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

Just a few thoughts a few yards off Ninian Central Platform, North Sea

So, here we are again. Just a few yards off one of the giants of the North Sea, the Ninian Central Platform. Not that looks as huge as it used to be these days, because there's a few even bigger ones around now.
At the time it was constructed though, in 1978 in Loch Kishorn, Scotland, it was the biggest moveable thing ever produced by man. Around 600.000 tonne of steel and concrete was tied together before the final product was towed out to the Ninian field quite a bit north on the UK sector. Up there just east of the northernmost tip of Shetland, according to this map. As soon as it was positioned and grounded at it's resting place it obviously lost it's record... as it was no longer moveable to anyone, unless you pick it to pieces of course. Looks like they have to at least start think about just that...
But OK, to be fair I have seen a lot of stuff mounted out here that looks a bit worse than this one. Just saying. We were at a rig a couple of days ago, or maybe it was yesterday. It really looked like something you would never like to spend too much time on board, to be honest.
You might even get lucky enough to see snaps some day, but being developed by me you know the film could end up in any way. As in we might see nothing at all, on a bad day. I will try, though. My very best, as it happens.

"Us and them" The Subsea Viking and the "Clair" platform out at sea, somewhere.

I was just out snapping a couple of snaps into the pinch black night, as well. With the 50mm Summicron I mentioned a few days ago. Attached it to the M6 and all, since the M3 thing ran out of film a bit earlier today after joining me for a short trip outside where I pointed the thing towards the fog as the Ninian platform slowly became more visible. They might be just a waste of film again, but you never know. Do you?
Well, snapped it up in the pinch black night I did, but maybe it was worth the hassle. You see, it has a quite impressive gas flame going, the Ninian platform. They need to burn off the stuff in a controlled manner, you see, just to keep things on the safe side.

The "Clair" platform again. They seem to kind of hanging in free air, up there. I guess we're better off with our feet planted onto a solid ship deck! :)

Last rumors indicating we are going westwards quite soon, to a more familiar place for us, which would be west of Shetland where the ship has stayed more or less stuck for the last 14 years or so. If there were prizes put up for people working in bad areas in the world my guess is that the guys working in the oil industry over there would take it home, easily. It's a bad, bad place. All the low pressures on the northern hemisphere seems to either be invented in that area, or if they by some odd chance came from further west they certainly hit the place pretty spot on, each and every time. It's one of them places that really takes it's toll, both on infrastructure, equipment and the people working out there. A rough place in the North Atlantic Ocean it is, at them oilfields we're trying to maintain as well as we possibly can.

Some rig. I don't have a clue which one. Something placed on the UK sector, at least.

Film to slow you down?

Film slows you down, in some way. At least it slows me down a huge lot compared to the couple of years I was doing digital crap. 
Still, there is one kind of a blog I used to have a look at every now and then a little while ago, where things just went totally through the roof at some point. Like a hobby film photographer on speed, or something like that. I mean, what's the point doing this when the only goal you got is to send a certain amount of film through your camera in a year? And yes, as a result I think the results are quite dull, and at times horrible. The photos of this photographer gives me nothing anymore, and I can't find one single story told in the pictures. A shame, I have to say, because there's nothing wrong with the photographers technique or anything. Still there is something, at least for me, important missing inside the photos. Call it "mojo", "soul" or whatever. I'm not following this photographer anymore, so that's what I did about it.

And hey, get this right: I am not in any kind of belief that my own pictures necessarily is better than this photographer I was talking about. I got a lot of crap, you see! These are from some film I found lurking about a few weeks ago. I have gone through it before, mind you, but there was something there I have not stopped to look at, if you understand...
Like these two, of one of the AB's on board my vessel. A truly cool rocking old horse from down south in Norway. 

Stone walls in Scotland. I simply love them! Floating around all over the place, patterning things up neatly and just is there. Probably forever. This was a nice one I found in Scrabster during a short walk one day we were stuck in there for some odd reason. I think I need to revisit this one some day, if I ever get the chance. Walls, the rocky sort you find over here in Scotland, truly tell stories. There's almost a story in each and every stone if you look at it that way. At least there's been a lot of hassle involved.

Don't know why I post this actualy, as I think I even has posted it before on here somewhere. It's one of the first photos I did with one of my small, old and worn cameras. A german thing from the very early 60's. Great lens and everything on this one, but fireing it off at four in the morning at the bus station in "B" mode, only supporting it on a litterbin counting seconds in my head would be to just taking chances, and spoil film. I did anyway, and have to say that the result was quite good. That's reason enough to post it for me. I'm that kind of guy, you know. Taking bold chances like that, all the time. I kid you not! It's a great feeling, at times...

These pictures are all from german stuff, anyway. Three of them from M models, one from an E model of some kind. Some boxy kind, that is. Two lenses and everything, and good it is as well. The shutter is barely audible, for whatever good that might be. I like them, though. They got something to them that some times telling me to not screw things up. Not that I always listen to that crap, but it's there anyway. 
My japaneese stuff never do that. Noisy they are as well. I take the same kind of pictures with them as with the german things, which makes me think that I might be good at ignoring them all, in some kind of way. 

I should really have someone to knock me hard in the head when I write to much on here. It's just this head of mine... or a syndrome or whatever it is. I write to much in general, probably. 

On watch

At work in the middle of the night, when normal people lie in their beds, most likely sleeping. That's my thing these days as we got a blown up computer in the engine dept. on the ship. Just need to step in and double up the manning a few days until we can get the electronic junk sorted, that's all. That's life on board a ship. For now, anyway. 

Watch, and drills... of course. Drills all the time, and they most likely go on when I was supposed to sleep. That's just because the captain and chief officer is sleeping at opposite hours from me. They decide when drills are to be done, and believe it or not, they will be done during daytime. I feel fine though! Fine, but tired... most of the time.

Enough about work, for now. I've been a little bit around a few weeks ago. Summer hollidays and things, as you probably know by now if you have read the words written a few days ago. I kind of travelled back in time, to the days when I was more or less a kid. Out to the island where my grandparents lived, way out west in the North Sea on the norwegian coastline. Nothing much had changed out here, but the ammount of caravan cars and german tourists is just insane these days. Can't get away from it, even out here in this hidden paradise from my youth. Well, we got away eventually when we started to think like the locals and choose the right places where no one ever thread... or hardly ever thread, as we did.

You probably had no idea, but at some point in time in the quite early 1900's they built a church on one of the outposts of this island. Quite a big one as well, when you take a look at the area around. Not a soul living here these days, except a lot of wild geese as we found out by stepping around in the area sliding in their, well... things left behind. No one probably lived here back in the days either, but the very small islands west of this place was inhabited back then. That's why they built this church, I believe. People had to row in from all around, in their small boats and what do I know. Lot's of struggle to go to church those days, and you better go if the weather was even close to good enough. To go to the service back then was probably something else than it is these days, for all I know. It was serious business, all the same.

As I am in the middle of the process of boring you guys to death anyway, I put in a snap from even further west as well. This is not Norway, as you might quickly figure out from the architecture things going on inside the picture. And maybe even from the text on the shops. It's from the big city in Shetland, of course, where I wander from time to time when I get the chance. As I did this day, a couple of months ago, or something like that. I like the smaller islands scattered around Scotland. Just had to say.

And now, more coffee!

Here you see!

I'm already back the next day as counted from yesterday, you see. Should mean that I'm back on track, sort of.
I might even have a great shot or two to show any one who might pass by this nonsense some time in the future...

Like this one, as an example. As seen through some german overrated camera a wee while ago on from the absolute perkiest peak of the vessel I work on. That's a helideck, by the way, and the wheelhouse of the boat. The rest is not seen from this point, due to structural reasons. 

And as you will most certainly remember from my last post, I was just in Oslo! The big town, depending a bit on where you come from as you read this. I kind of like this one, for some reason. I might even post something similar some other day. I don't like that town much though... to many folks around, and the weather is kind of boring for a guy used to more of the thing. More weather, that is.

Another one of the lovely fiddle lady from the other day, and one of her companions there out on the streets. Not the best shot, I have to admit, but certainly better than many others though. A sharp and shiny digishot would not do the same thing to this scene, in my opinion. The two last ones is from that now dead Nikon FE2, forever attached to Fomapan film, I think.

Hey...!

Just wanted to tell you, that I'm not totally gone or anything! I'm still around, just been a bit busy doing holliday stuff and things. You know what I mean. Waisting a bunch of film and such.

Not only waisting film, but also finally managed to put my beloved Nikon FE2 totally out of action. I will not say killed, as for yet, as I am currently struggeling to try a repair, but nevertheless managed to drop it from height down on one of the floor tiles in a shop down there in Oslo. The big city in Norway, that is. 
To that very camera was also attached a huge and heavy Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 lens, but that one survived for some odd reason. Happy days, you know...

As you might see, I have posted here a couple of masterpieces shot with quite long shuttertimes, as I'm feeling like moving in some kind of direction at times. It's not a constant move, or flow, but it might as well be a start of something I'm unaware of at the moment. I think I'll sit back and see where it takes me, if anywhere at all. Both shot in Oslo by the way, and you may buy a great print of the crow if you like something special for your wall. These are just scans from the negatives, mind you, so how it prints nobody yet know. But someday I will... at least... and maybe my wife and anyone who might get the chance to see the print on the wall before my wife realizes the horror and take it down.

See you around!

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...

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. 

No kiddin'...

...the sun is shining, even though I'm Way Out West of Shetland these days! How cool is that? It's not happening to often, I have to admit.

Else, this day has been more or less packed with shit as well. The two norwegians pedaling through France this year was pretty close today, but lacked that little extra for the victory on the 5'th stage. Other chances will come though, so I just prepare for that to happen any day soon.

I kind of like this. It's from Orkney, and I just call it "220" even though it was definately shot on some 120 film through the lovely glass of my Rolleiflex.

The Offshore Manager of the company that hires our ship came through the door of my cabin to pay me a short visit for some old nagging yesterday evening. He noticed a couple of old Nikon cameras lying spread around the tiny area and started to discuss a lot of stuff regarding the subject of cameras in general, and old Nikon's in special. His jaws slack and drivel down his cheek probably indicated that he had seen something similar at some point earlier in life, mumbeling something about an old F4 some place at home. I would love to take over that camera, but the problem these days obviously is that people know that they can put it on e-bay instead and get a few lousy bucks for it. Better give it to me, I think! Well... the F4 is battery prone, so actually not on the very top of my wish list as I hate battery powered cameras. That's only valid if I have to pay money for them though, so I grab them any time for free!

Anyway... the Manager went off having forgot all about the stuff he was nagging about, so those old Nikon's helped a lot for sure.

This was not shot on any Nikon, but rather "my" old Voigtländer Vito B from the late 50's. The camera is actually my father's, but I think I better take care of it. The shutter is half dead at long exp. times, but it's getting better ever so slowly :)

By the way! Getting closer to hometravel day now. One week to go, and I will be off from here and on my way back home. I bet there's more than enough going on to keep me busy over there as well, but will be great to get home to my loved ones and to a bed that's not rolling around for no reason. 

Maybe I'll get started on the process of building my darkroom as well this month?! I got the space now, and only need to actually build the bloody thing. Will be great not having to crawl around on the bathroom floor to do that old silverprinting! 

A lucky shot using a home made pinhole camera from an old coffee box. It's just the box, a tiny wee hole, and some very old (45 yrs. or so) B&W photographic paper my father handed over to me not long ago. I love pinholes!

Well! Thinking about my post from yesterday I should really stop now. People are not that keen on reading a million words when they are just bull anyway. 

Have a great evening, all of you 0 readers! :)