Strachan 3 --->

Sometimes when doing the sorts of work I'm supposed to do, you find yourself laid up for a few days in something which on a good day might go for a walking distance away from a town or a village or whatever. Sometimes this day may fall on a Sunday, and sometimes you got nothing better to do but go for a walk all by yourself just to get away from whatever is going on at work. Sometimes you just have to go for a walk anyway, even though the ship seems to be just about to flip over and the work is piling up in loads in front of you. 

That's just what happened this day, as far as I remember anyway. It's years ago, actually, but I still remember this stroll along dead streets quite well believe it or not. It did me good.

This one has never been printed, and never posted anywhere either. I was looking through the archives to find something interesting, and came up with this one. I got no particular idea why, but I think it might be because of the patterns of the shades of gray inside it. You might see what I'm talking about, or you may not. 

And I got no further comments about this one...

And yes, it's from up there in Peterhead, Scotland. Of course. 
I've been there a lot, and got one or two snaps of the place. This happens to be one of them. 

See, they listen

I'm a member of the local photo club. Or camera club, or whatever.
It might sound like a confession of some sort, and partly it is, but I also got a reason or two for doing it. First of all that's all I "do" when I'm at home. OK, a truth with quite a few modifications, but at least that's all I'm doing that most people would be able to refer to as a slight proof of me trying to have some sort of social relationship with somebody else but the closest family. That's also a truth with quite a lot of modifications, but still I'm probably not too visible to most people when I'm at home and away from the sea. Nobody I really know are making a big fuzz of it either, as they know my job requires not only a few sacrifices through a normal year. Many, as it happens.
Anyway, to get my back ends out of the house sometimes I thought I might just as well join the photo club rather than the gardening club or something like that. Just so I would have a slight idea about what to answer should anyone think it would be wise to throw a question into my direction or something. 
But enough of that, and over to more of the same.

It's a great collection of snappers among the members in there, even though the majority are only busy collecting pixles when pointing their cameras all around the place. The only person I've been talking to yet, who is also having a bit more than just the usual historical interest in working with film, would be the polish girl. A young individual of the sorts she is, mind, but that just makes it better me thinks. I like young people trying film, and I can't deny that little fact. 
There's a meeting in this club every first Monday each month, but I miss most of them, of course. Normally I will maybe attend 3 or 4 meetings each year, which of course is not very good if you're still thinking this is the only time I'm close to having a social relationship with people. I assure you again, it's not the entire truth about that matter. 
It's a great club, obviously, because members are winning nice prizes and such. Getting their names mentioned in big books and all sorts, which is great I think. I have not had my name, or any of my snaps for that matter, printed in the book yet. 
First step is to enter something, obviously. I never really even get to that point, normally. One day I might find something I feel like throwing in, should I at any point find myself to have made a decent enough print, and then it will be the issue with work of course. There are time limits, you know, and good old Murphy's law will most likely also have a finger deep into that matter. I'm over 50 now, so I can assure you I'm old enough to be able to say something about things like that. 

So what do I do to look important when I finally attend one of the monthly gatherings every now and then? Well, I try to listen to a few of the things being said or told for a start, and then I usually put in my vote for the best picture of the evening. I never seem to vote for the right one though. A different snap will always win for some odd reason. 
And I usually bring a camera. This time when the snap below was snapped, probably a year and a half ago or so, I think I brought a Nikon F3 or something like that. At least it was a good one no doubt, and I snapped up this trio. A trio of artists, to tell you the full truth about it. It's the polish girl, the lawyer and another guy which I'm not at all quite sure about the origins of. But he's a great photographer anyway. And I mean great. The same thing goes for the lawyer as well, selling big artsy snaps combined with paintings stuff sort of things. 
And then there's the polish girls snaps, which are just in a league of their own in my opinion. I don't know if she's won any prizes either, but she should have I can assure you. I know for a fact she won a very nice stipend over in Poland some years ago. Oh yes, she's educated in this field we are talking about and everything. 
Anyway, I sort of dozed off and looked away from what was going on up there at the podium, and used about 1/60 sec. of my life to make this one. 
It's not going to win any prizes either of course, but at least I got it saved. Right there inside my archives, on some film or the other.

See? They Listen!

Saturday night (not at the movies though...)

And still out here in the middle of nowhere. Makes your mood a wee bit darker than it will be one week from now, I hope. 
I found this snap dug deep inside my archives somewhere. It seemed to fit pretty well, to be honest.

Diamonds on my windshield...

I managed to almost fill up my roll of Rollei 120 format film, factory oomphed to 400 level, with snaps during the day. Actually I think there's only one single frame left on it, but by tomorrow evening I would think it should be all gone. A good feeling for sure, as if you don't know that already. I used the Diana F+, as that's the only camera around this ship using that sort of film at the moment. Actually there's a few pinhole cameras I could have loaded up, of course, but bringing the exposed film home from Brazil is only going to give me a lot of hassle on the airport, so I leave it be. 

Talking about pinhole cameras; Years ago, maybe 5 or so, I bought a few "precision drilled" pinholes from somewhere. Probably on the foreign auction site on the interweb or something. 
Well, whatever! Today I thought I'd just turn my small traveling bag for photographic related stuff on it's head and have a good look through it, and whaddayaallknow and such... there they were. Neatly and very well hidden inside some totally secret pocket or something for sure, but still there they were after all those years. I might even go home and have one or two of them tested, if I don't manage to throw them away by accident before I'm on the flight from Rio to Amsterdam wednesday evening. 
I'll make sure to let you know if they work. The holes, that is.
Oh, and I just gave myself a promise to clear out the internals of all my photo bags every 5 years or so from now on. There might be other gems hidden, for all we know. 

It's late, again

It's late Friday evening. Soon the last weekend on board the ship is gone, and I have to get my stuff together and leave for home. It's a lovely thought to just hang on to for a few moments.
The last few days of a trip is more or less only routine work you need to get done to make life a bit easier for my back to back. He who is soon about to pack his bag and leave his nice little home out there on one of the many Faroe isles and head south. Good luck with that, may I say.

Somewhere in Scotland a few years back. Seems like a little lifetime ago sitting on board the vessel over here in Brazilian waters. I would rather be up there, walking the abandoned country roads, camera in hand talking to stray sheepdogs and snapping outbuildings like this one. Different surroundings, very different people. And different dogs too, just saying.

I checked the fridge in my cabin earlier this evening. Only two rolls left of 135 format Ilford FP4+ in there. I will probably load up one of the rangefinders for the trip home, leaving only one roll left in there. Looks like I need to bring a few rolls next time then. 
There were plenty of 120 format film hidden in there however, so I loaded up the Diana F+ with a roll of some 400 ASA Rollei film I got a while ago and walked down to shoot a couple of snaps in the engine control room. I'll save the rest of the frames on the roll for the next couple of days. See if I can find something half interesting on the bridge or somewhere. Maybe on deck, or in the ROV control room. There's probably always something happening to waste some film on, somewhere. Even out here.
I very rarely use Rollei film for some reason. Never really got the hang of the developing side of that stuff. I brought with me a slow roll of it when snapping a set of wedding pictures not too long ago. I mean what in the world was I thinking? Luckily I also had a couple of rolls of FP4 in the bag, which sort of saved my back end of course. Sometimes you would be far better off by attaching your brains to the rest of your body before leaving home, actually. 

Here they are, the happy couple. Snapped on the english film, not the Rollei Retro thing. Done with the huge Mamiya camera and everything. Not the best of light conditions under these trees, mind you, but they got what they wanted even though I should have taken a couple of extras just in case. But they will be happy with the prints anyway. I promise!

I'll leave you all to it. You're probably asleep anyway, most of you.
And if not, at least I'm sleeping quite soon, by the feel of this aging body. 
Take care!

Looking for that little something, again

There's probably at least a couple of ways to do this.
You may either choose to sit down and wait for something to happen, or you can actually try to find it floating around somewhere.
Inspiration, that is.
You probably know what I'm talking about, because from what I hear and read it seems to be a thing we all seem to lack from time to time. Some more often than others, of course.
Me, myself, I'm looking for something doing some sort of "kick-my-bottoms" thing while at the same time I'm holding a camera.
It's not the easiest thing to find around this place, on board a ship for seven weeks in a row. Not that I'm looking for something to snap a lot out here at sea, but it would be nice to have an idea of a decent project to start when you get home. A loose plan like, you know.

They decided to drill a huge hole in the mountain a few years ago. Just as well, me thinks, because the center of town used to be filled up with cars and noise all the time. Nowadays most of them just disappear into the hole, being kept away from the streets. Most of them, of course. Not all!

Some tiny but maybe nice little idea crept into my brains about a week ago, and I've been trying to think a few things through since then. I seem to have filled quite a few pages inside my notebook about it and all. Not that my words will help me much in the end I guess, but at least it looks good in some sort of strange way.
You see I've been listening to some music lately. Of course I have been listening to those same records more or less since I was 10 or 12, so it's nothing new believe me, but this time it might be different anyway.
Oh yes, you got it. I somehow felt like I might use some of the words and chords inside a few of these records to actually do a small project with snaps. I know it has been done before, so it's nothing brand new in that respect, but still a bit fresh to me anyway. I still have to narrow it down, of course, and I also still have to think a bit more about what to do and how to get it done, but I might get there some day. And if not, it's not like it's the end of the world, or something.
I'll be perfectly fine even if I end up finding I made a total failure of the whole idea.

I don't know, but there was something about the bending roads, the lights and the flow of it all that cached my view. I can't see it that clear in retrospect, to be honest. It's from the same hole as above.

I had a message coming through on Facebook a few days ago. A woman I know from way back wanted me to put photos up on a few of the walls inside her little, but quite special and to my standard rather well visited gallery at some point next year. I have yet to respond in a somewhat clear language, but it's a bit tempting... If I can get both myself and a few prints together that is, of course.
I want nothing like the last minute stuff I had to do the last time I had prints hanging on the wall of the bigish library in my home town for a month. There should have been better stories told, I think. And then I think the lines were not falling together as I'd have liked them to. It was more like they were falling apart... which is no good, truth been told.
But hey, that's learning by doing, isn't it?  I might even find some inspiration in that little fact, for all we know?!

I've been to Trinidad, as you might know

Been working over there, in the warm waters of the Caribbean and stuff like that. It was OK, looking at things in total. Quite a bit warmer than back home anyway, but I don't think I could live like that all year around. I must say it's a bit nice to have four seasons, after all. Maybe not all four seasons in one day, as we sometimes do up where I live, but nevertheless it's nice to get to feel some weather every once in a while. 

Also, it's nice to know you can always get home and find the occasional pole more or less ribbed for cables. It's nothing like that in Trinidad, mind you! 

Getting closer to Port of Spain

Getting even closer to Port of Spain, even though "stuck in traffic" suddenly got a new meaning for me...

I had to get away from the ship and run over to this little shop in Bergen before we left old Norway heading for Trinidad. Had to get myself a half decent camera, because for some reason I did not bring one for this trip, something that has never happened before actually. I ended up with a thing I got lenses for at home anyway, and something that didn't cost me too much money. E eventually got away with a reasonably worn down Nikkormat with a 50mm f/2 lens attached. I think the shop owner was just happy to see them go out the doors, to be honest. Anyway, the camera worked for the entire trip, which was my goal after all. It's still alive, of course, and will probably stay that way for a long time yet. I don't think they are easily broken, them things. 

Let's have another go, shall we?!

As some of you may have noticed there has been little or nothing said from inside this place during the last year. Sometimes that happens, I guess. With blogs, you know. You stop for some reason, and then just never really gets back into the habit of writing a few words every now and then. 
I'll give it another go, as I really like both a bit of writing and to show a few snaps should I happen to have something worth posting at any point in time. 
I have not been playing around inside the darkroom as much as I'd like to lately, and my desk is pretty much overfilled with films in desperate need of a bath of developer. I will get that sorted out when I get home from work. And that's a promise! 
There should be stuff from quite a while back, I presume, but that should be fine I think. For most of you out there, anyway. 

I'm in Brazil for the moment. Or I'm off the coast of Brazil to be a bit more exact about it, but at least we work out from there right now. Been to Rio de Janeiro and all, but didn't take the chance to bring any of my two rangefinders out of the ship on the only day we had the chance to walk a bit around parts of the city. I was going to a place to do a medical test, so I didn't assume I got the chance to move much around anyway. Well, at least I should have brought along the half frame camera I had in the bag. But it's too late now, anyway. I might get the chance again, so I'll be a tiny bit more wise in the camera selection to bring over for the next trip. 
This is not the place you would walk on the streets with the most expensive equipment hanging from your shoulder. Just saying.

It's a hotel room in Port of Spain, Trinidad. So now you know what that looks like, obviously.

Earlier I've spent most of the year so far in Trinidad and around those bits of the world. It was nothing much to write home about, but way too warm for a man more used to temperatures around six degrees most of the year. It was an interesting experience, though. It's a different culture, and rather very much so actually.  Very obvious when you are waiting for something ordered and due to show up on the quayside at a particular time of some earlier specified day. In the end you might start wonder if you got the year right...

And then the difference in culture also gets pretty obvious if you move around in the traffic. By car, rather than by foot. I don't think I'll say much more about that.

Here you go. Proceed on your own risk,  but don't claim you was not warned! The sign might seem to be a bit hidden away and hard to notice you think, but I can assure you it will get worse. A lot worse! 

I'm sorry for the usual bad quality film scans, of course. I'll try to sort that out on at least some posts in the future. I can't promise there will be print scans only, but at least I hope to be able to show a few every now and then. 
See you again soon, hopefully! And I hope most of my tiny audience might come back even though I've been out of the game for a while.