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10/12/2004 Entry: "New Nymph Play"

The threatened showers didn't amount to much over the weekend and Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day. I was out on the road soon after sunrise, headed out to meet with a new model at a park along the Potomac. From her description of the place and a few photos she'd sent of the location, I'd had visions of an interesting landscape with some fine possibilities for exciting shots along the river. Reality was a bit different, more your generic suburban wooded park than dramatic vistas with sun warmed rocks and mighty trees. We did find some places to play, moving through the park to chase the morning sun's motion and seeking some shelter from a slightly chill breeze.

I can't say for sure until I get into the darkroom tonight, but from a glance at the negatives I think we got a few winners. I do know already that one of the pinholes is destined for printing in an alt-process. That slight breeze stirred the flowing gauze costume just enough to make some pinhole magic.

A bit nervous, and very shy and quiet, the model was quite fun to work with. It was her first time modeling for another photographer, though she had played with self portraits. It took some coaxing and kidding to get her face to break into a smile, but when it did .... oh my, the difference it made in her appearance.

technical blather follows:

Pinhole images shot with homemade 4x5 wooden box, using Arista Pro 125 rated @ 64 and developed in Xtol 1:1 for 9.5 minutes. Two pinhole images made with Arista.EDU 200 rated @ 200, same development. This was first time with the EDU film and in the future I'll shoot it at 100, as the shadows lacked a bit of detail.

Two rolls of Ilford HP5, rated at 400 and developed in Xtol 1:1 for 11 minutes. Getting closer to the right time for this film but may try knocking 30 seconds off development for next rolls, as well as giving a touch more exposure. Rate it at 320? Dropping a full stop to 200 would be overdoing it, I think. I'll see how these rolls print before making a decision.

One roll Kodak HIE, through red #25 filter. Still looking for right exposure in shaded woodland setting but opening up two stops might have given me enough to print some decent images.

One roll Ilford Delta 400, still awaiting development.

Posted by GerenM @ 10/12/2004 08:33 AM ET

Although I don't use the same Xtol developer as you, I'd agree about shooting the Arista.EDU film at 100 instead of 200. I've been doing some work with their 120 roll film.

Regarding the HP5, to me, the beauty of that film is the ability to push it. Although I've lost the processing notes, when I was shooting with it on a daily basis, I would routinely shoot at 800 or 1600, and develop in either HC110 or Acufine and get wonderful results with great tonal range and contrast, with negligable increase in grain. At any rate, HP5 is a wonderful film.

A friend has recently been shooting their newer Delta emulsions with even better results.

Posted by GerenM @ 10/12/2004 08:25 AM ET