Plants, Flowers, Trees

As well as our children and grandchildren, quite a lot of our friends and neighbours, both French and Dutch, and our English friends, made our 50th wedding anniversary a day to remember! Aperitifs in the afternoon, a barbecue in the evening, - and the rest of the week spent clearing up !! Who knows, I might even get round to taking a few photos sometime in the future !! Canon Ixus 960is, photofinished in Gimp

Most rhododendrons and their cultivars have quite shiny leaves but this hybrid has leaves that seem as if they are covered in felt! I bought a few of them some years ago as small plants, I think the variety is "Red Jack", but I really can't remember Getting to like the Retro 320 in PC-Glycol - tried this with the 1+50, but I can't see much difference, except for shorter time of development! 1983 Mamiya ZM Quartz, f1.7/50mm Sekor lens, x2 yellow filter. Foma Retro320 Soft at EI 320, 6ml PC-Glycol, 0.5% sodium carbonate solution to 300ml + 0.5g potassium bromide. 8 mins @ 23C. Scanned at 2400dpi on Epson V500.

Another example of a negative developed in PC-Glycol, this time using Foma Retro 320 Soft. I exposed this frame at EI 160, and used a 1+100 dilution and gave it 11 minutes This is the first time I have been happy with this film, - the developer brings out a nice glow, and the grain seems to be less intrusive compared to other developers I've tried, but still gives a pleasant vintage look. 1983 Mamiya ZM Quartz, f1.7/50mm Sekor lens, x2 yellow filter. Foma Retro320 Soft at EI 160, 3ml PC-Glycol, 0.5% sodium carbonate solution to 300ml. 10 mins @ 22C. Scanned at 1200dpi on Epson V500.

The flowers of Stargazer Lilies don't last long, but while they do they are always spectacular! I finally got round to mixing up some PC-Glycol, a two part developer made by dissolving phenidone and ascorbic acid in ethylene glycol for the first part, and a 0.5% solution of sodium carbonate for the second. The glycol needs to be warmed a little to completely dissolve the other chemicals, and smells a bit, but it's easy to do on an old hotplate in the workshop, not too sure about doing it in the kitchen! The idea behind this developer is that the developing agents are only activated when mixed with the alkaline second bath - in glycol they are inert, and have an almost indefinite shelf life, and most commonly used alkalis - sodium carbonate, Kodalk, and borax, last for ages also, so good for casual use. The nice thing is that it seems to give quite fine grain plus the usual ascorbic acid sharpness, very like Caffenol, but without the need to mix it up every time. I think I will explore this more! 1983 Mamiya ZM Quartz, f1.7/50mm Sekor lens, x2 yellow filter. Polypan F at EI 50, 3ml PC-Glycol, 0.5% sodium carbonate solution to 300ml. 10 mins @ 21C. Scanned at 2400dpi on Epson V500.

Away from the house, the larger hailstones were not broken up by hitting hard surfaces, so these monsters survived intact! My ancient Astley pipe gives a sense of scale! (I have not yet renewed my Club subscription to Ipernity, so these are a bit smaller than images I have posted previously) Canon Digital Ixus 960is. Photofinished in Gimp.

A mild autumn has left many trees in leaf far later than usual, and these oaks are an example. The terrain in this part of Creuse is not suitable for large scale cereal growing - it is mainly beef farming country, so most of the fields are quite small, and many are still separated by hedgerows that are often hundreds of years old. My first efforts with PC-Glycol and medium format, - I was careless about the exposures, and the film was also over developed, but worth going on with! 1942 Voigtlander Bessa 66, f3.5/75mm Heliar lens, X2 yellow filter. Foma Ultra 100 in PC-Glycol, 10 mins@21C Scanned@1200dpi on Epson500.

Almost the last days of November, and the air temperature was 19C when I took this near our house, and we still have a Castor Oil plant in flower in the garden! So much for the climate change deniers! From the first roll since I fitted a replacement bellows to the Ventura, my temporary repairs to the original had finally failed after five years. I used a bellows intended for a Kodak 66, which has a 75mm lens, so it is a little more extended on an 85mm lens, but they are otherwise identical and made from far better materials than the original Agfa, so make an ideal repair, which is quick and easy to do. 1953 Agfa Ventura 66 Deluxe. f4.5/85mm Solinar Lens, x2 Pictorial green filter. Foma Ultra100 in PC-Glycol, 8mins@21C Scanned on Epson V500 @1200dpi

My last post of this year, taken yesterday on a quiet little road near our home. Frankly, not the best year I can remember by a long way - the continiuing insanity in Syria and Iraq, not to mention the horrors in Nice and Berlin, the Brexit nonsense and then Trump, and finally the news that Ipernity will likely fold, so I will not be sad to see this year end !! If Ipernity does go, I have more or less decided that I will not return to Flickr, I've paid a few visits there since the news about Ipernity broke, and I'm not impressed, so I think I will restart a dormant blog I have about the Kodak Tourist, and also try to use that camera a lot more in 2017. I'm not very familiar with blogging, and I don't do any of the social media stuff, but maybe I will be able to make something of it, and perhaps spend more time taking photographs !! What I will miss is all the many friends I have made on Ipernity, and the inspiration of your beautiful photos, and so I still hope Ipernity will survive somehow. Ever the optimist ! Happy New Year !! 1948 Kodak Tourist, f4.5/105mm Anaston lens, x2 yellow filter. Foma 400 in divided D23 5+5mins @21C, scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500

The English common name for Acanthus mollis - really grown mostly for it's huge architectural leaves, but this one flowered for the first time in 2015, - after seven years !! Canon Digital Ixus 960is