Graham Hughes' articles

I have begun an adventure in publishing some of the images I have collected and amassed over the last few years of this analogue ride. I was looking at some images tonight and remember that first thrill of developing paper negatives and film. The business of life and left field balls have jaded that somewhat....though I am still reasonably prolific and passionate. It will be nice to clear the decks somehow........to get that fresh feeling back.

I have long held to the belief that there are seasons to my inner life just as there is a force that changes the physical seasons of my outer life that are way outside of my ability to control. Winter 2016 has been quite analogue. (the 2019 update is below :-) I have not sat long hours at the computer but more stood in my darkroom and played, cutting paper and working out how to use a new Goosen light meter. I would like to share some of this winters playing here as the world wakes for spring.

There are times in the ether of cyberspace I have posted images and comments on those postings told me people had not really seen or understood what the image was, how it was made, and what it was made with. The digital life pervades earth to the extent that people believe a myth thinking you can't get film anymore. I don't mind this myth as people beqeath me their beautiful old SLR's. I go and shoot paper in them or film.

As we all know, light that is not man made originates from the sun. (I cannot help acknowledge the people here that think the sun shines from their nether rear regions...you know them too I know) The sun is, I am told the source of life for our galaxy.I totally get why cultures worship the sun. The way that light falls on the world is what creates the images that our eyes see, and cameras capture on emulsion or digital sensor. The lumen print in its simplicity and its science goes back to the very beginnings of photography. I personally find it very gentle and very beautiful as a process.

This page will contain thoughts surrounding an article I have written for The Looking Glass Magazine about my journey with using an 1898 Ross Protar. Part of, and outside the scope of that article is the discussion about why using old lenses and cameras is so cool. I would love to have a discussion with others about why they like using older technology and the issues surrounding that.. My photography seriously changed when I started using 'older' lenses and cameras.

Box Brownies to me are treats. The non fattening, easy on the body and sugar to your photographic soul kind. This is an update of some of my fav Box Brownie images. The images below are taken by this Brownie, He's older than I thought, from 1929-31.That makes this camera 83-86. He is as old as my dear old Dad, and just as loved. While I can't totally see the world how my Dad does, images with this beauty touch on seeing the world with eyes of that time, a humble meniscus lens...... www.brownie.camera/portrait_brownie_no_2_black_key.htm

The world is huge ......... as is history, and then within that history, the history of photography. Recently, through a set of circumstances, several names were used in conversations and the inevitable Google search ensued. Then followed the inevitable time travel, the personal encounter with characters and artifacts, and me deeply impacted as one who had seen and stood near the unburning bush. Looking back .......... to the very beginnings of photography and the people who have been seminal to its development through history, for me, is like looking back down a road that stretches behind me and way way away, right back thru time and space to them. It's a long and winding road and that connects all who walk on it irrespective of time an space.

Unknown expired film. Whakatane Rivermouth, New Zealand I have been meaning to write for months. I love to write. I thought today i would just post links to some of my blogs. kiwivagabond.com/ Silver gelatin paper negative.

I have many Box Brownies, I was going to say I have them coming out my ears, but writing to visuals, this could create the wrong picture. In exploring Ipernity I came across this gallery www.ipernity.com/doc/313099/album/401713 .............and being impressed with the images, and them totally being my kind of styles I made contact about respooling. Part of my learning curve was the inevitable Google/YouTube search yeilding more than enough information relating the how too and the why do. I intend to do this sometime and thought I would share these links for others who might wish to do the same in the future.

Lens are very expensive sometimes. My photography habit seems to find immense pleasure in using what is not expensive, or what is usually overlooked by others as they march towards the latest and the greatest, or the most sought after and desireable from the past. Some of my fav images are from very low fi treasures. The cheap ones! For several years now I have been wanting to learn how to clean lenses and in the process learn how to remove and re-use the glass from damaged lenses and experiment making my own. In this article I use the rear coated element of an old Haminex 135mm lense, and later (the next day in fact) the middle element of a Soligor 135mm lens. Once removed, I placed the elements in front of a Six20 Box Brownie I bought for $5, held it there with blue tack and used it as camera of the day. It turned out to be a wonderful experiment, the images and the learning.

Somehow we have slipped into a 'supersized' world. Maybe as the world has become more consumer driven, the "bigger is better" message has become something we all seek as a means of making our limited resources go further. Big can represent, cultural, artistic and economic power. I realise that this is most likely a very western perspective. Even in the photography world we see the supersize penchant surface in both analogue and digital. I watched this recently fstoppers.com/the-worlds-largest-film-camera-redefines-mobile-photography?relatedposts_exclude=117738 . Beautiful yes, resolution to burn. Small is uncool. I have always taken a stand for the 'little' people among whom I count myself. I have found small to be way cool, affordable and in many ways back to the roots of photography. 35mm paper negatives have huge potential.