Skaters – on x-ray film

This one is from the summer of 2008.

I was walking in down town Nicosia with my Speed Graphic and some film holders loaded with x-ray film (cut down from 15x30cm sheets) looking for something interesting to shoot.

Enter a group of teenagers with their skateboards in front of the neoclassical Faneromeni school.

It was late afternoon, so light was getting low. Asked if I could take some pictures of them, and quickly setup the camera pre-focusing on the spot where they were doing their jumps.

For some reason I decided to try stand development on these negatives. First and last time I did that with the Jobo 2509n reel and the 2521 tank. This negative has about 4mm on the long edge (top of the picture) significantly overdeveloped.

Didn’t find the processing notes, but at the time I was using mostly Rodinal in dilutions between 1/100 and 1/300. Time must have been between 10 and 20 minutes. The negative is slightly under developed, which makes it a bit thin.

The picture here is a scan (cropped the top out) from a contact print I did a couple days ago on Ilford MG Warmtone RC Pearl.

Seascape on x-ray film.

End of summer, 2015.

The sun was setting as I was setting up for a seascape.
The people on the right were still in the dimming sunlight, while the ones on the left were already in the shade of the hill behind us.

Speed Graphic 4×5, with Optar 135mm.
Agfa x-ray film (CP G+) at 100asa.
Developed in Ilford MG 1+40 at 20C for 4min, Jobo.

Scan from contact print on Ilford MG Warmtone RC Pearl.

Artist’s Studio – x-ray film

Picture from 2009.
Speed Graphic 4×5″
Pinhole 0.25mm
Focal Length 75mm
f/300
Exposure Time 15min.
Agfa CP G+ at 50asa
Developed by inspection in Rodinal 1+200 at 20C for 12min.
Scan from negative, finished in PS.

Petra Tou Romiou – x-ray Film

Afternoon light at Petra tou Romiou, Cyprus.
October 2015.

Speed Graphic 4×5 with Optar 135mm.
Agfa x-ray film (CP G+).
Developed in Ilford MG 1+80 at 22C for 8min on Jobo.

Portrait On X-ray Film 01

Shot just after sunset, illuminated by the soft glow of the western sky.

Speed Graphic 4×5, with Optar 135mm.

Agfa x-ray film (CP G+).

Developed in Ilford MG 1+80 at 22C for 8min on Jobo.

The Old Ship On The Shore – x-ray film

Late afternoon light at Latchi, Cyprus.

October 2015.

Speed Graphic 4×5, with Optar 135mm, at f/8.

Agfa x-ray film (CP G+).

Developed in Ilford MG 1+80 at 22C for 8min on Jobo.

The Olive Tree And the Monolith – x-ray film

Late afternoon light at Latchi, Cyprus. October 2015.

Speed Graphic 4×5, with Optar 135mm, at f/8.

Agfa x-ray film (CP G+).

Developed in Ilford MG 1+80 at 22C for 8min on Jobo.

The Moon Entering Earth’s Shadow

Today’s APOD is one of mine!!!

From all my publications over the years, this is the one I feel proudest of.

Not because it’s the “biggest”; but because it’s the most personal one, in a particular kind of way.

Astrophotography (and astronomy in general) was the reason I became interested in photography, in the first place.

As a teenager I was fascinated (and still am) of the Cosmos. So much so, that I convinced my parents to let me close down my savings account in order to buy a BIG telescope. That was 20 years ago. Time flies.

Long story short, a telescope by itself doesn’t make its owner an astronomer (or an astrophotographer in my case).

There is a steep learning curve. After getting thoroughly disheartened when my first few rolls of film came back looking nothing like the pictures I fell in love with in the magazines and books that I was reading, I started reading up on photographic technique. That’s how I got hooked on photography properly.

At the time I was living in Athens, which is probably one of the worst places on Earth for astrophotography, and since 20 years ago the internet was nowhere near what it is today (you couldn’t just google “polar alignment with an SCT on a wedge” and get youtube videos with people explaining the process to you–you had to visit an actual library and do actual research to find out such information), I just focused on other kinds of photography, shooting nightscapes now-and-then as a reminder of my first love.

So, this is my first picture of the night sky published by NASA!

Feeling giggly…

It’s good to be home.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151009.html

Star Trails And The Olive Tree

(Click for a larger view.)

A five hour exposure of the southern night sky.

September 19, 2014.

For the technically inclined:

5hours exposure on medical x-ray film, with a 135mm Optar at f/4.7 on a 4×5″ Speed Graphic.

Developed for 10min in D76 (1+5) at 24C, with minimal agitation.

The Black Sun and The Olive Tree 02

Pinhole picture on Harman Direct Positive paper (pre-flashed in the darkroom), developed in Ilford MG.

The Sun is black due to true Solarisation.