I can’t resist a broken brolly, especially in such a dramatic setting. A broken brolly implies some sort of drama anyway.

There are plenty of benches on the roll

Gizmo bottom left

Steps… to nowhere?

Now that I’m keeping my eye out for bricked-up doors and entrances I seem to see them everywhere

Greenwich Park

Silk Mills Path

Silk Mills Path

Near The Dome (The 02)

Here is a door without a doorway, a kind of reverse filled in door

I was using a medium red filter on the Summicron to photograph some dramatic sunset clouds from Point Hill but took this of Kate facing the sunset. It looks like she is the spectator at a nearby nuclear explosion, or at least sitting there with a red-top shining in her face. Interesting effect, almost Trente Parke esque and no post-processing was necessary. Flattering it isn’t though.

More Dickensian and creepy is this lamp-post against the wall of the tennis courts in Greenwich Park. No illumination from the lamp-post although it does remind me of a stage or film set. Unreal.

Inside the park things are more picturesque

Earlier during the day I was photographing St Paul’s Church in Deptford. I’m stretching the definitions here but these two doors have a light and dark aspect, the dark doorway even has a light above it.

Hey, one of them is even bricked up! Score double.

It was an exceptionally bright day though with strong shadows cast by the afternoon sun. This window is surrounded by dappled brickwork

There are some serious steps in this church

In complete contrast (hehe) later on in the evening I got this shot of the walkways on an estate I can never remember the name of

The shots were taken on the Leica M6 with the Summicron 35/2 IV souped in T-Max Dev for 6 minutes. I had to develop four films so used a four reel tank for the first time. The most obvious problem was the real estate in my changing bag was a bit tight.

I’m lying actually, I only had three films exposed… when I came to rewind the fourth I realised I hadn’t loaded it into the M6 properly so nothing was exposed. Naturally I only found this out when I came to ‘rewind’ the film after 36 carefully framed shots of a lifetime and hey ho f*ck f*ck f*ck!

I initially thought the film had jammed and then broken (my first thought is to blame the film, never my cack-handed loading of it). I’m usually obsessive about making sure the rewind is moving counter to its direction as the film is advanced too.

We live and learn. Film mistakes can be very harsh

I assume the window glass is really high quality because it is not easy to tell which side is real and which is the strange mirror world. Sometimes there are obvious clues though…

Due to the angles of the building and the fact that the mirrored windows bleed right to the edge there can be a strange hall of mirrors effect

To me this looks uncommonly like the blueprint for some really appallingly cheesy futuristic ecclesiastical building, like churches from the end of the 20th century. How did new churches come to look so back-to-the-future Dan Dare dated. It is not as if church architects haven’t had practice at innovation over the last millennia.

Gizmo was arrested outside Laban and ejected. No dogs are allowed to crap on their manicured lawns. Ho hum.

More prosaically, while having a coffee outside a cafe on Royal Hill, I took a photo of the juxtaposed reflections in the window.

And a bit further down the road this door appealed to me

I pretty sure this cafe was closed despite saying ‘open’.

This shop window has no reflections but I’m adding it because I can

Loving it…

WTF is all that about?

Silk Mills Path, Lewisham

This next one isn’t filled but it is an arch (well ‘ish’, upside down anyway).

Wurlitzer juke box between Creekside and Deptford Church St, Deptford

This chair is not abandoned yet in the official sense but its existence is precarious

Royal Hill, Greenwich

A bit of a mixture really…

I am beginning to notice bricked up doors and arches. Lots of them. Especially when I stretch my imagination.

And then I hit beautiful recursive paydirt. Under the railway arches between Deptford station towards London Bridge there is a series of bricked up arches between the arches. They used to link the spaces in between. I’m publishing some of them below

The photos under the railway arches were taken in the evening and the light was fading, so shutter speeds were a bit slow. They were shot on Tri-X at box speed and developed in T-Max Dev 1+4 for 5 minutes, usual agitation.

The first and third photos were shot on FP4+ developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 mins, 30 secs initial agitation and 2 inversions every 30 seconds subsequently. The light was very harsh and contrast high.

However… I did end up photographing some of the same things so I thought I’d post them. Small web images aren’t the best for comparison but I found it interesting anyway.

Laban through an arch FP4+ Rodinal 1+50 14 mins

Laban through an arch Tri-X T-Max Dev 6 mins

This one is not a comparison except for the view, which in this case is in an oblong frame

Note the tide reach in these photos.

The next two show the differences in the light.

Graffiti on a bridge  FP4+ Rodinal 1+50 14 mins

Graffiti on a bridge Tri-X T-Max Dev 6 mins

The following is above the graffiti

Some other miscellany from the last couple of days

There is plenty of interesting graffiti around Deptford Creek

And as a counterpoint, here is some “impressionist” wisteria, with authentic scratches on the neg, grrrrr.

I’ve been using these combinations of emulsions and developers now fairly consistently and I’m pleased enough with the results to standardise on them. FP4+ with Rodinal (1+50 by choice) and Tri-X with T-Max Dev. I need to watch the contrast with the Rodinal combo, particularly with the Leitz Summicron 35/2 IV.

There is a little shrine that I’ve noticed before and there has been some activity recently.

The ground is carpeted with cherry blossoms creating some ambiguity. I’d like to know more about it.

And there are of course the graves which for me are endlessly fascinating. I grew up near a graveyard and used to spend time there looking at gravestones from the 19th century which seemed old even then. I spent long hours reconstructing dead people’s lives – in my mind they were like the awful Tulliver aunts and uncles at the beginning of The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.

There was a long line of graves from the same family. I can even remember their name – Pennyfeather. Likewise the inscription – ‘Sacred to the memory’. The inscription sticks in my mind because for some years (yes, years…) I read it as ‘Scared to the memory’ which although it makes no sense, caused me huge concern for quite a long time. Enough so that we would never actually step on the graves. It was an epitaph that demanded respect. Obviously something unspecified and awful must have happened to the Pennyfeathers which could just as easily happen to us if we even touched the stones.

But I do like looking at gravestones still, although now I try to make sure I read them properly

Was this woman really called Phebe Savory Johnson? Or did she marry a Johnson? Whatever, Phebe Savory is a very cool name. Johnson is less cool and apologies to all Johnsons.

This looks like a favourite combo for me – a stairway made of graves. If you look carefully Gizmo is lurking in the bokeh.

In some places the fence around the graveyard is striking, rampart like and a curious reflection of the stones.

There is a basketball court in the graveyard too. I kind of like this juxtaposition of angles and leaves.

The photos were taken on the M6 with a Summicron 35/2 IV. Tri-X (box speed), souped in T-Max Dev for 6 minutes, 2 agitations every 30 seconds. Most of these photos were taken with an 060 yellow/green filter on the lens.

The day was spectacularly bright and sunny and warm and there is a real sense of dislocation from busy deptford just around the corner

Obviously you have to get past the Guardian of Point Hill first

Gizmo looking fierce

Once up there we can enjoy the view

From Point Hill we usually walk through Greenwich Park. Today was particularly good because somebody was playing the saxophone at the top of the hill

I recognised the music, I’ve heard John Coltrane playing it many times but I can’t remember what the title is. These guys didn’t speak a word of English either which made it difficult to find out. It could have been Naima. Whatever, it was haunting and beautiful, one of my all time favourite sounds

Sometimes I see unexpected things such as this junction box looking festooned and gorgeous

Or these leaves catching the light in a really horrible brick alley

This table fascinates me and I’ve photographed it before. It is in the garden of a derelict house but looks ready to be laid for a meal.

Following this, we went up to Parliament Square to photograph the Tamil independence demo (below)

Some people leaving the demo

Which left me with a shedload of films to develop…

Oh well, time to go out again, tis another sunny day in London hehe

Without the colour (see below) we are looking for something else and the emotional intensity is what comes through.

There were many children and young people active at this demo. Incredibly photogenic too.

Another of Prarameswaran Subramaniyam in his tent

Some flags, one unexpected.

The F4S and Tri-X is a PJ’s dream combo. I much prefer these images to those below. The colour has obvious interest and the Nikkor 24-70/2.8 AFS renders beautifully but for me the shots above are simpler to understand and more engaging.

Higher res photos are at snapsthoughts.com

Lower res gallery on this site

Point Hill is surrounded by bars, the spiky sort.

And in most shots, with the angle of this lens being so wide, these spikes intrude.

This rope hanging from this tree is vaguely ominous, it was more obvious in ‘real life’. Gizmo had dug a large hole under the bench. Tis a work in progress since he makes a beeline for it when we walk past each time

And finally… somewhere to kickback and watch the rope

Tri-X box speed, souped in T-Max Dev for 6.5 mins. Yay, there has been plenty of sun this week but here am I shooting ISO 400. So shoot me…