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raygoodwinmajournal · 3 years

Photo

201 - Epochal Territories - 16/11/2021 Shoot #5

Another shoot beckoned, which followed the same trend as those that came before it: load the camera with film, walk in a direction and see what happens. There is something nice about not premeditating a destination or a particular route before going out, rather taking the route as it comes as the journey is ongoing. When figuring out a route before going out, one seems to make decisions on where to go, purely on if it would be fruitful or not. More often than not, it can lead to disappointment as the location has changed over time since the Street View data hasn’t been updated since 2009.

At this point, the shooting is standard operating procedure: Nikon F3, 35mm F2.8 and a roll of Ilford Delta 400 developed in ID11 at 1+1. The resulting negatives were then scanned with the Hasselblad Flextight X1 at 3000PPi.

This route started at Freedom Fields park. This is a lovely park situated in the Lipson area of Plymouth, with an outstanding view of the sea and rolling cliffs leading into Plymouth Sound. The park is also home to a mass of dog walkers, children and what would be called either yobs, chavs or asbos. What drew me to this shot was the mixture of architecture, leading lines of the junction and the autumnal tree, shedding its leaves.

A new addition to the Nikon F3 is the MD-4. This is the motordrive grip for the F3, making it more battery dependent, but allowing burst photography and an improved grip. The grip is powered by 8....EIGHT AA batteries which can offer 4 frames per second, and overrides the two LR44s that power the body without the grip attached. It can also power 140 36exp rolls, equivalent to around 5000 exposures.

Something I enjoyed in this composition was the horizontal line curving in the background, juxtaposing the angular houses and garages. Also, the small boat parked in their driveway looking rather sparse and unused. It too contrasts it’s surroundings by being a lot whiter compared to how the houses are rendered on the film.

Closer to the Laira Depot, were these two locations situated only a few feet from each other. At the top is presumably a housing for a transformer for the surrounding houses, and below, a long and flat building mainly used as a social club for the GWR Staff Association. This building runs adjacent to the mainline and also features a pylon within it’s vicinity. Being by the mainline, it wasn’t long until a train passed which I managed to capture. If my memory serves me correctly, it was taken at around 1/125s at F8. You can see the movement of the train, but it isn’t totally blurred where it becomes unrecognisable.

The tunnel underneath Embankment Road is a typically brutalist structure: covered in water stains, surrounded by urban greenery growth and wholly utilitarian. This wasn’t designed to look nice or pleasing, it was made to serve a function and allowing traffic to go underneath another stream of traffic. A place of no significance which in turns makes it a non-place. Adding to this, it is also entirely made to transit you from A, to B, and maybe C. Stopping in a place where one is usually passing by creates an uneasy feeling.

Ending by St John’s Street and St John’s Bridge Road. Paul Inch Engine Services is a specialist in engine rebuilding and maintenance, and usually always has interesting things in the forecourt of their business. This area has been keenly documented before, but it features so many intriguing engineering and mechanical ephemera which make good subjects in these bleak landscapes.

A coda. Now, in complete honesty, this is being written a long time after the fact in February 2022. Keeping this blog up to date slipped behind during the Christmas break, and in the new year when I had the horrible news that my Father suddenly passed away. My deadline has been extended to March 15th, which is why things are being updated after the original deadline of January 25th. Remembering details from November of the previous year is a bit fuzzy, and strange to look back at when things were a different normal.

#201

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heidicannonphotography · 4 years

Text

Scanners used at UOS

Epson Flatbed V750, V700 and the 1640xl (A3) - Available to be used by students.

The Epson V750 flatbed scanner has a dual lens and offers both transmissive and reflective scanning. The scanner works with the CCD system and has mirrors as well as lenses within the machine. The scanner comes with the negative holders needed to create the right distance between the glass and negatives so that the transmissive system can focus on the negatives. In addition to this the scanner has anti-newton rings glass which stops the aberration which is created due to dust or scratches within the glass as the light bends.

The Epson 7500 works well with large negative sizes such as 10x8 and 5x4, as it creates a high definition scan. Although, it doesn’t work as well when scanning medium format negative and 35mm negatives, but it still produces a good quality scan. This scanner sadly comes at a high price of £730 which makes it inaccessible for those who are without a high budget for their camera equipment. In addition to this, the scanner works best using Epsons’ own software therefore will only work using this software.

Imacon Flextight Precision II and III - Available to be used by students.

The Imacon Flextight II is essentially a scanner built for the Hasselblad. It has a dual lens like the Epson scanners as well has having both methods of scanning; the transmissive and reflective setting. This scanner has no glass with a vertical optical path, which means the lens of the scanner travels in straight lines. It has magnetic negative holders which are fed in on a curve which helps the film to remain flat. This reduces the chances of the film buckling and the scan not being in focus due to this.

The Imacon Flexlight III works in the exact same way as the second edition. They are very useful when scanning medium format negative and 35mm film, they create high quality scans which are great for website distribution and printing. The work in a similar quality to Epson when scanning 5x4 negatives although they are unable to scan 10x8 negatives. The software works best using Imacons on editing software and it applies sharpening to the negatives despite the settings that you apply to the scanner which is not alway what the photographer will want from the scan.

The scanners unfortunately come with a huge price-tag of £16,000 for the X1 and X5 models, although the production of these scanners has stopped in May 2019 due to the lack of sales and there sadly isn’t a huge demand for them presently. There are problems with the Imacons file formatting also which means that they’re a no longer compatible with the Photoshop system from 2020 to present day.

Linotype-HELL Chromograph S3400 Drum scanner - Technicians can only can use this scanner.

The Linotype-HELL drum scanner has a US value of $70,000, which puts this as the most expensive scanner in the UOS property, which is why only the technicians may use it. It was created in Germany during 1997 making it 24 years old, whilst weigh 850 kilos which helps limit vibrations creating the highest quality scan possible. It can produce images of an extremely high quality with 18,000 DPI scanning rate which produces around 720 dots per millimetre, whilst scanning 16 bits per colour channel which is 48 bits overall. This means that it is able to create rich and intense colours which make it much higher quality than the other scanners. Unfortunately, the scanner only uses a version of the Silverfast AI software which doesn’t have most of the Silverfast features making it quite limited. Although, this is forgivable as it is the highest Dmax of any scanner on campus, and it has also been crowned the best drum scanner ever made by many of the UK’s top production laboratories.

#digital

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wulfprints · 6 years

Text

PHOT201 Evaluation

The Brief

I found Weird & Wonderful to be an interesting and stimulating brief. I loved its open-endedness which allowed me to write my own story, rather than have one chosen for me. I also enjoyed particularly its links with cinematography, which is one of my biggest interests alongside photography. I find that cinema has a unique ability to convey emotion, one that even photography does not often have.

My Response

During the first month or so of this brief, I had it set in my mind that I would create a project titled Polaris. While Polaris still sits in my mind, it did not become my response to this brief for one main reason, it would have been shot mainly in the studio on a digital camera. This began to bore me, and became a limiting factor to my creativity. The inherently neutral and ‘perfect’ nature of digital media can become a creative prison personally.

The solution came unexpectedly in the form of a visit to Lacock Abbey where, of my own accord and not intending to start a new project, I shot a single roll of medium format black-and-white film. This pulled me out of a period of creative block and inspired me to start creating again. After this shoot, I decided to start a new project, a heavy undertaking considering how much time I had already spent on Polaris. This new project would become Hallucinations, and would be shot purely on film and developed by me.

What I Enjoyed

What I enjoyed most about this new direction was how personal it felt. Rather than a computer chip measuring a sensor’s output and then writing that data on to an SD card, I was exposing light to a photo-sensitive film, and then developing it with my own two hands. I had taken the place of the sensor, and this made the process so much more interesting. I felt like I had an attachment to the film.

Not only this, but there was also a sense of danger in that I could very easily fail. One small mistake and an entire roll of images could be destroyed. An entire roll that could not be retrieved. This danger allowed me to think more about each image, and also slow myself down and take more care. Digital media; with all its perfection, its ease of use, and its safety; can encourage a particular nonchalance, which I feel there should be no place for in art.

Experimentation & New Experiences

I knew how to process and scan film to an amateur degree before embarking on this project, but I feel I have really come to grips with it and learnt lots of lessons during it.

For instance, my development of film used to be quite rushed and casual, I made mistakes here and there and it didn’t matter much to me. During this project I have slowed down and taken more time with my development, I have researched the best methods of development, the worst mistakes to make, and I have taken much more physical care with the film. I never go near my film without something covering my hands (e.g. cotton gloves), and I have found that most steps of processing will be of higher quality if you set aside twice the amount of time you think you’ll need.

In addition, before this project I would scan my film on an Epson V750/V850, and I was never very happy with it. It always looked quite dull to me, and was never sharp enough. I knew that I would have to remedy this to undertake Hallucinations, and so I learned how to use the Hasselblad Flextight X1 which we have a few of at PCA. This scanner costs more than a family car and has the quality to back its price up. Now when I scan film, it looks great. The tones are deep and the sharpness is unrivalled. I don’t even scan on the highest resolution and I am still astounded by the sharpness of this scanner.

Finally, I’ve experimented with film much more than I ever have before. For instance, I’ve pushed and pulled HP5+ (almost) to its limits, I’ve used films I’ve never used before (Delta, TMax 3200P), and I’ve used kit I’ve never used before (Mamiya 7II 135 converter). This experimentation is the best bit of photography to me.

In the future I would especially like to develop my use of high-sensitivity films. For instance, I have used Kodak TMax 3200P, and I was very impressed with it, but I would like to compare it to Ilford’s Delta 3200. I would also like to test Ilford’s HP5+ at 3200, which is purportedly possible.

Also, I would like to try out some new cameras. I would like to try using a large format camera, and I would also like to have another go at using the Tomiyama panoramic medium format camera (6x17” negatives are too good to pass up).

Limitations / Problems

My first limitation came in the form of a scanner. I had started this project using an Epson V750/V850 flatbed scanner, which just wasn’t up to the task. As discussed previously, I had to learn to use the larger and more expensive scanners in our digital darkroom to complete this project. The scanners themselves are excellent, and worth every penny. Unfortunately, the software that comes with the scanners, of which there is no alternative, is absolutely atrocious. The software has clearly not been updated in at least a decade, and there is effectively no support for it anymore. The ‘3F’ file format, which is supposed to be akin to a raw file from a camera, is unopenable in any other program, and therefore was useless to me. I spent about a dozen days solid in the digital darkroom, from 9AM until as late as 9PM, just getting the levels on the scans as good as I could get them. For some images this seemed an impossible task, and could take up to half a day just to get a single successful final image. In two separate instances I spent over a day scanning images, only to find that every bit of work was useless. This was, without a doubt, the worst aspect of this project, and totally mentally drained me.

I feel that this aspect of the project was completely inefficient, and wasted a huge amount of my time. If I could streamline this process, I would have a much higher quality end product, including more detailed write-ups of the process. Unfortunately so much time was spent sat in a dark room scanning film, that I feel other aspects of my project are not as good as they could/should be.

A second limitation was the occasional attitudes that I received from members of staff of the National Trust. On one or two occasions I was asked (politely, to be fair) to stop taking photographs. I was told that it is fine to take pictures with phones but, when using more ‘professional kit’, it is not allowed. This is a very strange ethos in my opinion, and I feel that, if anything, the National Trust should have been thanking me for basing a project purely on them. After all, on the rare off-chance that my photobook became widely produced, it would be excellent publicity for them.

In addition, the National Trust have a habit of putting massive green stickers and signs all over their properties which detract from their immersion. I understand that they probably have legislations that they have to adhere to, but it makes it incredibly difficult to undertake a project based on timelessness and immersion when every corner of the buildings have stickers on them, which clearly place the image in the modern day.

Thirdly, the amount of people in these properties made it difficult to take timeless pictures. After all, a nuclear family walking around in jeans and t-shirts with DSLRs and iPhones doesn’t exactly scream 19th century. This is hardly anyone’s fault, of course more people than just myself want to view the properties, and that is totally fair. In a perfect world, I could visit a property during a time when it is closed to the public.

The good old English rain. This puts a massive damper on working with slow exposure times and tripods, especially when working with expensive kit that doesn’t belong to me. I’ve been known in the past to walk in to the sea with my DSLRs, but this is because I know that if I drop it I only have myself to blame. If I used a Mamiya 7II (potentially £2500) which belonged to the college in the rain, and it broke, I’d be up shit creek without a paddle. As a result, I had to push film quite far in some instances to avoid using a tripod. This subconscious pressure also caused me to rush at times, which deteriorated the quality of my final images. In the future I must always remember to slow down and take it easy. In addition, it may be prudent to consider a setup to allow me to confidently use cameras in the wet without having to worry about damaging them.

Lastly, I do think that there is some fluff/hair/dust on my final images. This was unavoidable with the kit that I had access to. I had to choose between using cotton gloves which shed fluff, or not using any gloves and getting fingerprints/oil on my negatives. I chose the former, believing that an air blower would remove most, if not all, of the fluff. Unfortunately this was misguided. In the future, I need to find a better solution. Perhaps gloves made from some other material would shed less.

Conclusions

In conclusion I did enjoy 201.I have felt tied down in previous years both at school, sixth form, and occasionally during my first year of university, but I feel that this brief gave me the total freedom that I have always craved, and this allowed me to thrive creatively, knowing that anything I created was almost purely a result of my own decisions.

I think that a photobook is a great way to deliver images, and I will keep hold of mine for a long time.

I think that I was working against the odds more often than not during this brief due to changing paths midway through and wrestling with decades old software, but I’m actually quite proud of what I’ve created. I’m proud that I’ve undertaken a project using almost entirely analog processes, given that just ~18 months ago I had never shot film, let alone processed or scanned it. I feel that my understanding of analog photography has snowballed over the last two months, and I am now a lot more confident using these processes.

This project has taught me to love analog processes, and I shall be using them even more in the future. For instance, I have plans to start creating traditional prints in the darkroom, using enlargers and photo-paper. I would also like to start using our specialist darkroom to experiment with specialist processes such as cyanotypes, liquid lights, and anything else the college (and health and safety guidelines) will allow me to.

#PHOT201

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weichenschleicher3000 · 5 years

Photo

Olympus mju // Kodak Gold 200 // Hasselblad flextight x1

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raygoodwinmajournal · 3 years

Photo

201 - Epochal Territories - 9/11/2021 Shoot #4

Sometimes, a lull can be a difficult thing to get out of. You’re stuck in a rut and there is seemingly now way out. I felt like this since the last two rolls for this project, as they were horrendous and I felt embarrassed that I had even created such poor work at this stage. But, sometimes, a gap in the rut comes along and you’re out of it. Thankfully, this happened.

Over the past 2 weeks (as of 9/11/2021), I have started a new job at Plymouth College of Art as a Central Stores Technician, which means that I work in the Equipment Resource Centre, booking out and maintaining equipment in addition to the studios. I am usually surrounded by camera equipment all day and it is bliss. Some of the equipment is archived because it is either surplus to requirements or completely broken and beyond economical repair. Some of this equipment either stays in a box, or placed upon a display cabinet across the campus. One such piece of equipment was my holy grail 35mm camera: the Nikon F3. I inquired about purchasing it, thinking it was a bit of a tall order and it wouldn’t be possible. To my surprise, it was possible!

The Nikon F3, on location.

A quick paragraph as to why this is my holy grail film camera. The Nikon F3 is possibly Nikon’s crown jewel, due to it’s Italian design, bulletproof construction and 21 year production run. The F3 was built to last, and built to be used as a camera for professional photographers. This is the standard version of the F3, but features the DE-3 prism or HP (High Eye Point), which is better suited for glasses wearers because of the magnification. Other F3 flavours are available such as the F3P (Press) and F3T (Titanium). The F3P and F3T are related, as they share the same features such as weather sealing, no self timer/multiple exposure levers and solid shutter button. The only difference is that the F3T is made from titanium instead of brass. This Nikon also features a completely modular build, with the photographer being able to swap out the prism, focusing screen, film back and motor drive. This example was placed in a shelf for many years, and after a fresh set of new batteries and a quick clean, it was ready to shoot!

I loaded up the F3 with Ilford Delta 400, mounted the Nikkor-S 35mm F2.8 and went towards the South East of Plymouth. I walked through Cattedown, East End, Prince Rock and St Judes, collecting around 5 miles before getting back to Plymouth College of Art to develop and scan. The film was developed in ID-11 at 1+1 for 14 minutes, and scanned with the Hasselblad Flextight X1 at 3000PPI.

The shoot started out on Bretsonside, looking towards Martins Gate Gardens and the small turning circle. In the corner is a cherry picker which as been sat there for days, and a very leafy road. The first thing I noticed on the scan was the strange line hear the middle-left of the frame. This wasn’t on any other image, so I am not entirely sure what would have caused this. Secondly, Delta 400 is a really nice film stock. It seems to be incredibly sharp, and not overly full of contrast and with a good dynamic range.

Walking further afield around Sutton Harbour, and to Marrowbone Slip. This area features a car park and large area of overgrown nothing-land where buildings once stood, but has been bordered off for a long as I can remember. You can see the buddleia growing wherever it likes due to the plant being incredibly invasive. It can often be found in edgelands, railways, car parks and people’s gardens. It is native to China and Japan, but was introduced at some point in the 1890′s and quickly took over any unkempt land or pruned garden.

Two of my highlights for the roll, at the Avis car rental car park on Commercial/Clovelly Road. The stars aligned for me in terms of composition, light and subject matter. The quietness is deafening, and the landscape in front of the viewer is incredibly bleak and withdrawn from any human interaction - just straight lines and industrial buildings surround you as nobody else does. Even the 35mm focal length was perfect for these shots, as anything wider or narrower wouldn’t have created the same effect. There is also something about photographing gates and entrances to places which often seem forbidden. They are (obviously) a gateway to another place, often a place where general admittance is not permitted, whether it is for workmen or that place is a hazard to the public. It is also the ability to apply Schrodinger's Cat to the space, and leads one to question what is the reality behind the wall and beyond the gate. Perhaps it is better left unknown. But it is also being on the edge of a periphery or just out of bounds within the space which I find interesting, almost going back to the intrigue of the edgeland and non-place as a whole. These are spaces often found by drifting or passing through, yet spending time in them seems unnatural to the extent that they become wholly liminal and in a state of limbo. Have I just arrived, or am I going?

St Johns Bridge Road over looking Sims Metal; a scrap metal merchant dealing in all things metallic and scrap. Piles of metal towers over the average man, all left overs and remnants of our society: cars, skips, pipes, sheet metal, roofing, gates, barriers etc. What this reminds me is that - as a whole - we are a wasteful and throw away society, which is mainly in the name of consumerism and materialism. Why have the same phone for years when a shiny new one is released every 12 months with no real reason to upgrade? Although the mentality now is a lot better than it used to be, we are still polluting the planet with waste which has to be disposed of, one way or another. Lots of our waste is recycled, but a lot of it is also placed into landfill or ends up in the sea. We surround ourselves with gadgets, gizmos and doodahs because we have money and feel the need to spend it. Or failing that, we take out loans to spend and not pay it back.

Brunswick Road, looking towards PC Maritime; a company specialising in maritime software development. The fulfilment of the building doesn’t interest me, what does however is the architecture styling. There is something municipal and authoritative about it. This is just a standard office block design, but it is out of place and surrounded by typical industrial estate buildings which are often no taller than two storeys but long enough to resemble a warehouse. Perhaps it is the likeness to the Tyrell Building from Blade Runner, or the extremely banal styling.

South Milton Street, and Four Elements catering. This Ford Transit has sat for a long time, as it has started to rot and decay and has been there since at least August 2018 (according to Google Maps, and may have been a part of M.A.S Recovery, which has its sign missing). The door just behind the back of the Transit was open ajar, and behind the door was a few ice cream vans, strangely enough the same generation as this Transit. Perhaps this was a project that never went off the ground?

The bottom end of Desborough Road. Every time I see a house of this architectural styling, it reminds me of Stanley Donwood’s ‘Such a Pretty House’ image, which was also used for Radiohead’s No Surprises EP (below). This styling is always more grandiose than the typical terraced Edwardian era houses. I think that these are only slightly later and built around circa 1930′s. What originally drew me in here was the mixture of architectural styling, and the lone trailer parked to the side of the house. But, it is also the mentality of wanting to own a certain type of house and live a certain way - kind of leaning towards societal expectations of getting a good job and a nice house, which No Surprises is about, featuring ‘a heart that’s filled up like a landfill’ and ‘such a pretty house, and such a pretty garden’. This is also shown in the video for No Surprises, as Thom Yorke is encapsulated in a glass helmet and as the song progresses, the helmet slowly fills with water (to the extent that he almost drowns), and suddenly empties towards the end of the song.

Such a Pretty House - Stanley Donwood

Perhaps my most personal image I have taken. An unassuming end terrace house on Desborough Road, in the fairly quite area of St Judes. This, is where I first moved to Plymouth in 2007, and where I lived when I started secondary school. This is the place where I first felt the feeling of alienation and being estranged from the people around me. It was here that I suddenly realised that I am not like the typical adolescent. I didn’t enjoy my time here, as I hated where I went to school, I hated the people at my school and I couldn’t understand why I felt to different to my contemporaries . Whilst everyone was more interested in boy bands, Blackberry phones and Helly Hansen jackets: I was concerned about the Financial Crisis and climate change. Behind the house is a train track, which many years ago used to run to Friary Station, but it now home to Friary Retail Park. When I lived here, it was used for shunting freight, and most days I would see and hear a British Rail Class 09 (known as a Gronk). You could hear it further down the line towards Prince Rock and would get louder and louder as it got closer to the end of the track. This area is a place where I very rarely visit, and only photographed it because I was around. I tend to avoid it mostly as it brings back that whole period of time, which I would mostly like to forget about. I hated that part of my life, and for that matter, most of my teenage years have been forcibly eradicated from my mind.

A coda. The Nikon F3 is the best 35mm camera I have used, and people who say gear doesn’t matter are kidding themselves. There is nothing better than using a camera that you feel entirely comfortable with, and want to take out and use. The F3 is made for using, and made for professional use, and for the photographer to have an easy and enjoyable experience. It has made me realise that (for the most part), I have been using crappy equipment in comparison: Why would I go back when I already have the best? Using this camera made all of the difference, and I feel that I am back on track to making some good work. Ilford Delta 400 is also a lovely emulsion, with a good level of contrast and grain for Ilford’s core shell crystal technology, utilising a tabular grain structure instead of the typical cubic grain found in other film stocks. The subject matters were also a hit, as I walked in areas that I am familiar with, but went down streets and roads that I haven’t been too in a long time, or never have been before. This would mean that I would wander down a street, look across a junction and think ‘lets go there’, instead of having a set route planned in my mind. This utilises ‘dérive’ as much as I can, as I drift from one urban area to another. I enjoy this as I can get to locations at random, and the thoughts and feelings I get from them are always a surprise. I never go into a space expecting to feel a certain way, so having to ability to decide entirely where to go is a luxury - perhaps this is why I feel the need to document gates that you can’t open? All in all, I am extremely happy with this shoot, and if they are all like this from now on, I shall feel optimistic about this leg of Epochal Territories.

Bibliography

Such A Pretty House (no date). [Online]. Available at https://www.artcollectorz.com/artworks/artwork-detail?artwork_id=6466&edition_id=8191. [Accessed on 10/11/2021]

#201

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