direct positive reverse prints

another one of these..  

contact printing

 me, i've stuck with my direct positive paper, mainly for reasons of simplicity but a lot of my pinhole acquaintances swear by contact printing. here's ari showing how to make it easy.

natalie oberg

 i'm really liking this my film story series. when i had small female relatives i found it much easier to get them motivated if i could show them women doing things they might only have associated with me!

building a copy stand

if you're shooting film, whatever method you're doing, you're going to find your costs going up real fast. while i've got a very, very basic dark room set up i don't do any scanning, not least because it appears that the likes of epson haven't done any work on software compatibility since windows 10. so here's this. too much computering for me but looks feasible 

fun with filters

one thing i've noticed about photography vids online is that (aside from being very male, very white) there just doesn't seem to be a lot of larking about going on. really, nobody cares, so you may as well have a laugh. came across these the other day and this sort of thing seems an ideal way to fritter away an afternoon! 

*i'm not denying there's a time for seriousness but let's face it, a lot of the time you're just grinding and getting the job done. if you can't remember the last time you just let go and had a giggle, now's the time to start

cheap dark room

 mostly these days, i take primarily black and white images, using a pinhole, using direct positive paper so i don't have an enlarger etc, i do have a space where i keep chemicals etc that i can use as a dark room space but i tend to do so very rarely. that said, i have been playing with a holga lens recently on an old digital body and, while i don't like the process much, i do like the results, so i can feel myself being gently pushed in the direction of a functioning darkroom. it will be basic - i like the idea of chemicals and processes but at the same time i like to keep things really simple. so this 

the alchemistress

 very large format photography! i also love the prisoner pictures but no idea where they come from 

the mobile darkroom

 inasmuch as i have a darkroom it's super basic and limited by joinery, my lack of commitment to an actual enlarger and fears about ventilation. plus, no matter how you cut it, old school photogrpahy isn't cheap (i'm setting out today with a holga lens on an old canon later today, bnut that's a whole other story). that said, i love the creativity around it all. it's not to say that digital lacks creativity just that all that computer based malarkey isn't for me. check this out 

pinhole

 another vid about doing pinhole photography. and why not! lol 

cyanotype

 i've had cyanotype on my horizon for a little while and this is a decent wee vid about how to start with prints. i'm not sure i can be bothered with the faff of photoshop, printers and transparencies but that's likely to do with my luddite tendencies!

that said, outwith a uv lamp if you live in duller climes, there's plenty to get creative with, without needing to use transparencies 

joe van cleave

 there are two things i love about this video. firstly the notion of some sort of community of large format photographers getting together. secondly, that there are a certain type of man out in the world, who will see a situation, and, with the help of a notebook and a pencil, come up with some sort of solution. lovely. 

wet plate collodion

 ...is a degree of faff that i just can't be doing with (right now) but there's no arguing with the images the process produces. i have one plate that i've made from an unfortunate time in my past that i never look at but which i'd never give up. which is why, if i ever do take it up, i know that my house will end up full of plates! lol 

definitely check out ruhter's insta channel. he's got some nteresting views on getting out and about and not using ai.

and here's em white for more 

large format developing

 i do have a super simple darkroom and, while i'd love to use a large format camera, i'm not sure i want to be committing the money to the process, even though the image making is lovely. were i to do so tho, who better to guide than martin henson? 

*i will be getting a couple more pinhole cameras tho. after that i think i'll be delving into macro

martin henson

martin henson's a niche pinhole treasure. this video on its own made me sit up and think about what i'm doing when i make images. absolutely subscribe.  

taking pinhole pictures

 here's ari, with a decent dive into the world of pinhole photography. you don't need all the shenanigans to start but if you do...you will! lol (talking of which 4x5 film holders are not cheap - if anyone wants to sort a brother out with a good deal, i'm all ears!) 

here's a second binus ari video. warning - instrument abuse ahead! a couple of things. first, you can make an image making tool out of just about anything - i'd super encourage this behaviour as it's a lark (see previous camera obscura posts). secondly, you'll note the presence of ukuleles, pianos etc in ari's house. having different interests is essential to practice! and, imo, the more analogue the better! 

portrait of nature

i'm never likely to do any of this sort of printing. i did do a wet plate collodion course a while ago but, while interesting, it wasn't for me. that said, i do love watching the process. so here's this  

another camera obscura post

 once i regain the ability to bend over i want to get started on making another camera obscura and i'm going to use the plans that this guy has attached to this handy video. i ordered new magnifying glasses last week and they're waiting for use. i'm keen to make it old smartphone compatible, as previous, but i'm also aware, due to an acute lack of decent weather this year, my anthotype making has been non-existent and i'm wondering, with focused light, if i could put a sheet of reactive paper in there and get some sort of result. or a cyanotype? time will tell. 

camera obscura

 it was world photography day the other day (it was also world anthotype day but such has been the summer i haven't even made one image this year!) - i hadn't paid much attention but what i did do was make a camera obscura out of a box, an old phone and a horrible 'magnifying glass'. it worked, after a fashion, but i was intrigued enough that i'm going to give ity another go. here's the original video where i got the idea and then two more where it's done much more effectively! 

developer

currently i'm to lazy to be thinking about how i'm using developer but it's quickly becoming something that will become an issue, especially as, inevitably, a place in the house where i can fit an enlarger/uv box as part of a dark room set up forms itself in my mind.