I grew up by the seaside, Great Yarmouth is nearly as far East as you can go without falling into the North Sea, if you want to go to the exact Easterly point then you have to visit Lowestoft or nearby. My memories of growing up are varied, but so many revolve around the seafront and the main poad to the town called Regent Road. Wandering along past endless amusement arcades you would be bombarded by stands of postcards, postcards were a huge deal……”dont forget to send me a postcard” would be the last words before setting off on a seaside holiday. These days a few posts onto FB not only tells ..read more

OK so its been three years since part 1, I’ve made postcards in the darkroom since that time but not made another blog post, not made many blog posts really but the medium remains a wonderful outlet to express the occasional thought paired with images. Pretty much all I share on social media these days are scanned prints made in the darkroom, this relatively new approach has slowed me down a bit and made me less anxious about the idea that I have to immediately share new work to social media My darkroom has a few piles of ‘project negatives’ which I plan to dive into now that the short days ar ..read more

Before Covid made the world crazy I took along my RB67 and some FP4 and documented the walk of witness in Warboys. The Rector led some Parishioners along the High Street , pausing to sing hymns and pray in a public demonstration of faith during the most significant week in the Christian calendar. Pausing by shops hymns were sung and passers by invited to join in. A wooden cross was carried by various folk on the 1/2 mile walk through Warboys to the Parish Church. Once at the Church some more prayers and hymns. It was a good job I’d decided to bring along a camera that was stealthy and did ..read more

When we first started looking for acommodation in Athens our first instinct was to find a hotel – buy boy were they expensive, especially in Atlanta which was to be our base for the second week. We had never used Air bnb till then, but hey, it was certainly cheaper and the place we found was about a mile from downtown Athens and staying with a family, Jenny, Julio and Melina (plus a dog and a cat). Air bnb places can be as impersonal as hotels or as ‘family immersive’ as Jenny and Julio’s place in Odd Street. “If you dont want to be part of the family please don’t book with us”. Turning up an ..read more

We hadn’t planned a second trip to the USA within a year of our 23 day road trip but, when moments or opportunities like this arise then I guess you have to grasp them. It’s a bit confusing as our Daugter is called Georgia and she had decided she wanted to spend a Semester in Georgia (USA) to see how they studied Philosophy and Sociology and of course, go on a big adventure away from home, by herself, for the first time. We touched down in Atlanta Airport mid September 2017 and picked up our rental car to head off to our Air BnB in Athens (the home of REM if you didn’t know). Always wanting to ..read more

Here is a bit about the excellent company that is ORWO (Original Wolfen – or something like that) from their website. “ORWO produces a wide range of high quality photographic film products at its factory in Wolfen, Germany, on the site where motion picture film has been manufactured since 1910. ORWO continues innovative development in film technology, which has been a feature of the brand since 1964. As leading producers of black and white motion picture film, FilmoTec market ORWO products worldwide. These are renowned by their many customers for their technical excellence. Fil ..read more

Windows 11 played havoc with my Epson Scan software that I have been using to digitise negatives. And let’s be clear, I hate, with a passion, scanning. Well, scanning negatives in particular. Mostly I think it’s because I get so frustrated with the technology and my inability to do what I do in the darkroom. I know, you can replicate it all in the “lightroom” but I have no passion for it. Losing the ability to scan negatives has been liberating. It wasn’t at first, my instinct was to purchase something called Silverfast SE after some well meaning on-line advice. After some sober reflection on ..read more

I’ll get straight to the point. Make or buy a simple large format pinhole camera and buy a box of 8×10 Fuji HRT/U green sensitive XRay film and, with a bottle of Rodinal, some trays and glass sheets you are good to go. You don’t need an enlarger, large format contact prints are things of beauty. it was Edward Weston’s preferred technique for printing his negatives. I was sent a self assembly 8×10 pinhole camera to test out from Ethan Moses of Cameradactyl.com. it was easy to make and a coat of wood varnish finishes it off.. Ethan even sent a pinhole for approx f240. The 150mm ”focal length” se ..read more

2012 NYC I discovered the joys of Polaroid Blue around 2011, you could pick it up pretty cheap still and I just loved it from the beginning….. FlatIron – NYC When we traveled to New York I had a carry on suitcase with Polaroid blue, 669 ,FP3000b and more…… but there was something about how the blue rendered buildings. Boston – 2012 And low light – you see that hint of red, the blue emulsion showed that up and you could use it to your advantage. Wild Poppies – Fenland With poppies….. And other flowers ! Boston – 2012 But whether it was city scapes….. Georgia – Fenland Or portraits, It was a su ..read more

I’ve had an on off love affair with instant photography since 2010. This is ironic because Polaroid (as it was) closed it’s doors for the last time the year before. Fenland But in stepped some visionary , brilliant, enthusiastic Ex-Polaroid employees who purchased the Dutch factory and machinery and began remaking the integral instant material for your SX70 and 600 cameras. Woodwalton Fen It was IMPOSSIBLE they said…… Over ten years later and Impossible Project has reclaimed the Polaroid name and have pretty decent products which is just the best thing for those of us that still want to use th ..read more