The Ride

The Virgins

Years ago I started this series called "The Virgins" - generally it was a lie, but the title was also a bit tongue in cheek, and a bit of a reference to John Lennon.

I haven't shot any of it for a while, mainly because I only rarely take the 4x5 out anymore.

Previously I printed the images in sepia but I thought they could work just as well in cyanotype.

So a pulled out a couple of negatives and gave it a go.

Oh well. Let's try that again.

Bugger!! From memory that was over half in hour in bright sun and it's still under-exposed by a couple of stops (give or take).

We'll be looking at two hours next time I guess. Cool.

The Continuation

Three further images.

One after numerous missteps.

Two just winging it.

One getting close, the other not getting that close but not liking the image enough to redo.

The Answer

To the question:

Can you over-expose a cyanotype?

That's an affirmative in case you were wondering.

If fact you can over-expose a cyanotype quite often.

The Success

The Experimental

Having recently scored my very own Wayne Barrar cyanotype, I (more recently) decided to score myself some cyanotype chemicals. Thanks Bostick and Sullivan.

I'd never made cyanotypes before so it was kind of exciting.

Fortunately some years ago I purchased small contact printing frame so that was one thing I didn't need  to worry about.

Thanks to the French Art Shop I managed to score some suitable paper and a brush.

Thanks to the Lightbulb Man I managed to also score a UV bulb so that I could, in theory, get more consistent results and not have to rely on the vagaries of Wellington weather.

Finding a suitable time and place to coat the paper (11pm, kitchen) wasn't too difficult, but finding a suitably dark location to dry and store the coated paper was a little trickier.

Eleven hours later and I was ready to play.

My first attempt was one hour under the UV lamp.

I failed. I thought the negative might have been too dense so I changed negative. And thinking that the bulb might not have enough grunt, I changed location.

My second attempt was about 6 minutes outside, mid-afternoon on a cloudy but bright day.

I failed. Cyanotypes need to be over-exposed. Judging that over-exposure is something I need to learn.

A little research post-trial, and I found this quote which would have been useful to find some time earlier ... like before I bought the bulb ...

The optical power requirements for cyanotype are frightening. Remember, we're talking many minute exposures under sunlight, and sunlight contains over 100W of UV per square foot.

Oh well, you live and learn. I shall be continuing with the learning part.

My third attempt was early evening in changeable light. Can't remember how long exactly but ...

I failed. It clearly still wasn't long enough. But I'm getting closer.

The Process

A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to processing some films that had been sitting around for months.

I decided to photograph the process.

Well bits of it anyway.

Development.

Also stop and fix.

You really can't tell any difference between the three steps cos it's just chemicals sitting in containers being agitated every now and then.

Wash. Two of the three films.

Wash. The third film.

Dry.

Dry.

Dry.

So there you go, film processing in a bunch of unhelpful photos.

The Addendum

As an addendum to a forthcoming post, it's a good thing that the chemicals in the photographic development process have quite distinct colours and smells otherwise I'd be quite unsure what was actually in this bottle.

The Cliff

The Patina

The Putter

The Companionpieces

The Caged

The Donuts

The Anchored

The Oftrepeated

The Side

The Still-life

The Rocks

The Auction

For those of you who hadn't caught the news, you missed this last night - the Phil Jacobs Benefit Auction.

I, however, didn't miss it. In fact I'd been involved with it in some capacity for the past few weeks.

For those of you who did miss it, check out the website and buy some of the great art that will be appearing on TradeMe in the next few days.

To quote from the website "For more than thirty years Phil Jacobs has been Wellington’s preeminent camera repair technician. Almost every photographer who has worked in this city will have used his services at some time or another."

Phil is a lovely and giving man and it is fabulous that the local photographic community has come together to help him when his family needs it. I've only known Phil for the past ten years and from day one he was a friend. Pop in to his crowded workshop to drop off or pick up a camera and a couple of hours later you'd leave. The last time he did some work for me I had to convince him to invoice me. He eventually got around to it a couple of months later.


Anyway, back to last night. I had a successful evening, fulfilling a longtime ambition of owning my very own Wayne Barrar. And it's a cracker too.

I also got my hands on a Daniel Boobyer - he's a bit of a renaissance man in this town, or maybe an anachronism.

Some would argue the picture us just a muddle of gray, and therefore not a proper photo at all. I still haven't fully deciphered it, but it reminds me of Fiona Pardington's Taniwha.

The household also scored a print of the cover image from one of Lucien Rizos' recent books.

We were quite happy with last night's purchases, a bit disappointed on missing out on a couple of items, but happy in the knowledge that there'll be more to buy from TradeMe and that every cent of it will be going to a great cause.