terrapixels: travel and adventure photography

Building a Darkroom

2010-12-12T05:32:00.000-08:00

Let me start off immediately that this is by no means a definitive guide to building a darkroom. This is a project that has continuously evolved over the past five months or so. I was fortunate enough to come across some darkroom equipment for sale by a friend and well known portrait photographer, as well as a fantastic person all around.
He sold me his Zone VI enlarger, print washer, trays, chemicals and a spattering of other useful equipment to get my darkroom up and operational. I had to move this all in a 1995 Subaru Legacy sedan. Along with a dog. The only thing I couldn't fit at the time was a de-humidifier and drying screens. Since that time I have found the location in house to build my darkroom and how to build it.

First off, I looked online for ways to build a sink for my trays and spills from the trays. I found some fantastic instructions by rustee on how to build one. I've yet to try it, but I am hopeful.

Once the sink was in place (this is in my attic by the way) I could start planning the walls and plumbing, well walls anyway. I drew some plans and estimated the amount of lumber I would need, but after considerable thought and lack of money I looked for alternative methods to 1x4 inch lumber. I work at a Local Bike Shop so I have access to cardboard, big thick cardboard boxes. A gallon of Elmer's Glue, a few cheap brushes, a straight edge and a utility knife and several hours later:

I cut strips of cardboard at (approximately) four inches and brushed glue on one after until I had laminated boards four layers thick. All that had to be done after is cut to length and build the wall.

Next up: Enlarger table and door! Not exciting enough? Wait until the chemicals come out.

Enlarger table is done. I've added drying rack under the enlarger, two screens to help the fiber paper stay flat as they dry.

Here it is, the Zone VI on my table made from a reclaimed pallet. As you can see the screens fit nicely. I also happened upon a free micro fridge to store film and beer. Beer will be a new addition to my darkroom, as I've only ever used darkrooms on school property. Me thinks this is either a good idea or one that should be left to the waste basket of not too wise moves.
I'm in the process of designing the doorway and door along with plumbing and light leak blockage.

KY Jelly and Cameras

2010-02-13T01:10:00.001-08:00

I've recently been struck with photographers block, nothing is fun and everything I shoot tends to bore me and anyone looking at the photos. I thought it was time to pull out some of the old photographers tricks, such as smearing viscous fluids on a filter and shooting black and white film.
After an evening in the darkroom and several prints to look at over the weekend, I find myself refreshed and hopeful in the world of photography.

The train had just arrived in Aberystwyth and as I sat and watched the people disembark I shot a few and noticed that a man and his daughter were watching the train as if a family member, perhaps the girls mother, was leaving.

Walking around Aberystwyth I've become fascinated with the little covered alleys that lead to enclosed courtyards and gardens that are never seen. They offer up some mystery to the curious observer and often times bored photographer.

I didn't us the filter and lube on this picture of tree trunks, just a slow shutter speed and vertical panning. Maybe panning isn't the correct term as usually a moving object will be in the picture that is in some sort of sharp focus. Sweeping may be a better term for this.

Slow shutter and low ISO

2010-02-05T05:18:00.000-08:00

This image was me running into a flock of birds with a slow shutter speed and low ISO. I had hoped the birds would take wing, but they only hopped away.

I took Shorty on a walk and using a slow shutter and low ISO I panned him as he ran towards me.

The rocks and water of Aberystwyth, an ND8 filter and f/22 got some movement in the water.

I stacked some cheap macro tubes and set my 50mm 1.8 at f/16 on a windy day and shot a dry flower on the rocks above North Beach in Aberystwyth.

Sometimes using the camera in different ways can be liberating. Having an idea, however vague it may be, and then trying to realize it is to me one of the greatest uses for a camera. None of these may be fantastic pictures, but they were fun to make.

Central Australia June 2009

2010-01-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to keep a log of my travels and photography but it seems sometimes that I get caught up in the excitement of seeing a new place. That invariably leads to forgetfulness and a complete and utter lack of responsibility on keeping notes.
I was lucky enough to visit Uluru-Kata Tjutu and Watarrka this summer. I had a fantastic time taking pictures and lazing around in our Toyota Hi-Top camper van for several days.

This picture is Atila, or as William Gosse named it, Mt. Conner. It is quite common for visitors to mistake this flattop mesa as Uluru. Mt. Conner rises above the surrounding sand plain by more than 300 meters. It is in the Curtin Springs Pastoral lease, it is an important part of the Aboriginal peoples history and life.

Our trusty and comfy Hi-Top camper van. Hired through Apollo. It came with a fridge, gas top stove, microwave, sink and room for at least three people maybe four. It comes with a first aid kit (you will be charged for it if you use it) and a large on-board water tank.

Night photography at the local campgrounds can be fantastic. The colors were never dull the entire time there.

It is difficult to post a picture each day w/out a digital camera.

2010-01-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

I sent my 30d to Glasgow today for repairs ( Err 99). So now I'm using film again, or as my main source of photography. After leaving my camera in the care of Royal Post I took a gander in our local thrift store and found a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta with an extinction meter. Looks nice sitting on top of the Zeiss, but I think I'll stick with the Sunny 16 rule and try to remember everything I learned in school about f stops and ISO.

2010-01-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

Shorty had to visit the vet today. A little operation to lower his overriding urge to procreate. Sadly that is the picture for the day.

Blur for fun

2010-01-06T04:16:00.000-08:00

It snowed overnight, so up and out of the flat early today before it melts. As I was trying for some small depth of field pictures a couple out for a walk passed me. I took the chance to catch them on the path framed by large trees. As the in focus picture was boring, I though an out of focus would be worth a try.

2010-01-05T12:43:00.001-08:00

January 05

2010-01-05T12:41:00.001-08:00

January 04

2010-01-05T12:40:00.000-08:00

January 03

A photograph a day, or I need something to do...

2010-01-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

I subscribe to a photography blog that suggests doing a photo a day for a year. I've taken it to heart and decided I will give it a go. Maybe I can improve my photography, maybe I will suffer from it. Either way I started in January 1st on my Flickr page and will post them here as well. If I forget, please take me to task. If any one has ideas for future pictures you would like to see, let me know. Other wise it will be whatever I can come up with.
To catch up:

January 1st

January 02

Back in the Darkroom after a few years...or "striving to be famous"

2009-11-09T04:48:00.001-08:00

Food and Drink Fayre

2009-09-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Aberystwyth had a food and drink fair today, I went with the intent of taking many pictures of the wonderful food and the odd people. As it turned out I got three shots of a clown on stilts making balloon animals. The rest of the time was spent enjoying the samples of locally made cheese and alcoholic beverages. I wish, oh I wish that Aber would have this every week or at least twice a month.
So I'll leave a shot of some dried poppies that I took in my home made light tent. Got the instructions from over at DIYPhotography.

Results

2009-09-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Finally, as I promised. Some pictures I took using the broken filters:

Sorry about the lag between posts, but it happens sometimes. It seems that the mod was a success, so as soon as I get the word that I can use a dark room this fall, I'll have more chances to try the filter holder again.

UV filters ARE worth something!

2009-02-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

A lot of photographers are under the impression that UV filters are useful for protecting the front lens element. I used to subscribe to that, but they eventually just become dust collection filters on my desk, so I have finally found a use for mine. At one time I had a 55mm threade lens that I could use my Cokin filters on, but it came to a demise fitting with my careless attitude of equipment (I tend to drop my stuff). So, I've had these filters and the holder that would only fit on a 55mm lens and no lens to use them with.

Lately I've been infatuated with my 50mm 1.8 Canon lens that has 52mm filter threads, and have been shooting more black and white film. I really wanted to use my filters, so I've been on the hunt for a 52 to 55 step-up ring for the Cokins. I know I can order one online, but I don't like waiting (even though I could have had it two months ago) and it's much more satisfying to build a tool out of the detritus of a messy desk.

With that in mind today, I gathered together my two VERY worthy UV filters and a hammer. I then took these outside with the full intention of breaking the glass out, which I did very successfully. I would like to recommend using safety glasses of some sort, eye protection is great, especially if like me, you use your eyes for photography.

After the breaking of the glass and making sure the slivers of UV glass in my eyes were not serious enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room, I cleared a space on my desk to begin work, which is placing an old film envelope from the local one hour lab on my laptop keyboard.

This is a very critical point. Take time to be sure that the threads you will screw into the lens are not the threads that you put super glue on. Luckily I didn't make that mistake. Although I did glue my finger to my coffee cup. That isn't such a bad mistake, I like my coffee. Once I had the right sides glued, I place them together and waited a bit for the glue to cure. I don't know if the vapors from drying super glue can harm a lens element, but I didn't want to take that chance. Seriously.

I also don't know how long the glue will last, so eventually I will get something better. There also seems to be some light leakage between the metal rings. That may or may not have an effect on the pictures I take, probably not. I think it won't matter as my photography isn't in any class that requires perfection yet.

I took my camera out today and shot a roll of Ilford Delta 400 (about a week from now I should see results) with the red filter I have. I shot a roll of the Ilford c-41 film, just to see how it performs and a couple rolls of cheap Kodak 200 iso that the local one hour lab gives me with every processing order.

When I get results back I will post along with a shot of my now useful UV filters!

2008-11-03T04:35:00.000-08:00

Procrastination. Back from South Africa now for a couple months and it's about time to post some pictures. As this blog only let me upload these (could it be Safari?) I'll keep trying to load more. The warthogs were interesting, always putting their elbows on the table. I see sheep doing the same here in Wales. The baby hyena was a treat, it just layed there in the morning sun not caring one way or the other that we were 3 yards from it. An old bull elephant reaching up into a tree for some tasty treats and the morning pachyderm, our first morning in the park we took a drive with park rangers and were treated to this beautiful sunrise photo op. The leopard was by far the most exciting sighting. At this point the cat had come down off a large rock where it was trying to beat the midday sun. It walked within three yards of our rental car. So close my auto-focus quit working on my camera.

Going to South Africa

2008-08-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

I'm heading off to South Africa in a few hours, so there won't be any posts for my non existent faithful readers for some time. I'll leave with a few pictures from the trip to Scotland last week.

On going saga of moving to Wales

2008-08-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

So, I've been out of touch from the online community for over a month and more on this blog, I suppose a little catching up is due. AKZ and I made our trip over the pond and are finally settled in to our new flat, which is beginning to come together.

We spent the first two weeks in a caravan park in a trailer that had no hot water, a communal shower and bathroom that had hot water when every one else had gone to sleep or was too early for them to wake. The stove top worked, but the oven did not. And it rained nonstop until we moved to the flat down town. The good thing about the park is we had a great view of sheep and other caravaners.

Sadly no sheep in this picture. As you can see AKZ has nothing but full love of our temp home:

Now that we've redone the floors and walls there is no more smell of an old wet dog. Even the bathroom smells fine, though it is still a bit grimy. I won't share any pics of that as of yet. I still awake at night and start trembling from the thoughts of what lived under that mess.

I'll continue catching up now that we have the interweb going. It's quite strange that we can get braodband from a phone line that works just as good as a dedicated line...

Cheers!

2008-05-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

AKZ and I took our Buffalo canoe out on Lake Wilson yesterday, we used it as an excuse to drink a few cheap beers. As it turned out AKZ caught herself a few limbs and a largemouth bass (of which I have no picture).

Because I always have my camera with me, I'm always taking shot of AKZ while she isn't expecting it. I've now been instructed to let the ladies know if I am aiming the camera anywhere in their direction by yelling out "Camera ladies!" with a slightly effeminate tone in the style of one of the participants on a Bravo TV show. Yet, even with this fantastic preparation, I still manage to capture the "ladies" in bad form (in their opinion) with the inevitable response of "I look fat!", or "What's wrong with your fucking camera, asshole!".

So, in celebration of the "ladies" here is a perfect photo from the float out on the lake.

2008-05-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since my last post, but I haven't done anything or thought of anything worth mine or any one's time. Until this past weekend. I went canoeing with AKZ, Colin, Faith, their demon son Kirin (that's for you Faith) Jessica and Tato. Everyone wanted to fish, and when i say everyone that means Colin. The original float was planned for the Buffalo, but supposedly there are no fish on the Buffalo. So we went to the King's and of course got there around 2pm the day we planned on floating. Then we had to wait for a freak storm to pass by. No drownings or electrocutions here. So the float began around 3pm or so. A few strokes downstream I noticed a jeep on the riverbank. Either some idiot decided he could drive across the river or it was washed down after a huge flood.

Fish were caught and beer was drunk, though for some odd reason there were more fish being caught than there were beers being drunk. I think maybe as we all get older the more we hate feeling like crap. So a sober day on the river and then the storm hits us. I could see ten feet in front of the boat it was raining so hard. AKZ brought her rainjacket, so she was comfy. Just as the rain started to intensify, i noticed large plops in the water that looked like fish jumping. My infinite knowledge of fishing shows itself. It turns out we were being bombarded by hail the size of golfballs. Sorry no pictures of that, I brought my dive camera with me, which is film, so after using one roll and rewinding it i forgot that i was using film. I think the pro film people are correct in assuming that digital cameras dumb down the average photographer. So, no shots of monster iceballs from the sky or heavy rain. Just some fish and the people who caught them.

2008-05-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I went for a hike on the Buffalo River Trail this week. We spent Monday through Wednesday on the trail and covered a bit over 26 miles, most of that during the first two days. Wednesday was a leisurely walk of about 2.5-3 miles. For a more technical look at our hike check out AKZ's blog.

I spent most of the time shooting pictures and playing catch-up to Amanda. For this hike i took my EOS 30D and the 50mm 1.8 lens. No tripod, which shows on some of the shots, I'm trying to travel light these days.

The views could have been more majestic, but we got on trail about one week too late. The trees have all leafed out, blocking most of the river and bluff views. The view of Steel Creek though was fantastic, and little hints of the river from above were beautiful. There were so many flowers in bloom; dogwoods, trillium, May Apple, columbine (red & white), and many that I don't know. So goes my education in plant identification. It looks like a trip to Dickson Street Bookstore.

2008-04-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

We are trying to get our gear together today to go hiking on the Buffalo River Trail, but after seeing the low temp. for tonight (32F) we may be wussing out until tomorrow. Either way we expect to hike from Ponca to Pruitt in about four days. To the left is an old homestead across the river at Steel Creek campground. We camped here several years ago. I was lucky enough that day to see a wild hog, a razorback if you will.

2008-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Went to Fayetteville Springfest this afternoon with the intention of getting some good shots of the variety of people that seem to come out from under the rocks here. I ended up with two decent ones, one is the drummer and the other is the chair made from old bike wheels. The guy(i forgot to get his name) sitting in it works at Bike City.

I also talked to Terry Boyd, a local photographer, whose work i had noticed at a local organic eatery.

2008-04-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Springfest on Dickson St., so after going through my pictures of Fayetteville, i found some taken in Roger's Rec. If memory serves me well, this was when I was working on the old Ice Plant up by Magnolia Hair Co. The gemtleman in the green is Dennis, my boss at the time. Most likely this was our lunch break. We did the red iron on that building, so after a few bottles of beer, we would head indirectly back to the job-site and continue playing with high pressure/flammable gases, large amounts of electricity and heights.

There are many reasons why photography is a better choice for a profession. Have a great Springfest Fayetteville.

2008-04-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is Wonder Lake with Denali Mountain in the background. I spent the summer working at Lynx Creek Pizza in '99. Only got out to the main park once or twice.