An Altazimuth or alt-azimuth mount is a simple mount used for moving a telescope, camera, helostatic mirror, or solar panel along two perpendicular axes of motion, one vertical and one horizontal. The vertical movement is known as the altitude, while the horizontal motion is called the azimuth. (Wikipedia)
One of the greatest of words anyway!
My own internal alt-az mount is borked at the moment. I need to look up, down and around. My head is full of flu…
Altazimuth Pavillion
There are three broad aspects of film photography (for me). The first is common to all. Taking the photograph and all that entails. Being there. Visualisation, exposure, composition. Recognising the moment. Etc etc. Or just pointing and shooting. Whatever.
I have found that the wonderful thing about the next stage, ie developing my film, is not just the continuing control over the final image. I am finding that the process of developing film brings me unexpected peace of mind. Unexpected because of the anxiety and mystery that initially shrouded the process. It seemed to be a very difficult, complicated and risky thing to do. So many options reinforced a fear of failure and provoked a flight reaction.
One thing that changed all of this when I returned to film photography was the length of time it took the labs to process my exposed films and a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction when I finally viewed the results. If I did it all myself I would at least know it was me that was bolloxing the images, not the labs. And most importantly, I could do it quicker, instantly if necessary. That last point is very important for me. I want something and I usually want it now. I don’t do waiting very well, especially if aesthetic judgement is at stake. My anticipation levels are sadly hardwired to the cultural norm, ie instant gratification. Also, I want to see the results as soon as possible after the event so I can make an assessment of what is right and what is wrong, rather than what was right and what was wrong.
Now I look forward to the process and can’t wait to get back and develop the films. I look forward to the preparation. Laying out the tank, reels, Winchester bottles of chemicals and the other paraphernalia. Making a (by now hopefully informed) decision on which developer, what amount of agitation and how long to develop. Measuring and mixing the chemicals. Setting the timers. Warming/cooling the developer to 20C.
And so it goes. The sound of the film winding onto the stainless-steel spirals is such a pleasurable one, perhaps one of my favourite sounds. The film hisses as I load it onto the reel, giving aural feedback that it is seating in the spiral correctly. It is an aesthetic step-beyond the clunky plastic reels I started with and gives me some satisfaction not least because stainless-steel reels are generally regarded as harder to load. When I first started, my hands sweated and trembled in the dark bag, even though I had practiced for hours with an exposed film in front of the TV (with my eyes shut, natch – so much for TV) and knew I could do it in the dark. Now I look forward to it.
And the great moment arrives after the final wash when I hang the negs to dry (on a clothesline over the bath). There is an immediate inspection of the film rebate to check the letters and numbers are dark crisp and clear and then a quick inspection of the tonal range. Then I shut the door of the bathroom and wait for the negs to dry… waiting, yep. Can’t hurry this bit with my setup.
And of course sometimes what comes out the other end is absolute crap, which is disappointing. But not always, and only rarely has something gone horribly wrong because of the development process. It is such an opportunity to learn, learn and learn more.
The nearest analogy I can make is to the way I cook. Hell, even some of the terms are the same. The developer is called ‘the soup’. There are countless ‘recipes’.
I LOVE cooking but I haven’t looked at a recipe book for years and years. Cooking is such a creative process and our larder is often so near empty or full of random ingredients that the creative and experimental aspect is paramount. Usually with tasty results because I have been cooking like this for so long I am 100% confident. But I never stop learning and nor was I always so confident. I had to learn. Cooking is all about finding combinations you like – ingredients, flavours, textures, colours etc – much like getting a film from the visualised image to the print. There are so many options during the intermediate stages that can affect the result, good and bad depending on your personal taste.
The last stage, scanning, post-production and/or printing can wait for a later post…
And so to the final product.
Nearly right…
Why have such a supremely interesting open space and fill it with litter-bins and crap ‘street furniture’? One of those guys looks like he is dropping into the litter-bin, or rising out of it. I was even aware of it at the point of shooting. Next time I’ll try with the CV 21/4 for a wider angle and take the photo from the other side of the bins…
Old favourite
Of course, one of the things about cooking is that I continually return to old favourites. These are the arches between the covered footpaths in the Old Royal Naval College (I’m sure these covered paths have a proper architectural name). Bonus here is that I captured the couple holding hands. However, that wasn’t an accident. I’ve taken enough photos through these arches to know that human interest is needed so I just waited for the couple to get to the right place. It works for me anyway.
Another old favourite… benches
These just appeal to me for some reason. One of them is facing in the opposite direction. Who moved it and what were they doing? Would have been better if somebody was sitting on the bench facing the other way though..
Ingredients
Bessa-T, CV 28/1.9 Ultron. Fomapan 100. APH09 (Rodinal) 1+40, 7 minute, 10 seconds initial agitation, 2 gentle inversions every 30 seconds.
I’m beginning to notice something about the Fomapan. Either it is a dust magnet or the QC is crap. This only seems to happen with Fomapan, so I’m drawing my own conclusions. Very cheap it might be, but I can do without reconstructive post work.
Some sun! Hey, a real bonus, and getting lower in the sky as can be seen by the shadows. Mainly shot between f/8 and f/16.
Head full of cold
A mad puppy climbing all over me as I try and write this. Keyboard jealousy attention seeking…
by skinnyvoice
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