Thoughts on B&W and such...

Black and white is my thing, as you might have figured out by now. At least when it comes to photography and such. It has been that way since I snapped my first photos with my own camera back in 1974, and I have now grown old enough to see that it will most likely stay that way until the day I for some reason stop taking photos. 

A late afternoon on the small island of Ona. It was unusually warm, and suddenly a cold front came in, fast. An interesting sight for sure. 

The temperature dropped, of course, immediately like 10 degrees. Mamiya RZ67.

It's not like I don't like to see my life, or other peoples lives, in color. I like colors a lot, but usually not in a good artistic photo. OK, I admit that there will be a few situations where colors definitely is better, but they are not many, in my opinion. 

Weather again. Clouds. Sometimes they are interesting, other times not so. I like the fact that we got different weather around this area. All four seasons and all. I just like it. Mamiya RZ67.

I am not too sure why I feel this way about B&W photos, but I think it has to do with simplicity and the fact that I usually more easily find myself getting drawn towards a B&W snap instead of the colored one. There's just to much information and too much stuff cluttering things up when colors come into play. It's like the scene is so easily getting lost in there, for some reason.

We are not exactly spoiled with beaches in the true sense of the word around this parish. Still, we got the area between the high and the low tide which we call "fjøre", and there's a lot to see and a lot to find there. This spot is just a few minutes walk away from the cabin by the sea. Nice, huh? Nikon FM2 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens. 

I let small portions of light fall onto some color film from time to time. I am not to sure why I still load my cameras with that stuff though, because I never had any real interest in them. Like right now I know I got quite a few rolls just waiting for a good wash in some developer stuff, and here I am not bothering at all. Well, it's going to be great to see those snaps I did a long time ago, of course, but I still know that they will not be good enough for any serious use. You know, put up on someones wall or anything. And then there's the printing hassle, as you all know. You can't even use a darkish room when you print color. Pinch black, or do something completely else. Like B&W... or something completely else.

Another exciting formation made by the sea during millions of years battering the stones and mother earth. I'm standing inside looking towards the entrance of the cave. There's no roof on top, but it's a great one anyway. I love the shapes created here. Nikon FM2, Nikkor 50mm.

It's like this, good people, that the joy of printing B&W in a darkroom will never go away. You find yourself kind of having unlimited possibilities with each negative. Loads of different chemicals all doing a little bit different job, you can work with different degrees of contrast, and you can choose between different papers. Which is great, believe me!  Paper is not just paper, mind you! I can write a lot about that stuff if I get started. Here and now I just wanted to say that the Ilford range is a good starting point, and that there's a lot of great things coming in from Bohemia in Czech Republic these days. Foma is the company name, and they make film and paper. Good paper, as it happens. At least the couple of types I have tested has turned out on the real bright side of life. I even heard someone saying that one or two of the Foma papers was the only papers on the market today dealing with the Lith process in a good way. I don't know anything much about Lith, mind you, so don't take my word for it. Ask someone else! But I know it's great paper.

Just a kind of nostalgic snap, for me anyway. I grew up with these plants growing all over the place. They tend to grow willingly close to the sea, and they have to be used to take a punch or three due to the ever changing weather around here. Mamiya RZ67.

I just had a bunch of 30x40 cm (12"x16") Ilford paper shipped over to me. It's that good old Classic fiber based, matte surface, paper. You know, the one you can't go wrong with. Inside the same package there were also a 50 sheets box of the great warm tone paper from Ilford, in 40x50 cm (16"x20"). 
I got an order in for a nice print of around that size, so the plan was to try get that one done over the weekend and to do it on the warm tone paper. 
It's a sea and mountain scene, snow and granite you know. And it's going to hang on a wall in the big city of Oslo, where people stuck a long way from home seem to live.

They had some breezy weather lately

At least that's what someone told me. Someone that should know what they're talking about. Some captain on the ship I work on. You know the type I guess. Stripes on his shoulders and all, meaning he should know a lot about bad weather. You might even think he should know better than trying to ride it off out there, but apparently there's a lot more to it than the rest of us will ever understand. 

Oh yes, here he is! The Captain with his eagle eye attached and switched on. Without stripes here, as you can see. He wears them underneath that boiler suit, so better be aware! I just have to assure you that this was snapped on a much better day than the one I'm talking about today.

Well... at least that's what happened around a week ago. They found themselves in the middle of a quite breezy low pressure, with no possibility to escape. They got hit by a huge, and I can assure you it had to be huge to do what it did, wavey thing and all hell broke loose on board. Completely damaged the heli-deck, a couple of cabins totally flooded due to a few broken portholes... and all the stuff that went without saying. I can assure you it was a lot more, as I kind of know the results of being hit by huge waves. They make chaos in a nick of time. That's what huge waves do. It's a bad habit they got.

We bump into all kinds of breathing personnel on tours like this. The rigger foreman is one of them, and a great guy he is for sure! Don't ask me what the pointing at him was all about. I just saw the OM doing it, then snapped it up for documentation. 

Back home it's all nice and quiet, luckily. Snowy and cold for sure, but quite nice anyway. Have used the last couple of days to do some work on that cabin of ours. The one down by the sea, you know. It has been a good few days. 
I will be back when I got something to say, as this is more or less just to get a post out so people not forget me, or something like that.

I think I promised you a medium format snap of the cathedral in Trondheim a few days ago. This is from the front, it seems. How does it become a fact that when you eventually haul out that big camera someone just pop up in front of you and decide to live there for a good amount of time? 

Well, after a while I managed to get a few undisturbed ones as well... 

Turns out I like this one a bit better after all :))

I had a few new cameras popping into my mail box the last couple of weeks. I will tell you all about them soon, when I got some results from them. Have loaded up a couple of them now, and are doing tests the fast and not very scientific way, as I do.
That reminds me that I saw one of the cameras out there in the snow a few hours ago. I should probably take it inside and give it a good dry-out I suppose. Hey, we are talking about a good old Canon AF35M here! The first real autofocus Point and Shoot thing that seemed to work as it should. And yes, it was still very wet! I hope it still works tomorrow.

Can't help it! I kind of like this snap I did a while ago while waiting for my wife in a parking area downtown. This is as seen through a german Summicron lens, forever etched onto some Ilford FP4 film. Oh, and the camera was a german one as well.

Did I tell you that I got a small bunch of film shipped over from a guy that cleared out the remains of his darkroom as well? OK, maybe I did... but I just have to say that there was a couple of great finds inside that box. Even a few rolls of the good old type of Tri-X as well :) Good for me as I really liked the old one. Kodak keep on telling me that the new one is more or less the same thing. Well, I'm not to sure they're telling me all to be honest. At least it's different, no matter what they claim. It's a long, long time since I snapped the old thing now, so I'm really looking forward to try it again. And I also hope to find out why I liked the old one better. I might never find out, but that's a different story. At least I got a few films to try.
See you around you great people out there!

We had some shitty weather over here as well. Snow and all. This was taken from outside the cabin by the sea a few old days ago. It has not got much better lately, of course. Winter is on it's way, obviously!

More from Trondheim

We went here a while ago, and I posted a few from this place a bit earlier. Now I seem to have scanned a few done on 135 film as well, so might better just post a few of them. 
It was a particularly wet and miserable day in this town, but it does not show to well on the snaps. They were all made inside one or two german cameras, with german lenses attached. The film was UK made though... as that's where all good B&W film comes from these days. At least if you are into fresh film. If you want old stuff you can find lots of great things from all over the globe. 

Good old dad having a cup of hot and black coffee. It was a cold day, you see... and wet, and great!

I think I mentioned earlier, but this is the town where I was actually born. Just up the street a good walk. The building should still be there, I have been told. Old fashionable big sort of thing, with a history and all. It still looks great if you google it anyway. I should find it an snap a couple, some day.

Don't really know about this... I post it anyway. Seen through a german 21mm lens, if anyone bother.

This town got an old bridge. "The Old Town Bridge" is the name of it... Not to much fantasy used when that name came up, obviously! Still, it's there and still in use. It has of course been threaten by fire and had it's moments of fear, like all great buildings over the years. It's still there though, and in daily use by pedestrians and crazy guys on their bikes. 

The old bridge, with it's portal and all... standing out there in the rain as it usually does. 

Still drinking coffee, still raining but not to heavily. We are about to move a bit, I think. Went over to Andrea to check his great, tiny, gallery and darkroom. It was the treat of the day, to be honest. A lot better than the coffee out in the cold it was!

Sure, we went to see Andrea's place. It was great, and I suddenly wanted something similar for myself as well. I just need to find the right place first, and make a few great prints to put up on the walls. I can do that, if I get a kick in the butt some day. 

Kind of like this one... It's the same old bridge from the other side, and it's a cat. Quite big black one walking the area not bothering at all. He looked like he owned the place, and probably did.

That's it from Trondheim, me thinks. At least for now.
I could post a few from the cathedral, and might do just that another day. It's a standalone story I guess, so you'll better wait some time for it.
And I got a few things to say about some photographic gear... soon. You see, I just had a few plastic cameras coming my way. Some plastic, and some good old heavy ones. Just stay tuned, and you'll find out. And I had paper coming through the mail. You'll find out about that as well :))

Let there be light!

For those of us who went to bed without access to any news yesterday evening, we woke up today to the horrible headlines from Paris.

I choose to post this snap of a sunset from last summer with a hope that the human race will still look and move towards the light, and let the dark forces self destruct and be forgotten sooner rather than later.
That's my hope... reality tells me that there's work to be done to get rid of this horror.
Still... let there be light!

Devold, an old factory around my neighborhoods

Strange these days, the fact that they actually get their grips together to take a well worn and almost derelict factory to rebuild it into something functional. Not that it's a new thought for anyone at my age, but I still get a bit baffled every time I realize that's what they actually did with a few places like this still standing proud.

A still unused part of the old factory. How good would it not be for a photographer to have a good darkroom and a small exhibition area and gallery inside here, somewhere? Great, I would say!

Back in the days, 70's and thereabout, a lot of young people thought it would be a great idea. Save the place and make it into a center for creativity in any form. You could build a million studios in a place like this, and still have open spaces left to breath.

Inside the old dining area of the factory. It's still a place where you can eat good food and relax. It says on the wall; Established between the battles 1853... which could mean that the factory workers made a canteen out of an open space on the premises. I have no idea if that's what happened though.

Well... they did something like that. Not the full bread thing, but still close enough to make me think they did the right thing. In the end, anyway. Because it could just as well have been pulled down to build more posh flats and houses these days.
There's a good enough amount of shops and fashionable cafés... stuff like that, as they call it an Outlet Center these days. They still managed to set aside areas for artists, stages for concerts and theatrical performances, exhibitions and what have we all. 
I hope it grows into something substantial and something that can live on for future generations. And I hope someone might be able to set aside unused areas inside the old factory to build creativity more than just selling stuff. 

The factory can trace it roots back to the 1700's, but was founded in 1853 as we know it today, and quickly grew to become a norwegian cornerstone in the industrial revolution back in the days. The factory had it's grand peak around 1950, as around 770 people had their daily work in these premises. Loads of people came from near and far to end up in this small village, just because of what these buildings had to offer.
I have wanted, some time now, to make a series of good snaps from the place. I had a good walk around there, a while ago... just to have a look. Need to gather some equipment and go back on a different day to get the most out of the place. At least that's what I think I have to do. 
In the meantime this is what you get... almost nothing... :)

These couple of snaps was made inside a quite modern, all black, german camera. On relatively fresh english film.

First we went out walking...

...then went on to see the dentist, of all things!
But first we went out walking. And a nice day it was for sure, as this was a bit earlier than now. Right now you would need swimwear to stay alive. Scuba style!

A brand new pair of walking shoes and all... couldn't be any better on such a nice day. 

We walked around this pond... which you can't even see because of all the trees and stuff these days. They were not there when I grew up. Well, there was a few trees or branches, but nothing like this. Now you can't see anything beyond a few yards in front of yourself on the small track.

Over this tiny bridge, and towards the light in there... Luckily it's impossible to get lost here, as the track is just going round and round this small pond... a couple of miles or so.

Anyway, as I told you... nothing to see around here but trees, and leafs, and branches and bushes. 

Well... it's just the same thing, as you should know by now. I'll just be repeating myself if I post any more of this!

Then we went to the dentist. The dentist is the patients sister, and the other way around. The patient is not to patient about dentists, so that's most likely why she persuaded her sister to become a dentist back in the days. 
The dentist is not to patient about her patient either... in this case anyway.

Oh yes... there's quite a bit of dust here! It's on the negative, not around the dentists office, mind you. That was spotless... just like the dentist herself.

I went there just to see from the outside of my inner self how the dentist do her work. Usually I'm in the chair, and kind of got no overview at all. Not in this chair, by the way, as I prefer to go to a different dentist. 

See? Spotless! Told you...

This day was an unusual great day at the dentist... for me anyway. Luckily I went there with a fine Nikon FM2 with a beautiful 50mm f/1.4 lens. Old as the hills that lens, and cost me more or less nothing. It's a great piece of glass no matter, and will probably suit me fine for the next few decades up to the point where others hopefully need it more than I do.

How come they need syringes this size, you think? Probably it's the special edition style, meant to scare sisters off...

Then we went home. 
I did the driving...

Counting the days

It's a bit weird, actually.
When you work like this, being totally away from the rest of the world for four weeks, then going home to be where you really want for another four, time works a bit different than it will do for most of you. It has to do with your mind, and the way it plays it's tricks on the rest of you.

Take-off. This time from Kirkwall, Orkney, heading home. 

All your inner selves, alarm bells, human mind or whatever it is, is instinctively set on this day to go home, the crewchange day. The crewchange day should normally be set and decided a long time ago. Even so, you will never, or at least just rarely, leave home for a work period or the vessel for a period off, on the decided day. You will normaly be away very close to it, though.

On the charterplane. Some chats about more or less anything, others couldn't bother!

Not so this time!! There's trouble down below us, on the seabed, where we earn our money. Not only there, but also up here where you still can breath pretty well there's unseen (as for yet anyway) dangers lurking. Weather... again. I have been chatting about it before, and will probably do the same again. Anyway, it's the big thing to talk about these days. At least out here, where we got nothing else to talk about.
We should have gone home tomorrow, even though we came on board one day early this trip.
Because of the mentioned stuff... down below on the seabed, and the weather coming in, we will have to stay until saturday.
Ahhh... who's he, feeling the need of complaining about a couple of days, you might say. Well, yes, it's just a couple of days, and nobody is going to die or anything like that, but still it's about the days of my time off that I will never get back.
I just checked, and the shift going opposite of me had 14 days more time off than they should this year, and I have had 14 days more than I should on board. That's two weeks... taken away from my other life. Two weeks added to my life on board.
You see, you need to be in a kind of sceduled splitted personality state of mind as well, to be able to do this stuff. One life when at work, one life when you get home.

\m/

Then again, I still got a great job! I really like it, and it's my own choice to be here, doing what I do. Another thing I know for sure is that when saturday comes and I'm on my way back home, everything will be forgotten. I switch to "Home Mode" and off I go. On shore first, then into a taxi to take me to the nearest airport either it's Sumburgh or Kirkwall, then straight over to Norway on the small 12 seat charter plane. Then moving about in the old land for a few hours. Haugesund- Bergen, Bergen-Oslo, Oslo-Ålesund... and at some point late in the evening I'm back home, ready to have a few weeks off. A slow couple of first days off is the usual rythm, before energy starts to come back.

Waiting for that last flight... endless minutes!

Life smiles... at least from saturday :))