I have been progressing with my diptych portraits of friends and Rotary colleagues as per my previous post here. I have now completed 8 portraits of which I think I may use 6 in my final submission for the assignment. One of the ones I have retained so far is also a possible for exclusion. I managed to get the reflection of the lights in the subjects glasses, which I find irritating and could possibly be regarded as technically inept. Having said that I have looked at the work of many top portrait photographers and they too make this mistake sometimes. The difficulty is that with a large format camera you just don’t know what the exact final image will look like. Once the dark slide has been inserted into the back of the camera it is no longer possible to see what is in the frame. A slight movement back of the subjects head and the reflections radically change. Also working with film one doesn’t get the instant feedback.
My film development processing has been improving although I do still get problems with marks on the film. These are particularly obvious when shooting against a plain grey background. I am currently experimenting with using distilled water for the final wash with wetting agent and modifying my technique for agitation of the film during development…..the learning curve continues. I have also signed up for another course with the Chelsea School of Art which is specifically on large format photography including film development.
I thought I would experiment with different forms of presenting my diptych work which now has the working title 45 seconds… I have made a short test video with Final Cut Pro X. The transitions between the two portraits of each diptych is deliberately fast to accentuate the change in expression…The video is on Vimeo. Just click the image below to view it.
photo-graph 
jsumb
January 19, 2013
Excellent work with video, I hope you continue with this. I think the transitions would work better fro me if they were all a smooth, almost measured change – even with the same subject. Do you intend working with more women? The ticking is very effective. I did some work with long exposure portraits and agree that it is difficult to work with sitters for extended periods. I’ll continue to watch with great interest.
With respect to the developing, any marks left on the neg’s post development are likely to be drying marks – which usually reside on the non-emulsion side and can be wiped off post drying; I use a lens cloth and some breath and care! The use of distilled water might help at the wash stage – but using distilled at the dev’ stage though makes an appreciable difference to consistency and would be strongly recommended.
Catherine
January 19, 2013
I can see what John means re a smoother change but, even so , it was fascinating to see. Had a thought that maybe the video should be 45 seconds as well but then that might make it a tad too fast.
Keith Greenough
January 19, 2013
Thanks John/Catherine…I will experiment some more with the transitions. I want the change between each portrait of the same subject to be visible and with a long transition it is not, but slightly slower than at the moment might just work better. Between the subjects it is pretty easy to slow things down and I’ll give that a try.
Women subjects is something I have given some thought to. My original inspiration for working with long exposures came from Walter Benjamin’s thoughts on the early photographic portraits, which he felt were expressively coherent because of the long exposures (and also because there were no cultural conventions on how to ‘strike the pose’). He is scathing about the later practices of portrait photographers which then (as now) was mostly about making the subjects look better than they really were – good way to get more business if you have a reputation for making people look better. Benjamin specifically mentioned David Octavius Hill’s portraits as being ‘good’ examples of portraiture. Interestingly Hill’s models were in the first instance members of the Scottish Parliament (there were no women). He went on to photograph members of the professional classes, particularly those who dabbled in photography (again very few women). He did photograph a few fisherwomen!! Rather strangely I have hit the same problem. My pool of subjects are my colleagues in our local Rotary Club. We have only one female member (and she has agreed to pose for me). We are working on getting more but only one so far. I persuaded my wife to pose – she is pictured in the video. And I hope to get one or two of my neighbours to pose, so in al I hope to have 3 maybe 4 women. I also have a Rotary colleague who is an black Aftrican from Zimbabwe who has agreed to sit for me.
Thanks for the tips on developing black and white film. Still a learner there. I have also been having some problems with uneven development. I think it is because I am using a small tank for large sheets of film It takes 30 seconds to fill the tank and it occurs to me that this would lead to some unevenness. Also the way the different sheets have access to the developer could be causing problems. The inner sheet on each side has the full emulsion side exposed, whereas the outer sheet has only about 5-6mm clearance from the inner sheet. In my web searches I have read that Kodak recommend using tap water for the developer (and also I’ve read that its important to use distilled???). The best (ironic) suggestion was to use ‘Holy Water’. Will give the Halfords equivalent of distilled water a go in the developer. They are the only supplier I can find locally.
jsumb
January 19, 2013
It looks like you have decided on a fine grain developer, and I think you are onto the right thing by focussing on the development cycle (though I’m not suggesting Rodinal at 1 in 1000!). I’m not aware of the dev’ you use, but opting for a longer time will help with the variability of the development, and, as you have probably read, the agitation is critical – so a longer development time would probably assist with the small tank. It is critical to have consistent acidity (or alkalinity) and preferably ph7 when assessing times in the dev’ cycle and, if my tap water is anything to go by it is anything but consistent. The best source of water I’ve found – other than a good chemist – which are few and far between, is Sainsbury’s “Car-Plan” De-Ionised water. I tend to never use a stop bath and the fix and final wash can use tap water – it shouldn’t matter at all what they are like.
I do think you have a strong portrait series developing (there’s that word again!), and your explanation as to the gender question I had answers that point – my question came because I am steeped in gender issues and particularly feminism at the moment. Will follow with great interest.
Keith Greenough
January 19, 2013
Development was HC-110 at dilution H for 9.5 mins (double dilution B from Digital Truth) Film is Tri X Pro 320. Started off by using TMax developer but this is not recommended for sheet film. Plan to try Xtol and D76 in due course but HC 110 suits me as it is one shot and the litre bottle will process a lot of film.
jsumb
January 19, 2013
‘and the litre bottle will process a lot of film.’ only if you keep it from oxygenating – ha ha! D76 is good, but so is HC110 – most are ok, though I’ve seen some concerns about HC110 at dilution H (but there is a lot of idiosyncratic film workers who have “special formulas’ out there). I don’t tend to use those big bottle developers because I don’t use them enough now to make it worthwhile. I’ll keep watching and would like to see some prints – perhaps at the TV group?
thenearestfarawayplace
January 19, 2013
It is very interesting to see you progress through this project and follow your reflections on it. I am really impressed by the final result of those pictures, your exposure and the processing, the way you manage to recreate the white of the hair.
Keith Greenough
January 19, 2013
Yes lots of white and grey hair in these photos….pleased you like the work and it would be great if you can get some learning out of it too.
thenearestfarawayplace
January 19, 2013
I am just beginning to learn how to do my own prints from my negatives. So much things to learn and experiment… i feel like there will always be something new to learn in photography, it’s magical, the more you learn, the more you want to learn. And this is not even discouraging, it’s exhilarating…
Keith Greenough
January 19, 2013
My thoughts exactly….good luck with the printing. I scan my negatives and print digitally, but did do some printing in the darkroom on a course I attended a few weeks ago.
clk55pete
January 29, 2013
I really think the 45 second video is better than the side by side images. In both the images are almost indistinguishable (I know that’s the point) but the video helps indicate the oh so subtle changes in poster and expression. Anyhow it’s a very interesting series.
Keith Greenough
January 29, 2013
Yes it does make the subtle changes of expression more apparent. Set against this is my intention that the viewer looks at the images, initially thinks they are the same and then notices that something is not quite right…hopefully this would cause the viewer to look longer and harder at the two portraits, to consider how subtle changes in expression can lead to different readings and to realise how finely tuned we all are in our ability to read people’s faces…..well that’s what I would like to happen….
guy maxwell
March 26, 2013
What sort of scanner do you use? I ask because you seem to be doing good work with it and though the human factor matters so does the equipment.
Thanks
G
Keith Greenough
March 26, 2013
Epson V700 using Epsonscan with the normal 5×4 inserts. Seems to work well with the sheet film. I use Betterscanning film holders with Newton Ring glass inserts for 120 film. These keep the film flatter.