Why process film at work seemed like a good idea, and some early thoughts on the Foma Excel film developer

I need to put up a warning to you all before you read much further:
What was supposed to only be some little thing went way on to become quite a lengthy post due to the (in my head anyway) complexity of the themes brought up by myself as I went on writing on this piece. OK, there is nothing complex in here as such, but I needed a few more words than originally planned to explain myself well enough. As usual.
One thing grabbed the other, and before I knew any of it I was too far gone. That happens at times, as we all know. 
If you got no interest in a couple of different Foma developers or the Foma P powder fixer, or if you never travel with film (through airports and such) or if you got no interest what so ever in how to, and not at least why on earth, arrange a floating darkroom in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and further if you couldn't care less why in heavens name anyone would see the benefit in doing so, well I suggest you save your heart from high blood pressure (if it's not too late already due to this sentence) and simply jump ahead to a different blog. This post is most likely going to be quite boring, or even lethal for some, I assume. 
I'll post a couple of film snaps all the way down below at the end, so you can scroll down there before surfing further on your way through the web and have a look at them if you like. I'll be quite happy if you do actually. 

Here we go;
As you probably already know if you did read the last couple of posts, we're in the process of building up a very simple and low tech film developing lab on board the vessel I work on. There are a couple of reasons why this still seems to be a good idea, but the original thought was for educational purposes and short term facilities only, as there are two or three young lads (anyway that's what you call them when you passed 50 yourself way too long ago now) on board, all eager to learn how this film magic works in practice.
Well, this was a couple of trips ago now, and it turned out during their time off they were actually eager enough to start some home education by themselves before they came on board on the previous trip to this one. Again, this of course means they are no longer in need of any direct hands on help from anyone at all, especially not me, and they are of course developing film more or less like any pro these days. Which is brilliant, of course.

So, this is it! Our little corner in one of the stories and workshop areas where film is being processed. Chemicals for most normal film processes is up on the shelf, together with most of the stuff you'll need to get the deed done. It's not fancy, but it seems to work well enough. As you might understand this corner doubles up as a soap and washing equipment area. Sorry about the pixels and and all that, but for plain documentation I have to admit there are benefits...

A little close-up of the point of interest. I see one of the Paterson spools has been hidden away somewhere else, but it will show up again some time I'm sure.

However, it turns out there seems to be another good reason for developing film on board when at work in 2020, and I am of course speaking of the fact that airport security scanners are getting more powerful these days. A new generation of machines (or not new as such, as the same technology have been in use for check-in luggage for about 20 years already) are being installed in all major airports as we speak, probably to speed up the process at the security checkpoints. 
I very much like the idea of getting through the security check a lot faster than the usual tedious way, but I don't like the new machines likeliness of frying my film in the process, which they probably will if you have been listening with both ears to what Kodak, Ilford and others in the film production business have been talking about lately. 
Up until now I have been bringing my unexposed film inside my carry on luggage, and just simply dropped-in-a-tray-and-through-the-scanners-they-fly without any issues at all. I have been doing the same thing with my cameras, loaded with film and everything. No problems at all.
I have been traveling like this with film in my bag for many years now, back and forth through anything between two and eight scanners on each trip every six weeks year in and year out. I'm sure some films in my bag must have passed probably 20+ scannings of the old sorts, and I have never had an issue I can possibly blame any X-ray scanner for.
The 20+ number is just taken out of the air of course, because I have not been counting, but I travel a lot for work and I sometimes travel far, and I usually would just grab a good little bunch of film before I leave home and just tuck them inside my bag. Some rolls will be leftovers and just stay inside that same bag during multiple trips without being used, and that's why the number of X-ray scannings could reach such numbers and probably above for some films. As time goes and everything in the world is the same, you start to relax after some time, and airport scanners is far from your worst enemy after a few years doing this. 
But now there's a new beast on the block, and we traveling film wasters have to deal with it in some sort of way. 

By processing film on board I will of course be able to reduce the amount of X-ray scans a lot compared to my previous "regime". 
In addition I will also have to do something about my earlier habit of bringing film back and forth multiple times. 
The idea is of course simply to bring un-processed film on board, but not back home if I can possibly avoid it. I might also get better at buying film in whichever country I'm working at the moment, but that's an even trickier task as there will most likely be no time for any shopping like that. I work on a ship you know, and a ship earns it's daily crest at sea, not by wearing out the ropes tied up alongside some half-rotten pier somewhere. 

OK, so what's out there to expect when traveling halfway around the globe nowadays, and what has happened since some time in the second half of 2019? Well, much of the same as before, I would say. 
The few operators of the new type of X-ray machines I have bumped into have been quite cooperative up until now (with a couple of exceptions of course), but you never know when that luck is going to change on you.
For this trip I tested out my "new" concept by really bringing quite a few of rolls of 135 and 120 film on board. I dug deep into the film drawer and even deeper into my freezer (because we have now moved to a new location where I got a dedicated almost-film-only-freezer) and pulled out 80 rolls of film (just counted two minutes ago to make sure the numbers were right...) which seem to have been laying around for ages anyway. Since I can't see these rolls being used with any benefit at home I thought I better bring them on board to play around with. 
I brought some C-41 color negative film spanning from ASA 100 to 800, some rolls of E6 process positive film (low ASA stuff from Fuji), and finally a bunch of B&W film of various types from 50 to 3200 ASA. 
These were the ones picked to serve as crash test dummies through the various airports from home and over to where the ship is located, way off the coast of Louisiana at the moment. 

Leaving Norway (2 traditional and old fashion scannings) was no problem since there was no new type of scanners to be seen up north as for yet, but already down at Schiphol lies the first major test. No problem and no discussions at all about having all my rolls of film passing on the outside of the scanner to be "hand-checked" (whatever that really means), so thanks a lot for that Schiphol. Anyway I knew this was going to happen, as I have always been able to speak to the folks on this airport, and they always find the time and take the effort to listen to what you have to say. 
I went through the security twice at Schiphol, due to in and out of the airport because I had to stay overnight at a hotel before flying further on the next morning. The same friendly attitude were experienced both days. 
Then the next one on the list was Atlanta airport, USA... Heck, I finally managed to get my film hand-checked there as well, but I really had to speak out loud to make myself understood and/or heard, I'm not sure which of the two made it through to the receiver in the end. 
It's not my favorite game to play, coming in to a security checkpoint facing a fully wound-up security officer when I'm just out of a 12 hrs. flight without any sleep, and hardly had any sleep the previous night either... you know the deal. Add to this also the state you're normally in after well over an hour in immigration queue and interview... I say no more!
I must add that the minor issue through security at Atlanta Airport was probably due to one single operator in particular (could of course also be myself, but for once I really doubt it as I actually felt proud of my own reaction for days after this), as my friends who were standing in a different queue had no issues at all having their film hand checked, seeing only friendly faces and was taken very well care of. 
I also need to add that when leaving the US on the previous trip out of Houston towards Europe there was no problem at all. They were more than happy to hand-check my film both when coming in and leaving the country. In fact the operator of the new scanner in Houston actually suggested a hand scanning by himself when being informed that I was traveling with film. He knew everything about the new machines frying abilities and built-in film zapping technology. 

As a result of all this new extra hassle and possible show stoppers during traveling, I realized it was time to think seriously about developing film on board when at work. As liquid developers also are a bit tricky to travel with for obvious reasons, I decided to try bring some powder developer and fixer packed into my checked-in bag, and just cross fingers that no one would start questioning the content of the packs. Due to time issues (placing my order a bit late, as you do of course) and relatively long delivery time from a couple of different companies, I ended up having only one option if I wanted to bring any B&W developer for this trip. 
Foma in Norway was able to ship everything I needed on the same day, so I just had to go for it and cross my fingers that the two different and to me totally new and unknown developers worked as expected (or hoped, as I have also read very little about them). 

I had two types of powder developer ordered, the Fomadon P (also marked as "type D76") and the Fomadon Excel (supposed to be an X-tol type, or clone). I also ordered a few packs of crystalized or powdery Fomafix P, which obviously would be the fixer. 
The two developers comes well packed in a quite small and neat plastic bag with a cheap paper inlay telling you what's supposed to be inside the package. Nothing fancy, as usual from Foma, but it does what's needed and nothing much else. I mean why would anyone need a fancy bag anyway, as long as it survives the travel in one piece and one doesn't have to guess what's hiding inside?
The fixer comes in a nice little cardboard box of puke green color with proper mixing instructions printed inside the box. English instructions are printed in understandable phrases inside both developers and fix, just in case you wonder. 
The developers both consists of two equal sized paper bags of powder, noted in the mixing manual as "big bag" and "small bag". OK, it's not that bad, as one bag has only a small amount of powder inside, and the other is rather full of the stuff. I actually figured the most empty one had to be the "small size", and mixed myself 1 liter of the Fomadon Excel developer according to instructions as soon as I had film ready to get wet. 
The developer mix quite nice and easy with water at rather normal temperatures, and is ready for use quite shortly after throwing the powder in. I decided to go for a 1:1 dilution, keeping 1/2 liter of stock for later use. The user manual suggests to use stock solution, or at least there is no words about any dilution. It also indicates a 12 rolls capacity for 1 liter of developer, which seems to fit well enough with my finding of about 20 rolls. They are always operating on the quite safe side, and I've seen it often enough to know that's the way it works. More about that a bit further down.

As the Foma developers seems not to be among the most popular developers around, there was little or no words about developing times and the like to be found around the places I usually go to check for this sorts of information. Foma delivers data for their own films and developer combinations, but no other films was mentioned. Personally I was going to develop a roll of Ilford PAN 100, and Massive Development Chart wasn't very cooperative in this case. 
I could of course have used a lot of time asking around the web and as usual get as many different answers as the number of people answering me, so I dropped that and did it my own way. I mean it was just a lousy B&W film anyway, and normally there is hardly any chance that a masterpiece had stuck on any of the frames, so I went for X-tol times and decided to add a smallish fraction of time to it just in case. 
Well, I am happy to inform you that the trick worked well enough. The negs came out in a way that seems both lovely and fine, but I have to add that I have only been able to check them with a not too good loupe as for yet. I'll pull a lens off of one of my cameras tomorrow and have a better look, but they really look great from a distance to be honest. 
I mean I even developed a roll of good old Shanghai GP3 in the stuff a couple of days ago, and though you might have a hard time believing it, that bugger also came out as good as they ever get. You should know from years back that I really love that film, at least when you're lucky enough to not have issues with the numbers from the backing paper sticking onto the film emulsion. 
Well, there was nothing of that sorts on this roll, so it might be an over-layer from an older batch. The last rolls I bought of this film all had rather big issues with the backing paper, so I expected this one to be the same thing. Luckily it was not. 

And this is what they looks like, the packs of Foma developer and fixer I brought over from home. At least they don't take up a lot of space, or add too much weight in the suitcase when traveling.

I have yet to try the Fomadon P developer, which should be of a D-76 type if we are to believe what's printed on the front of the pack of the thing. At least the Excel developer looks very much like the X-tol stuff, but I need to warn you that I don't have any deep knowledge of that particular chemical either. In fact I've only had a few films developed in X-tol and that was years ago. Anyway, the grains came out on the fine side, and the contrast seems to be absolutely fine when looking at the negs. 
Since the Fomadon Excel developer was mixed about two weeks ago we have totally developed 9 films using half of the stock solution to make 1 liter of 1:1 developer. No visible issues as for yet, but I might not stretch it any further, and will probably mix a new batch from the rest of the stock we got up on the shelf. Value for money seems to be on the good side of things. I payed NOK 45,- for the Excel developer which I would probably have no problems getting 20 films out of if I could avoid storing the 1:1 mix for more than about one week. That's just a tad over NOK 2,- pr film which is good enough even for me. 
The Fomadon P (D-76) is a few NOK cheaper at 41,25 for a 1 liter powder pack.
The Foma P fixer is in the same area, NOK 42,- for a 1 liter pack. 
They are very handy packs to travel with, and I just realized when going into their website to check the prices that the before mentioned plastic bags containing the developer powder now seems to have been changed to cardboard boxes similar to the box the fixer was delivered in. The color seems to be a bit nicer than puke green though. Not that less fancy colors on their boxes should keep us from starting using Foma products if that's the direction we wish to throw our hard earned cash of course, but I will not start talking about that again.
What's obvious is that there is a quite huge difference in price when comparing Foma and Kodak developers. I will get three packs of 1 liter Foma developer for the same amount of money I would need to pay for one liter of the Kodak equivalent here in Norway.

I'm posting a few examples from this experiment with the Fomadon Excel developer below, but needs to put in (even more than) a few words just to make sure you know what you're looking at. 
The two snaps of the negs were taken with an iPhone by holding the neg in one hand and balancing the phone in the other trying to hit the shutterbugger using my right hand thumb at the same time. Ever tried that? Well, be my guest. Second the "window" I shot the thing through is a salted down and by all means dirty thing only there to throw some half decent light inside of my cabin, so there's a lot of stuff shining through the negative. In addition you get everything in the background all for free of course. Sea, clouds, a handrail on the outside and what have we all. Look at the grain, and nothing much else. Don't even look at what seems to be a very low contrast, because the neg is quite a bit more contrasty than it seems to be in the digital snap of it. I tried to crank it up a bit inside the phone, but the damn stupid software wouldn't allow me to do it for some reason. See why I usually go for film? Even the simplest task on any digital platform makes my blood pressure rise to dangerous levels because of things I got no way to control the insides of. 

Your personal blogger up on top there. One of them engineers had grabbed hold of the Rolleiflex for a moment and decided to "shoot the Chief". If you look away from all the faults brought in by the digital convertion apparatus, this is not actually bad at all. Shot on a roll of Kosmofoto 120 film, which effectively just mean Fomapan 100. Lovely film all the same, and I liked the results from the Fomadon Excel developer. 

One of our new Polish crane drivers and AB's. It's the same with this neg. There are stuff going on in the lower 1/3 part of the thing, so just look a bit away from that. Snapped in the Pentax 67 with the 45mm f/4 lens attached, on good old Shanghai GP3 developed in Fomadon Excel. Great stuff!

It's the 3rd engineer. The proud owner of a lovely Pentax 67, and the go-to chemist if anything like would be needed, which usually happen in this job, especially when you got a film lab on board and need something special to get something done. He just did something crazy to be able to develop E6... but more about that another bright day. 

The crane driver once more. Snapped with the Rolleiflex on the same roll of Kosmo film again. This was done hand held at 1/8 of a sec. due to rather dark conditions. Actually I think I might even would have got away with 1/15 on this one, but there was quite a bit too less lighty inside that hole of theirs inside their cave out on deck. They got good coffee out there though. 

Oh... and yes there's also a couple of snaps down at the very end having nothing to do with the rest of the post at all. They are only there because of the promise I made hours ago at the top of this thing to the ones who didn't want to read the whole post. I can't blame them for just jumping down here by the way...!
Did anyone actually read much of this nonsense at all?? 

Take care!

I just found this inside a batch of scans I made quite a while ago. It was snapped on constitutional day (May the 17th) a couple of years ago. It was a warm day, and the fury dog called Scot had found a nice place in the shadow to cool himself down a bit. I had the 85mm f/1.4 beast attached to the Nikon F3 and decided to give it a go at full aperture. I rarely do things like that, but this scene sort of asked for it there and then. Not sure about what sort of film this was though.  

This is a more recent snap and scan for sure. I was walking around the ship on crew change day with the M6 rangefinder in hand, grabbing a few shots here when possible. I even went inside the smoking room. I very rarely pass that way, but sometimes you see and hear things in there, and the world is no longer what it used to be before you went inside that door. 

Leica M6, Summicron 35mm with yellow filter. Could have been Kodak Tri-X film, but I'm not sure.

Oh well... it's obviously just another quick snap from the engine room. I think it was the light/shadow thing that made me open the shutter for a little while, but I am no longer sure about the point of doing so in the first place. Leica M6, Summicron 35mm with yellow filter. Unknown film, but might have been Kodak Tri-X

Contructions in the sea, you know

Rumors in the air, just like any other last week at work. There's always rumors going around as to when crew change day is gonna be. This time it's a bit important, as easter is a big holiday over in Norway and you will not be able to do any flying due to very few routes operating, and the fact that more or less every ticket would have been occupied months ago. Well... if I just get over to the other side of the North Sea I will manage by hireing a car, or something. I will get home, no matter how difficult the charterer of this boat want to make it.

I give you medium format snaps today folks. Saved from inside the dark areas of one of the Mamiya RZ cameras all three of  them. Snaps of structures or constructions in the sea, as stated in the heading for today. You might expect a few more oil riggs I would suspect, but none to be posted today. This used to be a pier where a few fishing boats used to go alongside when there were no fishing to be done. Seems like it's a few years since it's heydays to be fully honest. 

We are at the Magnus field in the North Sea right now. Laid up on DP very close to the rig to check risers and stuff with one or two of the ROV's on board. Survey mission this trip, which makes a difference to the usual routine at least. Give us a chance to see different parts of the sea, if that makes any sense to anyone at all...
Word is that we will finish off this part of the job around lunch tomorrow, and then make our way to west of Shetland, to our usual playground, just to put ROV's in the water and check the pipe going all the way in to Sullom Voe in Shetland. When that's done I should be due for home, so let's just cross fingers folks.

Ahh... forgot to tell you! The pier is located out here, on Godøya... just outside my home town of Ålesund, Norway. A nice place where I often go if I need some wind in my hair or to see some good old sea spray. Not that this exact spot is the best place for it, but at the other side of the island you would have some better luck. Out there at Alnes, just where the North Sea comes in with some of it's power. Oh yes, Mamiya RZ67 this one as well. Don't know what happened though. Looks like a longish exposure, and then some double stuff on top. Or maybe just some movement as the exposure was going on. It's a bit strange. And it's probably done on some cheap Shanghai GP3 film.

I have a plan to get some films sloshed around in some chemicals quite soon upon arrival @home, then hopefully get my spartan darkroom set up to make a few prints. You all know I had a plan to build a permanent one last year, but we got some future plans that just don't fit too well together with that. Or, the permanent darkroom does not fit too well into the future plans, would be the more right way to put it.
See, we have been talking about moving, which in turn would make a new built darkroom totally a waste. But hey, it's just plans. As for yet, anyway.
I can still live with a darkroom I need to put up and take down after use, but I really feel that it would be great to have a purpose built one, to be honest.
I might put one up in a totally different place, as it happens. I got some space for such, even though I might need to install it away from home. What about a darkroom out here, on the small Ona island? That would be the only one out there, for sure! I got some old plans around for that as well, so I might find them old drawings and just give it a go. We'll see. First of all I should get the bathroom darkroom up and running one more time before summer kills the opportunity. It's a nightmare to block the light out totally, making it more or less not fit for purpose during daytime. And soon enough we will have daylight more or less 24/7, making it a wee bit difficult to work in there until late september, or something like that. But then we got a few months where daylight is more or less absent anyway, making it useful all the time. That's life up north...

Same jetty, different perspective. Same camera, same lens. The good Sekor 50mm it certainly was by the looks of things. I kind of like this composition, even though I might be able to make it a tad better by moving and inch or so to the left? Maybe, or maybe not. The light could have been way more interresting though, but it will be easy for me to get back some day when the weather is worse, and the skies are more grand. 

We have this gym on board the ship. I used to be a quite frequent visitor... some time ago. At least I used to be a frequent visitor for a while. Not for a very long while, but longish... to my standards.
Anyway, just had to tell you that I'm going there again. This evening! 19.30 I'll be on the bike, more or less no matter what happens elsewhere on board. Nothing can stop me, I think. Got to be the bike, as that's the only way of exercise my knees can take these days.
They used to be very strong back in the days, my knees. Good for days of skiing, long and tough ski jumps, running, heavy lifting... you name it, my knees could take it. Then I started to work, as a welder as it happens, building ships and stuff. 12 - 14 years of that thing, and my knees were killed. At least the earlier known version of them. 
Nowadays I need to be a bit careful to what I throw at them, which means the bike is a lot better than running on the threadmill. I can still run a bit along the gravelled roads back home, but not on the harder stuff. Well... right now I would probably not be able to run a hundred meters anyway, but that's not my knees fault. Bad shape, you know. Breath, heartbeat... you know all about the hassle. So I need to get something done, again... and I will be starting today. Right here and now, this evening. It will do me good, I know. At least if I manage to survive the first couple of weeks. Then it's all going to be fun. I know all that, because I have tried it before. But this time I will really try my best to follow up for a longer period. I promise!
See? I actually wrote it...! So now I just have to really, really try.

And here I am... A quarter past nine, and I am still alive after exactly 55 minutes on the bike. Not that I was trying to overdo anything at all, mind you! See, you have to start kind of careful as you definately don't want to end up with a heart attack in the middle of the bloody North Sea! Instead I tried to stay kind of steady on the pulse for around an hour, in which I think I succeeded in doing. And yes, it feels good as it happens. 
Oh, and I have added a few snaps for you to watch as my pulse needed some time to get down to a more normal level. 
And I'm off to the shower!
Take care friends, whoever you are out there somewhere...

Crew change day...

...and half way into the working period. And I never seem to get tired of nagging about how busy these days are. But OK, I will leave it all inside myself this time.

Sailed in to Peterhead around one o'clock today, and have been sitting here alongside all day. No chance to even get a half decent snap of the small town from the bridge or anything. Work, and nothing but work, all day. It actually seems I need to fish out one of them cameras and go for a walk around the vessel one of the next days, snap up some collegues or something like that. Just to waste some film, you know.
Sometimes you just have to do that, for some reason. I don't know why, but at some point you can't just hold back anymore, and need to finish that old film off. Either way.

It's from that quite silent place, again. In Scotland, as you should know. Sorry, but I'm running out of snaps to show up here, it seems. I should soon dive into that hard drive again, probably. I have not even trimmed that right hand side of it. See how sloppy I am with the scannings.

I just had a discussion going on with my son over on the fb chat. He's all digital this and that, and are now searching for a good but not too expensive digi shooter. I don't know where he's ending up, but I have read that much between the lines that I know he has set his mind on quite a few of my old lenses. Should mean he's got his aim at some Nikon then, I guess. Well, he will have to learn a few old tricks if he want to run away with to many of them fine lenses, for sure. But he will find out. I'm not too worried about that :)

It's been a while since I have posted this, I think. Done using one of the big japaneese ones, Mamiya RZ67. Big boxes they are, with huge and heavy glass in front. They are drawing nice pictures though, at times, if the person behind it all are able to adjust those wheels into some useful combinations. I suddenly see that this one could use a tiny trim as well. On the upper right hand, as it happens. Must be some disease I have caught somewhere.

It's getting late, again. I better try to find that bed in here somewhere. Should not be too difficult, as there's hardly enough room to even stretch ones old legs inside this cramped place. 
See ya!

Medium format photography

Good morning, or whatever it is...?! I'm getting my mind flipped of this watch system I'm on at the moment, as you might understand.

I like to take photos. A lot! I also like the feel of a little bit bigger negatives than the more commonly 135 films. One of the reasons might be that my eyes are not what they used to be a few years ago. One grows older, and all that... you probably know what I mean.
Medium format cameras. I got four of them, as I got a few of them more or less handed over because of bad situation for the giver. Sickness, and all kinds of no good stuff. But enough of that here and now. 
I got 6x7 format cameras, and I got one 6x6 format. They are great, I must say, even though the bigger ones probably will kill my back at some point. They are huge and heavy things, as you might know. I'm talking about the Mamiya RZ67 system. The Rolleiflex is quite a bit more handy, and the one to go for when I want to travel a bit lighter, as I do, from time to time anyway.

 Developing medium format film is just the same process as doing 135 size, but I have to say the "thrill factor" is a bit more prudent. For me, at least. The above photo was shot in Orkney a couple of years ago, on a truly shitty day - weathervise that is. The day was great, with a good run around the southern part of the islands in with great Craig, the reporter, as a guide. Going on sightseeing with a reporter is a different story, I tell you that. Crazy thing is that these guys are always at work, somehow. One time I found myself part of a carchase searching for fire trucks and flames and whatever I don't know. How's that for a sightseeing? Now you tell me! Couldn't find any fire though, but they had impressive cars and blue lights and what do I know...

I don't know how many shots I ever did of this window! Must have been many rolls of 120 film in total. I have not printed it yet, due to a the lack of a dedicated dark room, but I sure will later when I'm done producing one. I don't have to chase the best angle, light and what have you, of this window anymore though, as I just realized this summer that it's eventually gone. Forever, that is! They picked the thing down. Can you ever imagine? My plan is to sell the print for a high price to the owner of the previous wall, and window. He can't resist that opportunity, I hope. Otherwise I might give him a copy for free. That's the kind of man I am.

The last one is a snap I shot down in the lower ends of The Strynd in Kirkwall, Orkney. The Mamiya RZ67 is not the typical stealth camera you would choose for any old street photo job, but I have done that as well, and it works. At least sometimes. You will get a few surprised faces stuck on film, that's for sure. 

OK, this is not exactly top notch stuff. I totally realize that. It's the only examples I got right here and now though, so they will need to pass no matter what. Well... I still think the snap of the window will surely find it's place and become a classic though. Or it might just be me that got this something about these old windows? I don't have a clue, so you tell me.

What's wrong here, anyway?

Something just have to be... because as soon as I put this, whatever I will write and post today, online, there will very soon be six or seven people looking at it (at least according to the statistics) and then there will never be any more. Never, ever! 
AND, not only that! The only visitors will be from either Norway or the big USofA. Nowhere else in the world whatsoever, at least that's what the same statistics map tells me. That's a bit strange, isn't it? 
Well, I probably just need to relax a bit about it, and just think that when the world finally finds this, they will probably jump in joy and I will have millions watching... for sure...!

I brought myself and my wife over to Orkney just after christmas last year. Or, I was already there, as my ship docked in there for crewchange, and my wife came over to have a good look at the islands. We like it lots out on these remote isles of britain. We have now done Shetland and Orkney, and the outer Hebrides will have to be next in line I guess. I like the open landscapes, and I really like the people over here. I work with a lot of them on my ship, and the ones living on-shore is not to bad either.
The above picture will be showing a tiny bit of the "entrance" to the beach of Dingieshowe, as posted some time earlier in the blog. A beautiful spot.

Not to forget, we got open landscapes on the coast of Norway as well! Don't misunderstand here! It's a bit the same same, but different. We were more or less totally asleep when cliffs was delivered, Doesn't matter to much, as they got loads of them further west in the ocean. We also lack something else. I don't know exactly what it is, but there's something about the people... so it's at a different level, which I'm probably not that good at. Or I will most definately fail if I try to explain it. Nevertheless, this shot was taken not to very long ago. You should see Alnes on Godøya here, and the lighthouse, even though I picked the wrong lens to give a good shot of only the lighthouse itself. That was not my point with the shot either, so no complaints please. See elsewhere to find a better one. 

Neither do we build our houses the way they do over here... sometimes that's OK, sometimes not. Have a look at The Reel in Kirkwall, a nice cafe and a place to sit down and relax and listen to live music, as there's a lot of that going on in there. 

I got to run! Got things to do before i swish over the sea and home tomorrow just before lunchtime. 

I forgot to put in the title... so had to edit this one in...!

So, all of a sudden the message came across to my office that we are going ashore tomorrow, and home wednesday instead of thursday or friday. That's good news! That's allways good news. Strange how much that one day, or those 24 hours, actualy have to say.

Me and the captain got our asses out of our chairs and went out on the front deck to do some work a few hours ago. There's a few rollers out there for the AB's to put their fluffy ropes over when the ship's being tied up alongside. Or, they used to be rollers... now they were completely stuck and at no use. 
The guys that were supposed to do this hard job originally did not want to be much part of it, since they had the impression that it was impossible to get it done. You will probably end up absolutely totally flabbergasted when you learn that it actually was no big problem at all. You just need to find and use the right tool! That's not for just anyone to figure out, obviously.

I just keep on where I left yesterday, posting grand compositions... I have no idea which camera I used here, but since it's small format film it probably was a Nikon or maybe some Leica stuff. I like this a little, but not that very much. I post it anyway, as it seems I am running a bit low on photos at the moment. I should probably fish for my external harddrive in my bag somewhere.

You might wonder, by now, why my pictures in this blog is so totally off from the text you can come?! Well, I tell you, I purely choose the shots from what I got right here and now. At the moment, that is. I hope to be able to catch up a bit later, and maybe even get to things in a bit different way. Now I'm just getting used to the feeling the blogging gives me, and trying to absorb that to the best of my own welfare. End of...!

You might also wonder why I'm still sitting around here, doing what I do right now? To be honest I just started wondering about the same thing myself. I got loads of stuff to do before I can get off this ship wednesday morning, so I might better get to it. 

I'm going here again, soon. I will surely pass this place when I get on the ferry taking us out towards the small but lovely island called Ona, out there on the coast of Norway. Well, the island is well off the coast, if you take a good proper look at a nice map. This was done using some camera, on something that looks like Ilford Delta 100 film, duly washed in ID-11 or maybe D-76 developer.

I know something about this shot! It's the view from our cottage down by the sea, looking towards the mountains on the other side of the fjord. It was done on the incredibly bulky Mamiya RZ67 with a 250mm lens attached. Shanghai film, ruined before, after, and during the developing which was done in either Rodinal or D-76. I suspect Rodinal...

Lo and behold...!

The separator we have used the best part of the last few days mending, still seem to work. I put my hands together and ask that it will remain that way at least until next bunch of engineers comes on board, probably thursday. 
Today's been most paperwork and things. Nothing interresting, but loads of boredom.

From time to time I drive out to this island almost only to take this picture. Some times the weather is good, most of the time it's kind of bad. This seems to be a Mamiya RZ67 shot, and would then be a few years old. I like this place... Don't know about the film, but could be some Shanghai GP3 wet up in Rodinal and agitated more or less carefully for a long or shorter period of time.

I bought myself a new telephone just before I left for work three weeks ago, but it's still sitting back home because I could not find it when I had to run away. Now I just remembered that I also have changed the operator company, which means that I will be excluded from any line other than the emergency lines when I get ashore, because I left before my sim card arrived. 
I can't wait to find out about all the hassle that will be created by someone I know when I get to the big city in Norway in a few days, and have to find my family without having a working phone in my pocket. 
It does not take much energy to get ourselves into trouble these days, huh? Luckily I am old enough to remember the good old days, way before cellphone world. We actually managed, somehow, to live our lives back then, so I guess I will be alright this time as well.

Shure, it's a pinhole shot (from that same old coffee box) from the small island Ona, again. I like this, even though it probably looks like waste to most of you. By some mistake it went off (yes, in the developer...) to become a wee bit darker than intended, but that's the secret or way of art folks! You can't always get what you want... 

Suddenly I heard that we seem to have plans for at least one of the weekends when I get back home. A long weekend in kayak, living in a tent. That sounds like a helluvalotoffun!! I need to decide which camera I need to let take the sinking test. My guess is that one of the manual Nikons will be the one that makes it through, and thus will come with me on the trip. I should probably bring something digital as well, as I know that lots of my family and people will demand good shots posted more or less live, but I think I better leave it be! I don't have to many digital ones anyway... but I got a bunch of other stuff. 

Stay tuned to find out if a Nikon FM2 can take a good filling of sea water and still survive!

OK! It's truly a bad perspective of this totally amazing window! Next time I get the chance I will shoot straight at it, leaving no fussy lines and all, if anyone understand what I mean?! Straight on, to make it all square and fair. Well, not square actually... more rectangular and fair. Anyway, it's one of my favourite window. I got another one as well, and I bet you won't believe me, but they are just 50 meters or so, apart. How cool is that?? 

Ahhh...!

So! You can actually also put in a title at the top line nowadays?! A good thing that I found out then, already in my fifth post. 
Today's been quite a good day at work, as we (or I, myself actually) found out what seemed to be the plague inside our bilge water separator in the engine room! It's not the usual type, mind you! It's a high-tech wonder from either Finland or Sweeden, and it looks more like a moonlander than anything else. Almost as advanced as one as well, so no wonder we have been struggeling a bit lately with that bloody machine.

Ever seen the island called Foula? Probably not, unless you got a big ship and/or live in an area around Orkney or Shetland. Well, this is her silhouette, and I love it! I like grain as well, at least sometimes, when I find them in my photos. 

Last night I was going to move one of my cameras, a Nikon FE2, and managed to kind of throw it from the bedroom, through the bathroom door (not a great distance due to this being a ships cabin), and onto the floor tiles in there somewhere. The noise was truly bad, and the camera looks even more battered in todays daylight than it did in yesterdays daylight. It still works fine though, but I got to wonder how many lives a 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor lens really have?! If anyone knows the answer, please don't hesitate to give me a hint. This is it's second very hard fall, in addition to a number of ligher ones. 

Looks like I need to buy a few new (cheepo) straps for a couple of the cameras sooner rather than later. Not that any of the cameras are any expensive high-end stuff, but I use the bastards every now and then, and would like them to live for a few more years.

Ona, a tiny small wee island where I got a few rooms and a roof over my head. There's a nice lighthouse there as well. You see a lot of the island on this shot, done with a pinhole camera not to long ago. You see, it's complete with fingerprints and all. 

OK...!

OK, so I got it... I think! Looking back at my first two posts, I realize that you can't expect folks want to read a full novel every time I want to post something.

It's been to long since last post, and I hope to pull myself together and do a little more of this. Maybe even get a follower or two of this thing.

I'm at work right now, so no time or chance to do any extended photo tours out here on the big blue west of Shetland. 

I got a couple of shots on some hard drive though, so will post one or two of them.

The Alnes lighthouse, Norway.

I love this place! Alnes, on the Godøya island just outside my hometown. This was snapped using one of my dreadful heavy Mamiya RZ cameras, a japaneese wonder from some time in the 80's or 90's I guess. Some grass there in the front of that 250mm lens, but I let that pass. A lovely lighthouse it is!

Kirkwall bay, Orkney.

Done on a windy, wet and half dark wintery day as we were staying alongside the Hatston Pier in Kirkwall. I think I might shot this with some Nikon FM2 or something, but not to sure about that here and now. Could also be a crop from a medium format camera, and if so most likely the same Mamiya as above. I know for a fact that I somehow blew up the whole thing during developing of the film, but that's just how I tend to do things. I call it variables...

Alnes again, lighthouse in the distance. 

Alnes again, and this time I know for sure that it was snapped through a big, bulky 37mm wide angle lens attached to that heavy Mamiya RZ67. The negatives will come out as 6x7 cm big, which is probably why Mamiya had to mention it on the front. It got a big front, so they had space to play with when they constructed the thing!

Well... that's it for today. Now I'm off to get some sleep, if possible due to a little bit rough seas this evening. I call it a day, and will def. try to find something more interresting for tomorrow!