I printed quite a few prints but struggled to get what I wanted. I have come to the conclusion that the paper developer was on the way out ( it had been stored for a year maybe) as I was having to use a 5 filter to get what I wanted.

The other issues may be there wasn’t much contrast in the shots anyway….in Dungeness it was a very bright sunny day and I used the meter on my K100 as is.
Also I think the film could do with a bit more developing.

I then shot a test film of my guitar and bass against black and white backgrounds to check the contrast. This was Fomapan 100 shot at different speeds and I noted the shots where I beleieved the meter and others where I compensated using my sparse knowledge of the Zone system and my undersatnding of the meter reading grey.

This I developed for an hour in Rodinal 1+100 (5ml in 500ml) agitating for the first minute then 5 times at 30 minutes.

These shots turned out nicely without the need for any high contrast filter. They were shot at quite slow speeds so I probably will repeat the test with a tripod.

I particularly like this shot. I want to print it in the darkroom.

Pentax ME Super
Fomapan 100
Rodinal 1+50 for 7.5 mins

My studies in photography have been neglected due to work/studying. Come September I will do more.
Some rough scans from the shots in January, Ariadne and Dionysus.
I think they have come out beautifully.

This was from the same session as my self portraits. I love the feel of the picture, texture and emotion. It is both erotic and deep.

How to shoot myself without showing my face? The answer came while photographing Jo; use the sun face that lives on the bedroom wall. Jo had offered to assist and with the camera set up , whilst wearing a blindfold she shot a series of shots. Advancing the film and waiting until I had struck a pose. I could not tell whether I was centered and I hoped I wouldn’t chop my own head off. I think they came out rather well.

Here is another lo-fi scan that is just so lovely.

This is a very rough scan of a shot from the last but one film I shot. I don’t normally scan my negatives in and I can’t be bothered to invest more energy into discovering whether the scanner could do it better. I like the lo-fi quality and it enables me to get a glimpse of what is on the negative when I haven’t got time to go into the darkroom. I figure I need a minimum of 3 hours to do printing.

There was a small amount of time today to do some shooting. Jo as Ariadne and myself as Dionysus. The process was a joyful one except for wanting to carry on following our ideas and doing more.