bwfilmdiaries newsletter march 2018

March 2018

Issue 0 • Volume 0

A FORTUNATE TRAVELER newsletter

What's new?

Residential Area (2016) Olympus Trip 35 with Ilford HP5+ and developed with Fomadol R09.

I have a hate-love relation with photography.

How does it work?

I haven’t figured it out yet. One moment I’m taking a day off at work to take pictures, develop or scan. Creativity, ideas, it is my testosterone. I think and breath photography. This goes on for months, a year even. Then, without any warning, the thrill is gone. My camera’s gather dust. I feel bad for the money I invested in gear, film, products.

2018 It has been almost 2 years since I picked up a camera. Well, that is not entirely true. I’ve made some shots, yes, but that is for another passion of us, Sweetheart and I. One could say I’m a bi-polar photographer.

This newsletter complements my blog bwfilmdiaries.wordpress.com.

The Chino Valley Post

MARCH16, 2018 Mea Culpa.

A few days ago, during my lunch break, I went for a walk. With me, my trusted Olympus OM-2n with the 50mill f1,4 and loaded with HP5+. I wanted to finish the film and was able to shoot about 10 new frames of the railroad.

Yesterday, after work, I developed the film. It would be my first in almost 2 years.

Obviously, I had to check dilution and development times for the Fomadon R09.

The bottle was half empty but after using it almost 2 years ago I pushed the air out of it before closing it. Sure enough, the solution was brown-reddish but I didn’t feel alarmed.

Yes, I can almost see y’all rolling your eyes.

Some of you might even think I’ve lost it.

For those who don’t know what happened next, well, in fact, nothing happened at all.

After developing, stopping and fixing the film came out clear as a whistle. Not even the frame numbers at the side of the film.

That bottle of Fomadon R09 had died some time ago.

I cursed. I felt both angry and sad. I’ll never know what gems I shot 2 years ago. And I have no new work to show.

I drank a glass of wine. Then another one.

Grabbed my Holga 120WPC. I used that camera a few times during the summer of 2016. Never finished the film. There was still one frame left.

It was already too dark outside so I wasted the shot and got the film out. In my bathroom, I spend almost half an hour before I got that damned film on the fucking rail.

When I finally succeeded I was sweating like a pig.

The Fomadon LQR was unopened. I checked how to use it with Ilford FP4+ and developed the film.

All went well and after a final and thorough rinse with demineralized water, I hung the film to dry.

Had another glass of wine. Phoned briefly with Sweetheart and went to bed.

When I got up this morning it was snowing.

While writing this I’m scanning the 3 negs I made with the Holga.

I like what I see. The images a very soft, not sharp at all but they look very dreamy and surreal. Surely a camera I'll be using more in the future.

Benches, Ossenisse, NL (2016) Holga 120WPC with Ilford FP4+ and developed with Fomadon LQR.

The Holga 120WPC shoots with an angle of view of 120 degrees. You get 6 negatives, each 6 x 12. 5 cm out of a single 120 roll film.

The camera has no viewfinder but on the top of the camera are guidelines which can be used to roughly compose the shot. Also on the top is a bubble so you can check your horizon.

Because it is easy to get camera shake it is a good idea to make use of the threaded shutter release and use a cable release. There is also a tripod socket provided on the bottom of the camera.

The pinhole of 0,33mm has an aperture of f133.

Benches, Ossenisse, NL (2016) Holga 120WPC with Ilford FP4+ and developed with Fomadon LQR. Scanned with Epson V700 Photo.

The images with my Holga 120 WPC are not sharp but it adds to the dreamy like timeless quality of the photographs.

Images shot with Ilford HP5+ and developed with Fomadol LQN. Scanned with an Epson V700 Photo using SIlverfast 8.

Roots (2016) Sinar Norma with Rodenstock Sironar-N 210mm f5,6 MC and Toyo Rollfim Holder 69 for 120. Ilford HP5+ developed in Fomadol R09.

Rise and Fall and more - posted in 2016 I picked up a used Sinar Norma and a Rodenstock Sironar-N 210mm f5,6 MC and from another reseller a Toyo Rollfim Holder 69 / 45 for 120 roll film so I can make 8 images per roll.

For the moment I don’t have 4x5 film holders but that is no problem. I felt it was important to learn to use this camera, discover the movements it offers like rise, fall, tilt, swift etc…

Sheet film is expensive and a roll of 120 Ilford FP4+ or HP+ costs me about 5,5 Euro so cheap enough to experiment.

I’ll be doing some still life studio work in order to learn how to use the camera before going into the field. Obviously, my recently acquired Pentax V Spotmeter comes in quite handy. In fact, it is when I made a bid for this light meter I decided to check out prices for second-hand large format cameras.

These past few days I have been reading quite a lot about the Zone System and decided to use it in my analog workflow. The idea is that later on I’ll be able to, when necessary, develop a sheet of film to correct the exposure, the famous N-x or N+x.

So a new world is opening and I am thrilled to be able to experiment and to enjoy being creative in a whole new way.

Even with 40+ years experience, I have almost no experience with large format photography.

Rose II (2016) Sinar Norma with Rodenstock Sironar-N 210mm f5,6 MC on Fomapan 100.

Scanned with an Epson V700 Photo.Â

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Contact: stephan.pot@outlook.com - Instagram: A_Fortunate_Traveler