Not that we see too much of it, at the moment, as it's winter time and pretty far north where I live. And it's cloudy, of course, so I just know it's up there by the somewhat brighter light than it was a few hours ago. The temperature is a bit on the warmer side than it has been for the last three or four days which have been quite cold to say the least. Around minus ten, and still no snow down here by the sea. That's a bit on the cold side for us here on the coast, just saying. Damp air from the sea mixed with that kind of cold weather before adding some wind will turn the house into an ice box if you don't have your fire wood ready at hand. It's been nice inside here, just to let you know.
From the photo walk just outside the very center of town, Saturday. This nice woman were moving some dead leaves from one spot to the other, but took her time to talk to those of us having the time to stop for a while. She told us a short story about the house where she lives. As any other big house back in the time of WWII this one was also grabbed by the germans for them to use for a few years. There was even a prison inside it, and one of the guys from the resistance group sitting inside in one of the cells at the time managed to escape by jumping from the top floor before running half naked through parts of the town throwing himself into the sea to swim across to the other part of the town where he managed to hide away. There are still a few great stories passed around or the then young boys of the various resistance groups during the times of war. I've heard this one before, but was not aware that this was the house in question. It's always nice to learn something new. I think this was done with the black rangefinder, 35mm lens with yellow filter snapped on FP4 later washed in Rodinal.
I thought I might get the chance to go inside the darkroom today, but it looks like I have to wait until the evening or maybe tomorrow. Or maybe both, if I'm a wee bit on the lucky side. I had a plan this time, and hope to be able to stick with it. Usually when I have a plan for the darkroom work I seem to get lost and tangled up into something else, but this time I hope to be able to do something a bit on the creative side. You see I found a few old prints the other day where I have been playing around inside the darkroom. Nah, it's nothing to scan and put onto this place, because they are all ruined and in a very bad state. But they gave me a couple of ideas, if nothing else, so I hope to be able to do some follow up on that soon.
I kind of like this little spot on Brunholmen, Ålesund. I like the lines of the narrow road and that wall there, and those old Art Nouveau buildings on top. Our entire town center burned to the ground in 1904, as you might know, and that's why more or less all buildings popped up with the same looks and style during 1905. It's a bit ironic actually, at least seen in coincidence with the above story from the time of war, that the help from the outside world to get the town rebuilt after the big fire were coming from the Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. He was a true friend of Norway, and played a big role in persuading King Oscar II of Sweden not to attack Norway after we managed to repeal the union in 1905. 35 years later I guess nobody could ever hope to persuade the germans in either direction, but that's another story. Ilford PAN 400 pushed to 1600 ASA then sloshed in Rodinal, through Nikon F3+85mm lens.
As you might see I've scanned the films from the photo walk we did last Saturday. Underexposed, just as I told you, even though these seems to be OK. All sorts of things were done here anyway, so it's impossible to be absolutely sure where the biggest mistakes came from. Pushed film and limited experience from developing the Ilford PAN 400 at all might be one of the pits I fell into.
Well, there's always a new day.
At least I think I might learn this film one day, as I got a bunch of it waiting in my drawer to get used in the time to come. And there seems to be more where it came from. I might also stock a bit up on both HP5 and FP4, or maybe even some kind of Fomapan film. All good films and nothing much to worry about there. We will see.
One thing about living in the US is that average people don't have wartime stories. I remember my time spent in Germany in the 80s and the average-person war stories that abounded. I was both shocked and fascinated by them.
SvarSlettI have never thought of this, to be honest Jim, but it all makes sense when you mention it. I still have my father around who was a kid during the years of the second WW. Not that he remember a lot from back then, but in addition to his own stories I also got a lot of others that was handed down from his parents and other relatives. Not that they contain a lot of drama, but still I think it's important that the words will get passed down the generations. It's nothing we like to see happen again, for sure!
Slett