It stopped raining and then everything else went wrong . . .

[AnalogueWendy]

. . . but I quite like the image so I'll reprint it soon.

Last Monday it did not rain here in Oxford and I had promised myself to get my ancient wooden whole-plate outside.

This still feels like a challenge. The camera is wonderfully lightweight, but still cumbersome and I can't yet talk with interested passers-by AND remember all the steps to a decent exposure AND feel secure in the rear with my head under a dark cloth.

So I marched out into Oxford and tucked myself away behind this building to enjoy the beautiful shadows where the trees are not yet in leaf. Once I was set up someone came out to explain why I should not be there, but he was quite nice about it so I kept going. Then I closed the dark slide a little too quickly and heard the awful crunching noise that means one of my DIY film holders has let me down again .

This is the result and for me it's a keeper. Won't ever print well but I won't forget the experience either .

 

[AnalogueWendy]

Oops - forgot the details!
Whole-plate wooden field camera, 1890's ish (maybe)
WM Hurst Lens 8" f/7.5
HP5 5x7 in Bellini Hydrofen
Contact printed under a heavy sheet of glass onto Ilford Multigrade RC (using an old flash pointed at the ceiling)

 

[Ian-Barber]

I quite like that, the whole image coupled with the story to me is what makes it a keeper. I am liking the contact prints, I must get myself motivated and try to master that process

 

[thronobulax]

<SNIP>

This is the result and for me it's a keeper. Won't ever print well but I won't forget the experience either .

Photographs have a powerful ability to kindle rememberance. It's interesting that you had this experience at Oxford. I have a photograph hanging in my office I took at Oxford probably over 20 years ago. Every time I look at it, I am transported back to that day, that camera (a Hasselblad in this case), the fine pub ales, and why I was even in the UK at all. All of this makes me smile.

I am with @Ian-Barber on this. The story makes the image compelling, notwithstanding the technical issues. May you always smile when you see it...

 

[karlt]

Oxford is a beautiful city, pain in the a to get to and park. Might have to book a day out

 

[Reginald S.]

Obvisiously we are seeing master's of the gravity jumping through your photograph.
And now have a deeper look at Schroedingers cat nearby the corner - she isn't there !
Finally your picture could be the missing evidence for the next level of quantum mechanics.

Love it

 

[Ian Grant]

I have a Russian 35mm enlarger you can have as a light source for contact printing, fits in its original slim case, small and light. I was given it last year and said I'd pass it on to someone who could use it.

Ian

 

[AnalogueWendy]

Thank you Ian, I think I am due a visit to Kidderminster We were going to try my big lens on one of your 10x8s too. I'll message you.

 

[nickl]

I have been in France this week with my half-plate and homemade tripod. A French jobsworth at Carcassonne came out wagging his finger as I was setting the tripod up. He reluctantly gave me 15 minutes, which isn't really long enough. Under pressure I usually forget something, or make a mistake, so I can appreciate your position. What do you think caused the three light leak like rays radiating from a single point ?

 

[AnalogueWendy]

What do you think caused the three light leak like rays radiating from a single point ?

Those are not light leaks (although there are some of those too) The sheet film must have caught when I closed the slide on the wooden film holder and the film got crunched up. I add a bit of tape along the top of the film in this particular holder but clearly that was not enough this time. Those are creases in the film which then did not develop correctly. I realised what had happened as soon as I opened the film holder but loaded it into the orbital tank anyway. I'm glad I did!
I hope there is a suitably picturesque french term for 'jobsworth'. I have recently been asked to provide my public liability insurance to take photographs in an Oxford college - and will do so!

I've been told London has a blanket ban on tripods that goes back many years. I wonder whether it is still true? My beasts need sturdy scaffolding so my tripods are all very obvious.
It's hard for anyone (outside our families!) to really understand how long these photographs take to make, the degree of concentration required to complete the process and, finally, how harmless we truly are!

Did you get any results you are pleased with in France?

 

[David M]

I don’t think there’s a blanket ban in London. A tripod can be quite a large obstruction on a busy pavement, so you may be asked to move. And there are jobsworths everywhere. One thing to remember is that some places which seem to be public spaces are in fact privately owned.
Tripods were one forbidden in Royal parks, but that was a move to discourage tintype sellers, who had apparently became a nuisance.

 

[nickl]

I have recently been asked to provide my public liability insurance to take photographs in an Oxford college

It seems that's the first mention on this site of a need for insurance. The Oxford college presumably wants to know that there won't be a problem if someone trips over one of your tripod legs whilst not watching where they're going, and makes a claim against the college. Perhaps that's for a separate thread, to ask who has taken out PLI cover ? (I haven't).

 

[David M]

Public liability seems to be common for professional working. We might guess that Oxford colleges have had considerable previous experience of professional practice, including Morse and Lewis and have a standard form of contract.