, I can write what I want, so get it up ye!

WTF Sheepy? WTF??

Well, the V&A Dundee has opened to 'worldwide' acclaim, and though I am not from here (just entrenched as it were) I can say that my heart has swollen with civic pride at the thought of all that Scottish-Central-Belt-Bias being coughed out in surprise, that the Wee Hard Toon has such an iconic, beautiful and, I believe, game-changing building. A lot of people in Glasgow and Edinburgh will now be asking:

"Why Haven't We Got One Of Those?"

No pretensions though - this town will bring you down to earth with a bump if you get too Up Yersel'.

Anyway, back to what I only went and done:
I travelled . . . to foreign climes . . . well, the eye of The Storm actually . . . Brussels . . . with film and a film camera!

Actually, this is the second time we've been there, having fallen in love with the mad place a few years back. I know it sounds boring, everyone thinks it is a boring place filled with dull Belgians, wittering on about complex things . . and you know what . . no way is that true. 
Anywhere that can give you a statue of a giant Smurf (and I HATE Smurfs) that makes you laugh, or a museum dedicated to the most wonderful Magritte, or one dedicated to Sewers, or a totally bonkers cafe with over 2500 Belgian beers in stock, should be praised. Anywhere that can cover the link between the mess of the 21st Century and the hard idyll of medieval times with such panache and downright individuality is alright with me.
Brussels is a 24/7/365 sort of place - there's something happening all the time. It is also achingly photogenic from beautiful buildings to parks, to dogs, to rough bars, to traffic, to the pantheon of all races lumped together in one place - a real city of mankind. We felt sad to leave actually - it felt to me like a place I could live and I am not a city person.

Anyway, X-Rays, film and travelling:
Well, y'know there's a lot of conflicting info out there, so take it from me, a confirmed film nut:

Up to a certain point, travelling normally and passing hand luggage through a few scanners, you are more than likely fine.
Mine was Ray-Gunned 3 times in total in my hand luggage and it has lived to tell the tale. In fact the bag inspector looked at my Tri-X and said:

"Och that's only 400, not 3200 . . . it'll be fine!"
 
And sure enough. Even taking it through the scanners in the European Parliament, it was fine, so, please take it from me:

It'll be fine!

So, on that note, why did I take a 35mm camera after making my avowed stance on the last FB? 
Well, convenience actually and also reliability. I nearly freaked out and fell back on the Sony A6300, but was firm with myself, had a good chat behind closed doors, steeled my will and packed the Nikon F3 with the Ai-s 28mm f2.8 Nikkor.
I had wanted to take the Rollei T, but the last film I had through it showed some serious frame spacing issues, and I also felt that should I encounter problems with taking a few rolls of Tri-X through scanning, how would that be exacerbated with 120 film?
So, good ol' reliable Nikon. Not the M2 with Summaron - I often think you can look like a 'target' with a Leica - though to be fair it is very unusual to see ANYONE with a film camera these days. Even the mega giant Nikon and Canon SLR's and holiday compacts seem to have been supplanted entirely by phones - how fecking sad . . . whilst a phone is convenient, I laughed aloud when I saw what an iPhone did to direct sunlight on someone's holiday photos (Is that a lump of ectoplasm or an amorphous blob worthy of Ghostbusters? Nope, it's the sun!). 
It takes a fine photo in the right circumstances, but it is not a camera.

Anyway, gripes aside, I had fun with the F3 - sure it is loud and clacky, but it has a damn good metering system and with an Ai-s lens is convenience in itself.
Here's some pics - mostly phun with rephlections
The first 5 are prints made on some very old Tetenal RC, developed in Kodak Polymax (liquid Dektol).
Can a litre of paper developer last a year in a bottle? . . . in the case of Polymax . . yes. 
It is genius stuff.
The last two are shitty scans from the negative - I much prefer handling a print.



Tickets Please

Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Wet Print - Tetenal RC
Who Is That Weirdo, And Why Is He Taking My Picture?

Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Wet Print - Tetenal RC



Hmmmmmm, Sheephouse?

Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Wet Print - Tetenal RC



Not Him Again . . .

Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Wet Print - Tetenal RC



WTF?

Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Wet Print - Tetenal RC



The Correct Use Of A Smurf

Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Wet Print - Tetenal RC.




Atoms Dream Of Atoms
Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Scan.




Crumhorn Mania
Nikon F3, Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikkor, Kodak Tri-X, Pyrocat-HD, Scan.


And that is it really - more 'serious' photography will commence shortly, though I have lost a whole Summer of morning light again - never mind, Mushn't Grumble . . .

TTFN and remember:

How can I take care of yours if you've not taken care of it yourself?

PS:

Le Grand Schtroumpf is your man!