Experiments in Film Photograph - part 7

Hello, and welcome to part 7 of my experiments with film photography. This batch of photos were taken early in the summer with a new-to-me Pentax ZX-60, loaded with Kodak gold 400 film. The first image is of the spores on emerging fern fronds. The next is one of my favorite wild plants, wild blue lettuce.

The rest are images of my perennial gardens, now in their seventh year (although the first hardly counts, as I spent most of it fighting thistles and other undesirables).

The combination of decreased deer pressure, due to a rough winter and local deer management plans, plus incredibly abundant and well timed rainfall, has led to a spectacular year in the garden, despite the late frosts. Above is a peony about to burst into bloom, and below is Ligularia "Desdemona". It prefers a lot of moisture, wilting dramatically if it is lacking, so it's planted near a spigot.

Next is Brunnera macrophylla and Lamiastrum ‘Jade Frost’, with some assorted perennial geraniums. 

This is the second year for this Aesculus parviflora, bottlebrush buckeye, and I am delighted to find that it keeps this light green color throughout the summer.

Here are the irises, peonies, and baptisias in full bloom.

Ever year I think I should invest in peony support, but then I am charmed by the lavish way they droop and drop petals everywhere,

The oak leaf hydrangea, free from heavy browsing, really took off.

My asparagus is in its third year, so I was able to have a modest harvest before letting it start to grow out.

Last but not least, the Calycanthus ‘Aphrodite’ is getting huge and blooming abundantly.

I am very pleased with the camera. It's easy to use, for when I want to take a few quick snapshots without much fuss. The pictures have a bit of that warm vintage glow I love without taking it to extremes. I think I will be reaching for this one often.

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 105

Welcome to part 105 of my ongoing experiments with the wet cyanotype process. On this day I started with setting up a print on cotton of bottlebrush buckeye leaves. This is my second year growing this plant that's native to my region, and I'm enjoying the shape of the leaves and the light green color in the landscape.

Next I did a panel of oak leaf hydrangea, leather leaf viburnum, and Carolina allspice leaves. All of the prints in this day's session used standard cyanotype chemicals with small additions of solarfast solar dyes.

I also made prints on mineral paper with the same types of leaves.

Here are all the prints after exposure but before rinsing them out.

Printing on mineral paper is always so widely variable and unpredictable, and I love that about it.

Here are all the finished prints. I especially love the sense of flow and motion on the bottlebrush buckeye print. 

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Experiments in Film Photography - part 6

goatsbeard

Hello, and welcome to my occasional series where I try out different vintage film cameras and various types of 35mm film.

bear corn

For this set of pictures I used my Nikon N6006, one of my favorites for ease of use and quality of images.

wild senna and lamb's ear

The film is Cinestill 400d.

rhododendron blossom

This film is well-reviewed and appreciated for its versatility. It's a "fine-grain, daylight-balanced color negative film that delivers a soft color palette with natural saturation and rich, warm skin tones. The film has a wide dynamic range with a base sensitivity of ISO 400, but can be rated from 200 to 800 (without push processing) and pushed up to 3-stops. This makes the film highly versatile, usable both indoors or in the studio, under virtually any lighting conditions."

stachys monnieri

I enjoyed using it in various scenarios, and appreciate the rich tones of the set of photos I'm sharing here.

horse farm

However, I think its obvious from the rest of my work, both with film and especially with my main body of work in fiber, that I prefer a more exuberant color palette. 

sycamore roots

I am also admittedly a happy non-professional photographer, and very probably lack the knowledge base to use this film to its highest potential.

sycamore bark

So in summary, great film, happy I tried it, but it's a one-off for me. This is why I love to experiment, as I always learn something new I can apply going forward. 

fancy chickens

religious statuary

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 104

Hello and welcome to part 104 of my experiments with wet cyanotype. For this session I used leaves from columbine, brunnera, lamiastrum and cotinus. The first three pre-exposure layouts shown here are on cotton fabric. I mixed a small amount of various Solarfast chemicals in with the cyanotype.

I then did four layouts on 9 x 12 mineral paper using columbine and lamiastrum. This paper never fails to surprise and delight me with the way the chemicals flow and merge on it.

Here are the prints after exposure but before rinseout. There's a lot going on and at this point I am full of happy anticapation.

Here are the finished prints. Once again, this process is only partially under my control, as there are so many variables to account for--temperature, angle of sun in the sky, length of exposure, and the chemistry inherent in the leaves. 

And once again, I am delighted with the results. I hope you are too!

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