COBBLER'S PAGE By Brian Asquith (Librarian) Looking for an
entry to put into one of my postal folios the other day I began to
wonder why we take pictures in the first place? Even odder if you then
spend hours in the first place? This urge to make pictures of the
obvious goes back to our cave-dwelling ancestors whose drawings stated
everyday events and things. Was it some form of safe-guard? If
it was recorded it would stay the same; or, as some people believe, by
taking a likeness we taker away the soul? Photography has
made the taking and recording easy. It becomes so commonplace that we
expect to see pictures of everything news-worthy in the papers within
hours wherever in the world it happened. Pictures are taken by the
million every week. Many will be looked at once and then put away,
maybe to be unearthed much later by someone who will for a moment
wonder why it was taken or who it is before consigning it to the dust
bin. We members of clubs and postal folios are different; as well as
making photography a hobby to pass the time (and it certainly does
that), we presume to use our cameras to make works of art. Not in the
"Pile of Bricks" or "Half a Calf" sense, but more
"Stag at Bay", "Misty Morning" sense. We go
forward with our latest all-singing, all-dancing cameras with a
battery of lenses and a pocket full of filters. Not for us to record
the "Church Interior" which would be criticised as
"only someone elses work" on the comment sheet; or the
family holiday picture dismissed as a "A lovely picture of
interest but not of general appeal". If, on the other hand we
photograph a foreigner on holiday it becomes "a well seen
candid" or even better "a decisive moment". However we
go forth - maybe to record that bridge at Ashness or the Stone Circle
- wherever. In foreign parts (foreign to us but not to the locals) we
may record the Taj for what must be the millionth time but of course
our pictures will have that special something called "self
input" or it is taken with the light just right - or even both. Put the result in
the box, 20 out of 20? No, you should have moved to the left/right,
seen that obtrusive background, taken the horizon out of the middle,
made it straight. In fact, why did you bother to take it at all? All
written in such a nice way, we are such nice people! It only averaged
10 out of 20 you should have put that church interior in, they average
14 if they are sharp - or the flower study, good colour is always
appreciated. Perhaps we should have been looking round the builders
yard to find a new angle on a pile of bricks. Perhaps this
ritual of carrying the camera and the camcorder around is nothing to
do with art but is a superior way of taking notes meant to record the
obvious to remind us of what we have seen and where we have been. For
us to see it any other way is self deception. But it`s an enjoyable
deception, Carry on Creating. CLUB
Library; `DARKROOM TECHNIQUES` Nov/Dec 1995 Vol 16 No 6 A B Dignan says: `the
beauty of this developer is that no development takes place in A bath.
All that happens is some of the solution is absorbed by the emulsion.
The composition of the remaining solution is not changed. No
pre-soaking is used, so no water enters the solution. When the film is
transferred to B - no rinse or stop between - development takes place.
As this is done to exhaustion no overdevelopment can occur. Some unaswered
questions. Dignan`s Comments
are interesting but I have yet to use it regularly. When I used
Bisulphate instead of Bisulphite pH was spot on, the resulting
negative was a wee bit thin and a purple black. I suspect the bleach I
used. I think it worth experimenting with. How about an E6 two bath
developer? TWO
BATH DEVELOPMENT; BLACK AND WHITE Far from new,
Heinrich Stoekler recommended a formula before the second world war
that was well used by Leica buffs. It still works well today. When you
expose a roll of film the brightness range on individual shots can
vary a great deal, from high contrast to low. A bath developer
compensates for these variables enabling prints to be made on grade 2
or 3 paper. The developer is cheap and easy to use. Bath A Metol
7.5gms THEORY:
Bath A. No pre-warming bath should be used, the film soaks in the
developer, usual agitation. Pour solution back into bottle it can be
used again and again. Bath B contains accelerator, pour in to tank to remove any air bubbles, DO NOT agitate. In the highlight regions where the developed silver will be densest the developer is soon exhausted thus halting the development. In the shadow areas the developer continues to push up the shadow detail as the developer has less silver to work on and so does not exhaust as fast. The result is a well graded negative from a variety of contrasty subjects. Times and temperature is not critical. The formula given is the Ansel Adams 023. Most popular two baths are based on Metol and Metaborate or Borax Fix. |