Sing your hearts away

Posted on January 12, 2021 Posted in cyanotype, StuffTagged Arista Ortho Litho, Crown Graphic, cyanotype, flowers, Post-apocalypse, still life, toningLeave a comment

I needed a break from all this uptight pushing and shoving. So I brewed some tea.

Blues in my bread

Posted on September 18, 2020 Posted in cyanotypeTagged Crown Graphic, cyanotype, flowers, still life, toning2 Comments

I haven’t worked much with cyanotypes because I don’t really care for blue prints. But with Covid keeping me out of the darkroom and all the ingredients sitting in my studio, it made sense to try.

A little research made it clear that toning gave me more options than just blue. Here are the results so far. look for more as I work through the process.

The blue

The black: coffee

The gold: tea

First go at lumen prints

Posted on February 25, 2020February 25, 2020 Posted in lumen printsTagged Arista Ortho Litho, lumen print, still life1 Comment

A while ago I accidentally bought a box of Arista Ortho-Litho 3.0 that was too big for my 4×5 film holders. (This film comes in two sizes, one that is cut down a 1/10th of an inch to fit in film holders and one that’s not.) It’s been sitting around since then gnawing at me to figure out something to do with it. So when I recently found out about lumen prints, it clicked.

Lumen prints are typically made by exposing photo paper to the sun for a long time, anywhere from a half hour to a day. The result is that the paper sort of auto develops and you get an image. Typically they are made as photograms with organic material on photo paper. But you can use a negative to make a contact print. And you can use film instead of paper.

My first thought was I would make contact prints and display them with a backlight. So here are my first contact prints, scanned and tweaked slightly. They look pretty good. I’ve sent them to be printed as 8x10s. Curious to see how they look. Next step is to build some cardboard frames for them to see if I can light them

Another option I am considering is making photograms and then printing them in the enlarger. I just need to scrounge up some material.

First try with Ortho Plus in medium format

Posted on January 3, 2020January 3, 2020 Posted in toy camerasTagged friends and family, holiday, Jim Thorpe, still life4 Comments

I was super excited when Ilford announced that they would be releasing Ortho Plus in 35 and medium format. I’ve been looking for an orthochromatic film I could shoot in the Diana and this seemed like the perfect option.

Between Christmas and New Year, we took a trip up to Jim Thorpe, PA so I brought along some Ortho Plus and the Diana as well as my Rolleiflex to compare.

The low ISO for the Ortho Plus, 80 in daylight, limited how I could use it on this trip. Jim Thorpe is in a valley and the sun never really got far above the surrounding mountains. Then we had a couple of days of rain. Most of the shots I took came out underexposed. I did get a few passable ones though.

The Rolleiflex was much better. I even got Nora to sit for a portrait. The skin tones with this film are nice, though not for everyone.

Sometimes

Posted on May 2, 2019 Posted in Lith Prints, toy camerasTagged Diana, flowers, Grain, lith print, still life, Stuff

A few prints from my latest darkroom adventures.

All Things Must Pass

Posted on April 7, 2019 Posted in Box Cameras, Lith Prints, toy camerasTagged Diana, flowers, Grain, lith print, still life, Stuff2 Comments

Getting to the end of my pack of expired Kodak Kodabromide paper. I would like to get more, but the Ebay sellers are not very trustworthy and they really gouge you on the shipping charges.

Fresh Prints

Posted on February 20, 2019March 28, 2019 Posted in Lith PrintsTagged Diana, flowers, Grain, lith print, still life, StuffLeave a comment

Here are the highlights from my past few weeks in the darkroom. Most of these are printed on some expired Kodak Kodabromide paper I got from eBay. One is expired Agfa Brovira 111. Which is which should be obvious 🙂

Not sure if this Agfa Brovira 111 is a true lith, but I like the tones

Finally some new flowers around here

Posted on January 31, 2019February 3, 2019 Posted in StuffTagged Diana, flowers, Grain, HC-110, ilfordhp5+, still life, Stuff4 Comments

Kris finally got some new flowers–lilies. Shot them with my Diana set up on Ilford Hp5 pushed to 3200. Looking forward to printing some of these!

Papers Please

Posted on January 24, 2019 Posted in Lith PrintsTagged diy lens, fruit, Grain, lith print, speed graphic, still life, StuffLeave a comment

Normally I do my lith prints on Fomatone MG 131 paper. But lately I’ve been experimenting with different papers to see what looks I can get. Here’s some examples on Ilford Warmtone MGFB, Fomatone MG 131, and Agfa Brovira 310. I like the Ilford the best, but the Agfa is also nice.

That’s a knife

Posted on December 20, 2018 Posted in Stuff, UncategorizedTagged Grain, HC-110, ilfordhp5+, nikonfm2, still life, StuffLeave a comment

I’m pretty sure I’ve owned some type of Swiss Army knife since I was a teenager. I got my current knife sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. So almost 30 years. That means countless boxes opened, a bunch of IKEA furniture assembled, some light switch plates screws tightened, a few bottles of wine uncorked, and dozens of beer bottles uncapped. I don’t think I’ve used the awl tool that much. I know I used the long blade for something I shouldn’t have since the tip is broken off. The toothpick is long gone but the tweezers stuck around.

I was looking at it and thinking it might be time to get a new one. Then I got sentimental. There’s really no point in getting a new one. With all its issues, it still works. With a little luck, I will die owning this knife. Of course then it will probably end up in the trash. I can’t see my kids keeping it around.

I shot these pictures of the knife with an even older Nikon fm2 loaded with Ilford HP5 plus pushed to iso 3200 and developed in HC-110 dilution B

Ed Keer

Tag: still life