fredag 6. januar 2017

The Light of Winter

There's not much light at all, at this time of year, when you pass the 62nd parallel on your way north. Not that it's any lighter should you pass it on your way south either, of course, but it would probably feel a tad lighter as you then would have come from an even darker place. 
It's suddenly 2017, and it's probably here to stay for about a year. Let's try to do the best out of the thing and keep on keepin' on, just the way we have done all our lives already. 

Dull, grey and grainy but still there's a thin line of some kind of light in there somewhere. Matches my artistic mood and temper quite nice just now, as it happens. It will turn, though, so I'm just hanging in here trying to get something done. It's not going to be much, but still it's important to keep focused. At least that's what I think. Nikon FM2, Ilford Delta 400 film and probably one of them 50mm lenses I have strategically placed in places no one (including myself) would never think of...

As for me, I have started my "big" 365@50 project as you might know. Not that I have come a long way into it with five days done and 360 or so to go, but at least I have started. As the days are more or less pinch black at this time of year I had to go for pushed film. I might continue to do so throughout the project, but I have not really decided yet. I might reconsider just that should the sun suddenly shine down on me at some point in half a years time, or so. We will see, but at this time of year it's a bit difficult to think something like that will ever happen again. Winter thoughts, I know... but still.
Anyway I have started the project, but are far from sure into which direction it will go as the days come to me through the year. 
So, the battered Nikon F3 it is, loaded with a fresh roll of Ilford PAN 400 pushed to 1600. On the first of January the camera had an old 50mm Nikkor lens mounted, and it's still on there. It may or may not stay on for the entire year, but I'm yet to decide just that. 

Same day, same weather and the same camera and film. Probably the same lens as well. They might print a bit "better" than the quality of the scans indicates, but we are still to find out. I might give them a go inside the darkroom some day soon, but first I have work to do in there. Rebuilding the bathroom, to be precise.

I developed a few films a couple of days back. Two of them were free stuff given to me as a part of a small batch of stuff I was handed over a few months back. Ilford Delta 400 and a roll of Kodak T-Max 100. Not exactly my favorites, as you might know, but I decided to shine some light through them anyway. I didn't even push them or anything. Threw them into a couple of cameras and went out to get the deed done. Both of the rolls were shot during the last month at work, more or less. The Delta 400 was obviously loaded at home before I went to work, so they would have been snapped some time towards the very end of November. 
Oh, and there was a test roll of Ilford PAN400 pushed to 1600, just to check what that would bring out of it. Nothing spectacular, as you might see a few days ahead. 

3 kommentarer:

  1. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a photographer in a place where a lot of the year it's dark for so many hours of the day! Looking forward to the pushed Pan 400.

    SvarSlett
    Svar
    1. Thank you for your comment, Jim :)
      It's a bit "cramped" during wintertime with only a very short time to play with any light at all during the day. I guess what's make it worth the hassle would be the 22 hrs. of light during the lightest days of summer. It kind of equal things out a bit, I think.
      Long shutter times, pushed film and not being afraid of getting wet or cold will of course help any photographer stretch the limits a bit during the winter times. And then it will get a lot better only a couple of months from now. We got to keep that in mind as well.

      Slett
  2. Lovely, atmospheric shots as always, Roy. You capture the conditions really well.

    SvarSlett

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