Fall Is Here

I got the chance to get out today and take some images. If it is not like this at your home it will be soon.

Burnt

I had my tripod and light meter with me the other evening and decided to make a few images. This is the Bangor Water Works at dusk.

We have not eaten here yet but plan on it in the future.

I want to make sure I get some fall images this year. The leaves here are turning so fast. I would like to go out this weekend and I may yet but the forecast is looking rather wet. Normally it would not bother me to go out and shoot in the rain but potential tropical moisture might be a little too much.

Exposure

For My birthday I got the opportunity to finally set up my darkroom. I have been collecting equipment here and there for the last couple of years. I must admit I am a little rusty. It has been almost 5 years since I've been in a darkroom. So after mixing up some chemicals and processing some film. I blocked off the light coming into the bathroom and began to make a couple of enlargements.

I am using resin coated paper and I am not sure how I feel about using it. I was taught to use fiber based paper and I will get some eventually.

Below are scans of a couple of prints. I know I could have scanned the negatives but what is the fun in that.

This is the Thomas Hill Standpipe. It is a water tower and landmark for the city of Bangor. The image itself was made with the Mamiya c330 along with a red no.25 filter.

This Image was taken from Center st. in Bangor. It appeals to Melissa and I both.

This is the Kenduskeag stream. It is closest to home. I didn't even have my tripod. Just out having fun trying to see again in Black and White.

The Painting

Yesterday I stopped by the local thrift store. As I was browsing around a old print caught my attention. The print which was taken from Rising Sun in Glacier. It was just propped up against the wall. I could not leave it. 3.00 bucks. Of course this was not a oil painting. This was a mass production of a picture to look like a painting. How old? Who knows. It is dirty. I'm leaving it that way.

Did the person that had it before gaze upon it because they had been there? Was it a dream for them of a place that existed that they planned on visiting? Did they even know where it was? Had they purchased it from some local department store because it was pretty?

It made me homesick. Why? We have stood in this very spot we have hiked the trail. We know exactly where this picture was taken. We have hiked this trail from Sun Point to Bearing falls and down further yet to St. Mary's fall. We have sat on its banks and fished without a soul in sight for hours with only nature as company as we caught Whitefish and Rainbow trout. We have picked the occasional huckleberry and Logan berry while making our way along the trail.
Then I looked through my images I knew I had one.

Campfire

A not so recent campfire

Worth The Cost

If one looks at my earlier entries you will see an old Kodak No. 3A camera. Like I mentioned I had picked it up at an estate sale for next to nothing. Today I weighed the decision to dismantle the camera for the lens and shutter. I checked prices on ebay. Yes, it was worth the cost. The bellows of the camera were in as most of its age torn at the corners from being in closed position for a long time. As I took it apart I found that the shutter had two years on it 1909 and 1910. I cleaned the lenses and mounted it on my extra 4x5 lens board. The lens of course was a Kodak 170 mm, f7.7 with T, B, 25, and 50 for shutter speeds.

Looking at the ground glass with my Loupe. I was amazed at the clarity of it. It was sharp. It might be sharper than the original lens that came with my 4x5 camera itself. Does that mean I will take my old lens to the beach and mark up the lens with sand to get that old look. Not just yet.

This is Mallory f.7.7 with a 2 second exposure time. Apparently they don't make them like they used to. I have seen expensive lenses. I'm keeping this one.