If You Go Down To The Woods Today…

Black And White Photography, David, Photography

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These two Chevys reside at the edge of the woods on my Brother-in-Laws farm. They are restoration projects waiting to happen . No doubt they will get  the treatment they deserve soon as he is in the process of building a gas station with period pieces on a plot by the outbuildings. I hope he completes it at some point. It would be a shame to see these vehicles go to waste.

Camera :Leica M9P

Lens : Summilux 35mm f1.4 asph.

Post : Silver Efex Pro 2 and a little PS.

“He Was Nothing But A Pawn.”

Black And White Photography, David, Photography

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The winters here in the frozen north are long and dark. I don’t ski so I have to think of things to occupy my mind. This is a little table top fun with my Hasselblad 203FE with the Carl Zeiss 80mm F2.8 FE mounted on an 32E extension tube. Taken on my fav black and white film Rollei 80s stand developed in Caffenol for 50 mins at 20℃ with agitation for only the first minute and then left to rest in a water bath for 49mins.

Here’s the Recipe
Make one litre
Washing soda (Stabil) 16gr/l
Vitamin C (Santa maria) 10 gr/l
Potassium Bromide 1gr/l
Instant Coffee 40gr/l
Inversions for the 1st minute and then left to stand for 49mins
Stop and fix as usual
More details on Caffenol here
davidapw.wordpress.com/caffenol/

The Reluctant Urban Explorer

Black And White Photography, David, Photography

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When I posted my first guest post here at Monochromia I said that I did a little UrbEx.  Let me explain.

It all started with me seeing some shots from a local abandoned psychiatric hospital.  They were taken by a mate, also a photographer who lives almost as a neighbour to the building.  He invited me along on a shoot and it scared the hell out of me.  That is why I don’t do this kind of thing too often.  My disposition is on the nervous side.  When I do this kind of shoot I just have to concentrate so hard that it’s mentally exhausting.  If I stop to think where I am, I’d run, and run fast.  It’s a horror film waiting to happen.  However after a few days I just want to do it again. It’s a strange kind of drug, if that’s not too strong a word for it.  At least I got a few good shots before It all got a bit too much for me 🙂

Camera:- Leica MP

Lens: – Nikkor 20mm f2.8 manual focus lens on a Novoflex LeiNik adaptor.

Film: – Ilford Xp2 at ISO 400 exposure about a quarter of a second.

The Reader

Black And White Photography, David, Photography

The ReaderThe title should read “Never think you are finished for the day.”

The picture above, “The Reader” is an example of that. I’d spent the morning taking pictures while on a visit to the city of Bergen here in Norway. The weather was cloudy and it was raining, which will come as no surprise to people that live in Norway.

I’d kind of given up for the day after taking some lackluster shots while walking the streets. I was looking forward to lunch. We ended up at a restaurant famous for its Fish soup. While waiting for our order (It was lunchtime and the place was busy) I noticed a lady sitting by the window reading. The light was perfect. I slowly raised my Leica MP and shot off a couple of frames of Ilford XP2 between the shoulders of my friends sitting opposite me.

The result…well you can judge for yourselves.

So, as I said never think you are finished for the day 🙂

 

Talking to the Priest

Black And White Photography, David

Talking to the Priest

This shot is one of my very latest. People are what really fascinate me. I’m a lazy photographer and I just stand in one place while the family shops and wait for the world to pass by my lens. However owning a Leica will not turn you into Henri Cartier Bresson overnight, I’ve miles of film and hundreds of digital images to prove it.  However if you work at it, occasionally some magic happens, like this shot. I love the body language, and the facial expression of this lady talking to the local priest. Taken in Chios, Greece where I spent my summer holidays this year.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

More of my images can be seen at – My Photographic World

 

 

Guest Post – David Williamson

Black And White Photography, David, Photography

David Williamson is the fourth photographer in our guest post series . Along with shooting digital David also still admires film photography. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Nikon FE2 which I owned and was the aperture priority sister camera to Davids fully manual Nikon FM2.  Some of the best photos I have ever taken were with that camera.

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My name is David Williamson. I am a Brit who has lived in Krokstadelva, Norway for the past 20 years.  I would like to thank you for inviting me to contribute as a Guest to Monochromia.

I’ve had an interest in photography since the early 70’s but it was not until the 80’s that I got around to doing something about it. That’s when I purchased my first real camera, a Canon EOS 600.  That didn’t last long though, and I swapped it in for a Nikon FM2 which I still own and use to this day. The digital medium is not easy to ignore these days and it seems everyone has one, so I also shoot with a Nikon D800 and a Leica M9P.

I have a very eclectic film camera collection and at any given time depending on the mood I am in I will shoot on any of the cameras in this collection.  Sometimes the deciding factor is the availability of film for that particular model.

What do I like shooting?  People are my first love whether it be on the street or at family gatherings. I also have a mate who drags me around to a lot of derelict places to take shots of too. The whole Ubex thing interests me, however It’s creepy walking around alone in an old psychiatric hospital so I don’t do it often.

I love film, and black and white is a passion. My favorites are Ilford XP2 and Rollei 80s and T-max 100. I’ve recently tried Adox CMS 20,which impresses me. That said I don’t have a darkroom so I adopt a 50-50 approach of developing myself, and scanning the negatives on my Epson V700. I print my favorites off on my newish Epson 3880 printer using Adobe Lightrooms print module.

This picture was taken of my son some 20 years ago, only 10 minutes old and as you see he was in an incubator. It was taken on my FM2 with Ilford Xp2

Well thanks for giving me your time.  Now go out and shoot something 😀

When you come back you can check out my blog here – My Photographic World