Another day, of the similar kind

Oh yes, been digging a bit today as well. But I have also done some building up. Terrace, deck and stuff, as you should know. 
And, I took off on the five minutes journey back home and had six films developed. All 135 sized stuff. Having just had the chance to have a quick glance at them they look kind of good. 
Right now I've started scanning a few of the 120 rolls I developed a few days ago. I'll post a few in this post, I would think. The other freshly developed 135 films need some drying before they can materialize themselves into scanned images. 

Oh sure, you've seen this scene before at some point. Snapped from the front door at the cottage, as it happens. This time there was a ship flickering about there out in the fjord as well. Trawler, by the looks of the lump of steel. They go in here from time to time to wash their nets and such. Fishery being done at sea a few miles further out west. I played with the Mamiya RZ here... with the 500mm lens attached. 

Tomorrow I'm going to a party. Birthday party, as it happens, for my grandson Rohan. He turned one year of living as I was at sea, as you might remember. Tomorrow we're going to have some kind of celebration. I have not bought his present yet, but I know what to get and will source it up early tomorrow. 
Books. Books are good for small boys in lack of nothing much else. At least that's what I hope, and think. I love to read for children soaking in the words, making their own pictures inside their heads. 
There's a lot of good things in there, in them written words. Very underrated, as it happens. I hope to see to that the small lad will love the written stuff. It's important, as you should know.

Something snapped on the Diana F+ plastic thing I got lurking about. What more can one want, actually? There are mountains, a fjord, a couple of trees and a creosote impregnated wooden telephone pole. And a few wires. It's probably a masterpiece.

Did I ever tell you I got an author cousin? Not? 
Well, I do. Her name is Mette, and she writes well, no kidding! She's a top ranked author over here in Norway having received quite a few of the traditional highest prices and all. I have not read all her books yet, because there's quite a lot of them, mind you, but I'm getting there. Her not very authorized "biography" of Björk, the Iceland singer you know, made quite a storm over here... and also over in Iceland a few years ago. I heard, or read, that Björk herself was not too found of the thing. Not that I know why, because it's a fine book with nothing much bad said. I would think that it has more to do with the fact that Björk herself was not interviewed, as she did not want to. Her father was, though, and quite a few others.
Anyway, it's a good book with some great personal and nature depictions inside. You should read it, but I'm not too sure if it's translated into english. Over here it's called "Bli Björk". 
These days she's a lot over here in my home town. Doing some drama work on one of the universities over here. I hope she will have some time soon to go have a meal and a beer. We need to talk, as it happens. You know books call for covers, and covers may contain snaps in one way or another. She want something from either my collection or something special made for something, but I'm not sure what yet. Or it may also be for someone else, as she's heavily into publishing as well these days. 
But hey, we need to wait and see! I'm not taking anything for granted. But fun it would be :))

And hey, it's the son snapped on the Diana F+ as well. You may see him there in the middle of the image if you partly close your left eye and let the other one wander a bit about. It was about a week ago. Over there at Nøringseth where my wife kind of grew up. It's a nice place where you got space and silence to think things over if you need. And if you don't need that, it's a great place anyway!

Diggin' a hole

Or, in fact, I'm diggin' lots of them. Need some good foundation for the deck outside, as you might understand. Not that this is the worst place around here during the winter, but the frost might cause some throwing around of the upper layers of mother earth at times. And we definitely don't want the foundations to be thrown around as well, hence all the diggin' of holes. Concrete to be thrown in at a later stage, as you know. 

It's from York again. The cathedral, as you probably see. We walked by this construction quite a few times, and it was a bit hard to overlook to tell the truth. We were inside of it as well. They knew how to build churches, back in the days. And yes, it's one of those messed up films... again.

I just had a decent hailstorm coming in, but it did not last for long. After that it started to rain quite a bit, and I decided to have a coffee break instead. I don't like to work outside in the rain if I don't have to, and today I don't have to. I'm ahead of schedule, and still lack some materials and stuff anyway. I hope to have this thing finished off some time during next trip home, but you never know. I might find other things to do as well. 

So, it seems I'm in York mode, again. We walked up and down these streets as well a few times. Rainy days, and wet stone. Give you quite nice snaps if you're able to develop the film in a decent way. Obviously I'm not the best of developers. I know how to do it in theory, but I fail more often than not. It's lots of fun, though. 

And that was what I would call a good days work. I am inside the cottage again and wonder what to do tomorrow. Maybe I should go home and get the scanner? Would be great to have that thing over here to scan a few films over the next couple of days. The scanner and some developing tanks, some chemicals and stuff needed for developing films would be nice. I still got a few rolls to work my way through, as you might have guessed. 
Well, I will see tomorrow. Right now I think I will just relax for a couple of hours. I have been digging holes, as you know. Sore muscles and all, but it's good nevertheless. 
And the light is great. I might fetch a camera and take a short walk down to the sea. Snap a few snaps. 

A long day coming to an end

I was up quite early this morning. Had plans to get things done, as it happens. More or less all items ticked off the list now, which is a great feeling. Digging holes outside the cottage, among other stuff. Not the most interesting things, to be honest, but had to be done as I am in the process of building stuff just outside the door. 

Nothing to post, really, but then again I don't have any idea what else to get out there to you right here and now. Hope to get something scanned some time tomorrow or the next day. I need to stock up on stuff to post during my month at sea as well, as it happens. Will make me busy for a few days, I should think.

And not only did I get a few holes done, in addition to some shopping of materials and all, but I also managed to develop quite a few rolls of film. Six 120 films and a couple of 135 sized ones, to be exact. There's some scanning to be done soon, as you might have figured out already. Scanning and darkroom work. Plan was to play around with some proper paper one day soon. 
Can't wait, to be honest! I got a few negs around that looks good enough to shine some light through them, and I hope the owners of the finished products will be pleased with the results. You never know, of course. The negs might be a bit on the bad side after all when it all comes down to the serious business inside that dark room... but we will see, as usual.

Another one from the Pentax Spotmatic. Not the Super Takumar 50mm this time, as you might already have figured out. You see, he also got this very bad 300mm thing for the camera. It used to be a bad lens back in the days, and has not grown to be any better these days. Nah, one should stick to the 50mm on this thing. Or one could get a bit wider one, but still the Super Takumar kind of thing. Properly built things, they are.

Anyway, the films developed today looked quite good. The old bottle of Kodak HC-110 developer still works good enough, it seems. I'm halfway through it now, so it should still last for another while. 

The best of days

What more can you possibly wish than the feeling of being on holiday in your own neighborhood? I'm at the cottage again, and it's all quite and nice. Just the way I like it. The only thing I might miss would be the possibility of developing some film while I'm here, but I might find a way. We will see.

Some huge rig on the UK sector of the North Sea. Snapped in the total darkness of the night on the rangefinder. Not the japan made one, mind you. The german one, on long shutter times handheld from the deck of a ship. Cool, huh...? Ah, and the film is not one of them badly fixed ones you have get used to lately. Properly developed and fixed in both Kodak and Ilford products this time.

Was just outside starting a fire in a pan we got down here by the sea. A nice way to get some food heated during the evening. It's the kind of thing you can use for whatever, as it happens. Today I guess something is going on the grill type of thing. We will see when the wife is back from her drive.

Different rig, daylight view. A bit crowded underneath those things, I must say. Risers, legs and what have we all. This could be from the sameish rangefinder with the same lens. 50mm cron-thing.

What else did I do today? Nothing much, as it happens. I was at the post office for a short while, picking up a couple of cameras. Cheap as chips they were, and no wonder at all! Well, the Nikon F3 was nice enough, and both looks, feels and function great. The japanese rangefinder thingy was a bit more suspect, I have to say, as the shutter seems to be totally stuck... in open position. Well, I need to open the thing up and have a good check on it. Could be fixable, or I can find some other way to use the thing. It looks cool, though, so will not be thrown away. It's not a camera for my step daughter though, which was the hope for this one. Or, it might be if I can get that shutter working.
There was a Nikkor 70-210mm zoom lens as well inside the packet. Zoom function stuck, but I have opened stuff like this before and made it work. It might even happen again on a good day. Will bring it along next time at work to have a good look at it over there together with that japanese rangefinder. Need stuff to do when off duty, you know.

Nope! They are not in the process of electing the new pope or something. It's over there at Sullom Voe on Shetland. The place where oily stuff is coming ashore through the pipeline we just did a proper check on. For leaks you know. And to see that it was all steady and good down there at the seabed, of course. As we speak I guess some unlucky soul is going through the whole four weeks 24/7 of video we shot of the thing. I'm quite happy I'm not the one sitting there with sore eyes right now. 

Else, not much to report from today. I need to take a short walk, it seems, as I suddenly discovered I must have lost a lens cover for one of those big Mamiya lenses yesterday some time. I know where I strolled, so should be easy enough to repeat the steps.
I might even bring the camera...

Things to do at the cottage

Not that there's a lot to do here, besides the load of things which should have been done soon. I got things to build, as you might know, but that's for a little bit later. Need materials and all before I start, so need to make a plan or something. I'm quite good making plans, I have been told.
Well, we're just back from the birthday party. 25 years old youth, you know. And I know my age has crept a wee bit further as we were told that the plan was to have some young people coming a bit later. Party and all, you know. To which we were not invited. Fair enough! Great, actually! Which made me think I'm starting to grow a bit old... ish...

Another Spotmatic snap done out the side window of the car a while ago. Yellow filter attached. I know, I know... not the most interesting of subjects.

Well, I can officially tell you that between all the things to do at the cottage this evening is getting rid of the last fifth of a bottle of splendid 16 yrs. Lagavulin and watch a movie or something simple as that, very high up on my list. 

Last weekend around my parents house. There's still lots of snow around here, as you might see. Pentax Spotmatic, again.

And all of a sudden it's the next day. The whisky was nice, the movie quite good, and the quietness of this place just fantastic. As usual. Two brand new ships doing DP tests in the fjord at the moment, building a nice contrast to the black and white mountains in the background. The weather is good today, after being quite gray the last couple of days.
The youngest daughter came for a short visit yesterday evening. Nice to see she's got her motorbike out of the garage and made ready for a new season. 

OK, being the one I am I post this one as well. A masterpiece of a corner of the parents house. Red filtered and all. Great stuff, huh...?

The plan now is to grab a camera or two, and go for a walk. I think I know where to go, as well. A few miles further on this road, westwards to the point where the narrow road just stops. Then I walk further ahead on an old path of grass and stone until I get to the old croft up there in the mountain side. Used to belong to the grandparents of my wife it did, that old croft. Small place, totally in the middle of nowhere. 
So, that's what I'm off to do, right now. See you later!!

The old Spotmatic

As you might remember there was this Pentax Spotmatic that used to belong to my dad during a few years up through the seventies. It went away, but came back to him last christmas. 
As you were told if you ever checked the link, I loaded the thing with a Tri-X a couple of months ago. Snapped a few frames and put it back on the shelf. 
I was up there last weekend, checking what's happening... if they were both well and all, as you obviously do. All good, except the frame counter on that old lovely camera had not moved at all. So I grabbed the thing and finished the film. I am a curious man. At least when it comes to old cameras, and maybe especially old lenses. This one got the great Super Takumar coupled, and I must say I had hopes that it might were able to deliver some good stuff. 
And yes, it does!

Nice start, don't you think? Super Takumar, red filter and a Pentax Spotmatic. I don't know if you recognize the place, but I have snapped stuff around here earlier as well. Back in the 70's as it happens, with the then new Minolta Hi-Matic G camera I still got lurking around. I need to find them on that red hard drive and post them. I think it was the sisters playing with an old sledge or toboggan or whatever you call it. And yes, this was snapped last sunday. There's still snow to melt away around these parts...

I brought the film back home, and had it developed yesterday. I will try not to bore you big time, as there's way too many snaps of relatives and such on the film. But anyway, I post what I got... as you know. Shook it around in some Kodak HC-110 in "B" solution, I did. Don't know why I seem to like that old developer, but it's probably a combination of a few different things. It's versatile, very concentrated, longlife and have a nice colour from the bottle. Add water and it looks like something else, but I will not focus on that here and now. 

Nope! Just could not resist this one! Snapped from the side window of the car when me and my father went to Tingvoll for some milk and bread and things you need to survive. Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 with yellow filter, and that old Pentax Spotmatic.

My step daughter is 25 tomorrow. They really start to grow up now, I have to say. My son will turn 25 in just a couple of months. He don't know what he wants for birthday, which is OK. He will still get something, I guess. 
My step daughter don't know what she wants either, but my hope is to give her a camera. She borrowed that flimsy plastic Diana F+ camera last time we were over in England, as you might remember. She snapped a couple of nice frames, but the majority of the film turned out totally useless. She still got hooked on film, so she immediately went to get herself her own Diana F+. She also asked me what else to get, meaning a smaller camera with mojo, soul and whatever such a camera would have. She would need a small P&S kind of thing, I guess. I really hope the mail man drops a packet around for me to pick up some time tomorrow. There might be something inside the wrapping she could use. Well, that's what I hope, of course. We all know that buying an old camera on the inter web is not always the wisest thing to do. Still, I have yet to be left totally disappointed about what's coming my way. This was really cheap as well, so will be worth taking the chance. 
Oh, and yes... I will keep you informed. 

Same trip. This was snapped from the side window of the car as well, over there in the small village of Tingvoll. Oh... you might think "Tingvoll" sounds a bit like Dingwall, Thingwall, Tingwall, Tingvellir or something like that? Yup, that's right. Same word, same meaning. The old norse word for a place where great "tings" were held. I was baptised in the church at this place, as it happens. Old thing from back in the time when the earliest churches was built over here in Norway. Long traditions, you see... Built in 1180, made of stone unlike most other churches over here... built to last a few more years. Same Spotmatic, Super Takumar with yellow filter. And Kodak Tri-X sloshed around in Kodak HC-110 for a couple of moments.

I'm at the cottage for the weekend. Left a big bag of photographic equipment outside the door as I arrived. There's this picture I want to take, but I'm waiting for the right kind of light. It will definitely not happen today. That's for sure! First of all the light is not here, at all. Second thing is I forgot to put the good film backs into the bag before I left. I got two bad film backs, and both of them happen to be attached to the back of the two Mamiya RZ67 cameras I got inside the bag for the moment. I mean, what's the odds for that to happen? I got quite a few of them, but still have managed to do this silly thing. OK, I know why I did it, and it has to do with a plan to have them repaired over the weekend. Or at least start to repair them. And I'm still on that plan, but that should not include to forget the good ones back home! 
Oh yes, it's only a five minutes drive to pick up a good back, but having opened a can of beer it won't happen. Easy as that... :))

Long legs

It's got some long legs this thing. All the way from the surface to the seabed as it happens.
It's just a quick post, just to tell you I'm off again for the weekend. Oh no, I'm not going far. And we got a connection out there as well, at the cottage. The one by the sea. It's more like a five minutes drive from home, so should get there pretty early in the afternoon I would say.

Here we go! Now you have to struggle with rigs and offshore snaps for weeks and months, I suppose. Looks like that was more or less all that were to find onto this roll of Kodak Tri-X that was fetched out of the black rangefinder about a week ago. It's the Magnus rig, by the way. Located on the Magnus field on the UK side of the North Sea. A rusty old thing, it is.

They look a whole lot better these new films I just developed. I only did a couple yesterday, but there will be more to come over the weekend some time.
And hey... the mailman seems to have a bigger packet coming my way as well. I wonder what that might be?! I did not get it today though, so maybe tomorrow then... with a bit of luck.