Photography

Postcards from Padova

1 Comment

A slideshow of images taken on a recent trip to Padova, Italy. This was not really a photographic trip, although it was a chance to put the M262 (camera, not aircraft) through its paces following the six week long repair in Wetzlar. Padova is a fascinating city that is a microcosm of Italy. There are many contrasts: the old town and new developments, exemplary classical art and modern graffiti, young and old. You could easily spend weeks observing and photographing in this town, and still not run out of new […]

Read More →

Journalism

#VolemAcollir: Massive Protests in Support of Refugees in Catalunya

4 Comments

A set of images from #VolemAcollir – an immense protest organised in Barcelona in support of refugees. The main slogan “Prou excuses. Acollim ara” can be translated as “Enough excuses. We welcome now”. This reflects concern that the central Spanish government is not fulfilling its commitments to settling refugees, and also a recent call for Catalunya to provide even more direct support. After enduring months of watching the US and the UK slide into a mire of hard-rightwing xenophobia it is incredibly uplifting to see people here in Catalunya marching in support of […]

Read More →

Photography

Cripta de la Colònia Güell

Leave a Comment

Coloured windows at the Cripta de la Colònia Güell, just outside of Barcelona. Colònia Güell was an artificial community founded in 1890 that combined both living facilities with work in a factory producing textiles. It is an example of social changes at the end of the 19th century that increasingly led to the idea that providing for workers was both a social imperative as well as a means to improve production. The church for the site was designed by Gaudí and constructed between 1898 and 1915 using his trademark style that combines a […]

Read More →

Landscape

Fade to White

Leave a Comment

Mountain village and landscape. This was exposed for the shadows, and the more limited dynamic range of Delta film (compared to HP5+ or colour negatives) leads to this wonderful fade to white from the highlight roll-off, which is helped nicely by the beautifully subtle rendering of the distagon lens. Leica M7 with ZM 1,4/35 distagon and yellow filter on Ilford Delta 100 processed in DD-X 1+4 for 9 minutes at 24c.

Read More →

Photography

Sitges – and Lens Cast Corrections in Capture One

1 Comment

A short set of images taken on a walk in Sitges. Shot on digital using a 35mm lens and polarising filter.   Incidentally, the vignetting on some of these images is completely natural, although perhaps exaggerated slightly by the skies and polariser. The lens is a Zeiss ZM 1,4/35 (35mm f1.4), which is nice and small and incredibly sharp, but which pays for that to some extent with dark corners shot wide open – a common problem with Leica lenses shot on digital rather than film. Here is a gratuitous […]

Read More →

Landscape

Residence

1 Comment

An old mill (?) which has been restored and converted to apartments in Margno, Italy. It is a beautiful setting, but it reflects the sad trend where in Europe almost seemingly every change is towards property investment, tourism and upmarket coffee shops. Leica M7 with ZM 1,4/35 and yellow filter on Ilford Delta 100 developed in DD-X 1+4 at 24c, with noticeably less grain than the previous HP5+ images.

Read More →

Landscape

If a tree falls…

1 Comment

If a tree falls…?. The first of a new sequence of black-and-white film images, and also a new posting format with daily film shots combined with a longer pieces at the weekend. Taken with the Leica M7 with ZM 1,4/35 and yellow filter on HP5+ developed in HC-110 1+63 at a rather too hot ambient temperature of 27c. While I like the tree, for these images I am not a great fan of the grain that I am getting with this combination of HP5+, developer and temperature. Unfortunately, it is not easy […]

Read More →