The Lost Mill

I couldn't find this one on my own
(I didn't even know it existed)
but my guide Jeroen knew this
1745 built "Hernense Molen",
problem solved.
Чайка-2 in the sunday-rain,
on 1993 Тасма ФН64,
in seventies phen/hydr Реактив.

Rollnacht (3)

 Okay, Rollnacht, also. Zum Spazieren war es mir schon zu heiss, aber kucken ging noch, gerade. Sommerstimmungsvoll. Ältere Herren mit Bauch und junge Mädchen mit Haha.
Das alles mit der alten Werra 2, auf Тасма ФН der sich im Russischen Phenidone gut benimmt!

Rollnacht (2)

Morgen mehr Bilder von der Rollnacht, aber dieses Bild, 20 Uhr,
37 Grad, fasst diesen Sommerabend gut zusammen.

Sommerabend

32 Grad und ich sitze am Rhein. Der Paganini spielt angenehm sanft Offenbach und mehr, ich habe die einzige Parklücke in ganz Oberkassel gefunden: die Welt ist in Ordnung.
Hinter mir schlägt Lambertus neun, vor mir setzt sich das erste Opfer der Rollnacht aber ein Eis heilt seine blutige Knie.
Und nachher geniesse ich die Kirmes, jeder macht das auf seine Art, mit der Freundin oder wie ich, mit Schashlik.

E All pictures 1/20 sec,
 on terrible Tasma, 
50 and 90 Elmars on the Frankenstein

H&W CONTROL (4daagse 3)

Testing this Very Thin 1976 Emulsion behind the Very Sharp Linhof/Rodenstock in Very Fine Russian phenidone/hydroquinone. Okay: (Agfa-)backpaperfog. Very Nice weather, though.

4Daagse (2)

"In mijn ouwe Opel had ik altijd een hamer bij me" zeg ik. Zegt de man van de SuperSnipe "startmotor, zeker." Bij de oldtimers in Wijchen.
In de binnenstad feest als altijd, en mooi weer dit keer. Prima.


E In the Smena my last 1973 FP3, but this time developed in fine grain Russian and as I expected: no fog, nice, crisp and clear. How did they do that!

The 2013 New Year Lecture...

 Working with old developer

This won't be a nice, in-depth tutorial, because it is still very much work in progress, but nevertheless...
You all know by now that I love to use old stuff: cameras and film, but also chemicals. (I use that word because I once had Russian seventies фиксаж... hà!)

Normally I use reliable Rodinal, at the moment "Promicrol" (the q.m. because it's not real Promicrol any more, alas), but if I can get it: Tabloid, Реактив (great stuff!), Montauk - the older the better.

Yes, there are some problems.
Fluids, like Tetenal Neofin, tend to disappear into thin air - and they don't work.



But the powders - the only problem, sometimes, is to get them out of the tube, or the envelope. When that is difficult, I just put everything (yes: developer, activator, glass, paper and stoppers) in the water, wait (leave it covered in the dark) and filter it. Works.

Wòrks? Yes, they work. Young seventies РЕАКТИВ or a century old   
Eastman, they will develop your film. The solution can be clear, cloudy or dark brown - that doesn't matter.

Developing time: I follow the decades old instructions. (! That's not me...)

Mostly I make 500 ml, and use that for let's say 4 or 5 films, but it dies rather suddenly - and in fact I am happy when I get one or two films out of it.

Dating: yes, that ìs a problem. The Ucrainian stamp it on, nice. Sometimes there is a manual with names of film, or the firm still exists. Often it's just educated guessing.



But always: surprise, satisfaction. Admiration, too. FUN.

Осень

Also: Wild.
Wie in "Wildblaubeermuffin". Oder "Wildwandern", denn das Spazieren durch Neu-Düsseldorf wird immer wilder. Macht nichts, bei dem Wetter!
Auf der Autobahn richtung Nijmegen wird's nòch wilder: kriechend lande ich in Venlo - da war ich schon lange nicht mehr. Hat meine Mutter noch gewohnt.
Und zuhause mach' ich mich schliesslich an die Arbeit: Hirschgulasch mit Pilzen. Wild.

Und bei Heinemann wird das Schaufenster heute zurechtgemacht für Rudolf...

В складной 1954 Москве-2 war heute ein fast problemloser GP3, nachher in 1976 Реактиве

1949

The camera: Argoflex EF, the metal one, from 1949. I ripped the 620 cradle out and now use it (mostly) with 120 film.

But not today: Ansco Triple S pan, because it's also 1949 and still is fine! I cut one sheet to fit, it's curly and foggy but so am I.

The house: also changed over the years, but still the house were I was born. In 1949.

Düsseldorf international

Es ist 24° in Düsseldorf, also sitzen wir draussen. Alle - wo und wie auch immer.
Ich mach' mir eine serata italiana.
Dunque: bruschetta e pinot grigio sulla Königsallee. Spuntino perfetto al ristorante Buongiorno.
Poi la Johanneskirche. Non ero mai stato dentro, e non mi piace affatto.
Ma la coppa "after eight" con caffè Segafredo, il mio preferito, da Vecchio, è buona come sempre.

So: great Italian food in NRW Düsseldorf; in my American 1949 Argoflex was some Belgian 620 from the sixties, developed in 1976 Ucrainian Реактив.

OMG / OMG

Heute zweisprachig, denn was seh'ich auf dem LKW?
More than a Werkstatt
Wie bitte?! Und wàs "more"? Internationale Buchhandlung?

Apfel-Nut bei Starböck, weil die immer so nett sind. Der Clown spricht jede Sprache und im Wodka ist Blattgold (wiesooo?)

Mein Школьник leckt immer noch, aber das hatte ich damals auch (und das werde ich nicht weiter erklären). Also ist das Photo gecroppt/cropped.

1966 Then and now

Same place, same month, same man - well, still very much a boy, then. Different camera: I just had changed from Russia to Japan, then. And now I'm back in the USSR - and that doesn't exist any more.
 More or less: Happy Birthday mr. Putin!
The (still leaking) Школьник is performing very well (: I can read "latte macchiato" on Martin's Place as good as "rondslag verboden", so golfers beware!), as is the Soviet 1976 developer.

The Slave

Toothache?
No: important phone call.

Школьникы

Noooo - nòt the chocolate bisquits! The kids, of course. Ànd my 1966 Школьник. With a problem: a rather strange leak.
Or is that the infamous ShanghaiGP3 again? Even in 1976 Реактив causing problems?
I'll keep you informed.

BTW this детский фотоаппарат can also produce "grown up" photography...

Geography

Okay, children, attention please.
The Horizon 202 was made around 1991 in Krasnogorsk, and that is Russia.

The Tasma 250 film was made before 1990 in Kuybyshev, now Bolgar, and that is Tatarya.

The Reaktiv developer was made before 1976 in Lviv, and that is Ucraina.

For the technicians: I had the "slow speed", wide open (because that produces almost no banding) at F2,8 in the evening sun. The film has the usual problems (as you can see, and I don't mind).

Sunday

Early morning, empty house, light and shadow.

Elmar 9cm, in the Frankenstein I underexposed 1989 AgfaOrtho, in Реактив.

4 Days Marches Чаика

Not really a test, the Olympus film was in Eastman VSOP, and this Chaika film in fresh seventies Реактив, so let's not compare, just say that the little 1970 Chaika is not bad at all! Better than expected - like the weather this week.

Pontoon-bridge 2012

Tradition: 4Days-thursday: the pontoon-bridge near Cuyk. Always interesting, this year again the weather was friendly (I love pontoon-bridges in the rain!) but so were the girls who served coffee and a cream-muffin (whàt?!)



On my old ФЕД-2 was a younger Industar, I put the 1973 Ilford fearlessly in seventies Реактив. 

20° Frühling!

Gutes Schuhwerk ist angesagt denn die Bahn streikt mal wieder, und danke der Nachfrage, ja, das Knie funktioniert wieder tadellos.
Aber dann schafft spanischer Wein was Водка Калиновая nicht schafft: der Marques Alella haut mich um. Madrid in der Bolkerstrasse. Lècker!
Pause.
Drei Segafredo bei Vecchio in der Marktstrasse bringen mich, mehr oder weniger, auf die Beinchen.
Und zuhause zeigt sich der Реактив ein Jungbrunnen für den Свема65.

1982 Свема65 in the Салют, 8 mins developed in rather old Реактив: crisp and clear, a bit contrasty and the sticky paper had dried out but I thought of that!

Pzziew...

Testing the 1982 Agfa Optima Sensor Flash Electronic (Shakespeare...) with fresh Ilford FP4plus. I hate that sensor button, (no click, but pzziew) and I am very disappointed by the FP4, in old Реактив. Very nice weather, though!