1. Got some work ahead of me!!

    Got some work ahead of me!!

    2. 1 month ago  Notes (2)
  2. Kodak’s new emulsion! I was fortunate recently to acquire some of the new T-max 400 film. I shot it and processed it the way I had been for some time after running some tests using my own home made film developer D25 way back in the late 90’s. Based on these tests I had a certain expectation as to how the negs woulds proof print. Things were not what I expected. I was disappointed to say the least. The negs were too contrasty even on the lower filters I used to make the proof prints, in my favourite home made paper developer, the soft and beautiful, Ansco 120. Today I scanned them. One small tweak in Aperture and the files look ‘brilliant’. Capturing detail in a way I hadn’t seen since using Pyrogallol while at college. How to proceed then? Shoot and scan or makes real prints?

    Kodak’s new emulsion!

    I was fortunate recently to acquire some of the new T-max 400 film. I shot it and processed it the way I had been for some time after running some tests using my own home made film developer D25 way back in the late 90’s. Based on these tests I had a certain expectation as to how the negs woulds proof print. Things were not what I expected. I was disappointed to say the least. The negs were too contrasty even on the lower filters I used to make the proof prints, in my favourite home made paper developer, the soft and beautiful, Ansco 120.

    Today I scanned them. One small tweak in Aperture and the files look ‘brilliant’. Capturing detail in a way I hadn’t seen since using Pyrogallol while at college. How to proceed then? Shoot and scan or makes real prints?

    3. 2 months ago  Notes (4)

  3. New Technology/Old Images

    A couple of days ago I talked about revisiting old journals. As part of that process I dug around in some of my old 5x4 negatives dating as far back as 1989. There are some gems, and as a consequence I’ve scanned a couple.

    No sooner had I opened them on my computer had I realised why they had never been printed. My developing skills were still very rough [I was tray developing in those day using pyro] and the amount of marks and scratches on the emulsion and IN the emulsion made these images unprintable.

    Until now that is.

    Using any good software tool I can easily and seamlessly remove the blemishes that would have gotten in the way of me making a beautiful print. The image above in particular, had black holes in the emulsion which print as black spots and therefore need to be etched out of the print then re-spotted back in, always in the sky too, always the skies!

    So here is one such negative reused as it were. All I need now is the time to make the prints then find a space to exhibit them.

    4. 3 months ago  Notes (6)

  4. It’s official, Kodak’s on the way out

    …”To all intents and purposes it is the end of the “Kodak moment”. More than 130 years after a “not especially gifted” high school dropout, George Eastman, founded the camera company that dominated photography for most of the 20th century, Kodak Eastman filed for bankruptcy protection in the US on Thursday.

    The company which once sold 90 per cent of the film used in the US and made a type of film - Kodachrome - so beloved by amateur and professional photographers that Paul Simon wrote a hit song about it, finally succumbed to the digital revolution which left its products obsolete after years of ferocious competition from more light-footed rivals in the Far East.

    …Robert Burley, professor of photography at Ryerson University in Toronto, said: “Kodak has been obliterated by the creative destruction of a digital age. Like many of its competitors, it appears unable to make the transition into the 21st century. Five years ago, it was unthinkable that this American business legend would find itself in a bankruptcy position. Kodak was caught in a perfect storm of not only technological, but also social and economic change.”

    Best stock up on my Kodak EKtar 100 film then eh?

    (Source: theage.com.au)

    5. 4 months ago  Notes (8)

  5. Why people take photographs and what they do with them?

    As news of Kodak’s demise gains momentum one researcher in Western Australia asks where did Kodak go wrong?

    Where Kodak got it wrong was its perception that people were still taking photographs which they would then print.

    But this is increasingly no longer the case.

    From dedicated photo print shops to automated kiosks, Kodak persisted with this notion for longer than it should have. A large part of the company’s more recent business strategy has focused on printers and ink. But here, as with their digital cameras, Kodak only holds a small market share – roughly 2.6%.

    In the days of film cameras, personal photography was principally about holding on to personal memories, with photos usually ending up in a shoebox.

    Photography was once about saving personal memories. 

    But recent research by anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists suggests personal photography has moved from being mostly a tool for remembering, to one of emphasising communication and our individual identities.

    This the part I find the most interesting why people take pictures these days and what they do with them? Why do you take/make pictures?

    (Source: theconversation.edu.au)

    6. 4 months ago  Notes (6)

  6. My new project is moving forward slowly.

    Toyo-view Linhof Technika 5x4 camera, 210mm Rodenstock lens Kodak Ektar 100 film, f64 @ between 1 and 4 seconds

    7. 4 months ago  Notes (4)
  7. Don’t Destroy History! [Berlin Wall, Berlin 2004]

    Don’t Destroy History! [Berlin Wall, Berlin 2004]

    8. 11 months ago  Notes (3)