Looking to the Future
Above is my favourite photograph of my granddaughter from 2014. I like the way she is contemplating the distance, whether it be the ocean (or “puddle” as she is currently naming it), or some time in the future. This was one of those instances where the light was very low as sunset was over. I set the camera up on a rock and took this photo with the self timer. I asked her to hold still, and she did, no small feat for someone not quite two.
As to 2015 and Burnt Embers, there will be some minor changes around here. I will endeavour to keep the daily posts going – I am worried that if I break the momentum it might be nearly impossible to overcome inertia after that. However, I have decided to join another on-line project at 52rolls.net where the participants agree to shoot one roll of film a week for 52 weeks in a row, and to post about each roll. It is not too late to join this challenge if you are so inclined. Last year I shot about 26 rolls, so this will definitely up the ante for me. I am looking forward to participating in the project and meeting all kinds of people on-line doing the same thing. I think it will be a lot of fun.
To prevent the extra commitment from becoming a burden, I will reblog the posts from there on these pages. So, at least once a week my daily post at Burnt Embers will consist of a reblog of my weekly post at 52rolls. However, sometimes when I am out of town and so on, I may shoot a roll, but not get it processed or scanned for a few weeks, and thus a few rolls could stack up and result in a flurry of posts and reblogs when I am back in town. Also likely is that I will post some of the photos from each roll at 52rolls and often do more with the others, or about the camera used, and other related topics in separate posts on this site.
I am pretty excited to be part of 52rolls, even to the extent that I went thrift-store shopping (as if I needed an excuse) for a few more cheap cameras – ones with potential to be good, or just because they are quirky to shoot with. It was good timing because in a couple of hours shopping I found very reasonably priced and apparently fully working copies of a Canonet Q19 ($18 with original case and lens cap, this is the one I am most excited about), Olympus Infinity Jr ($3 with one roll of film, original case and working battery), Yashica AF Motor ($6 with original lens cap), Polaroid Land 100 ($20 with 1.5 packs of film, original bag, manual and Polaroid light meter) and Chinon Genesis ($5 – the quirky one – with case and good battery). So, while each purchase seemed reasonable, it ended up just over $50 for 5 cameras, one unopened pack of Fuji instant film (plus several more sheets in-camera) and one roll of 35mm of film. These smaller amounts add up pretty quickly so I hope that is not the story of 2015. I will however get a few of hours of pleasure cleaning these cameras up, fitting them with batteries, researching and testing and then shooting with them – all that is worth quite a bit in my books.
Another photographic goal for this year is to start developing my own film. I have been gathering some of the necessary equipment, and more importantly have signed up for a class at LUZ Studios for part of one day. I could just learn to process film from the internet and my old notes from the 80s when I last developed film, but this way I hope to meet some like-minded locals and to get a feel for the people teaching who offer some other intriguing options. It is a way of testing some bigger waters, while getting my feet soaking wet in developer (sort of). I think developing my own film will teach me a bunch of stuff I need to know about shooting film, but will also save me quite a lot of money, especially if I am shooting at least one roll a week.
Overall I am looking forward to seeing what our granddaughter brings to our future in 2015, and what else 2015 has in store for all of us, and all of you.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you stick around for the 2015 ride, I will try to keep the bumps to a minimum. And thanks so much for all your support through views, likes, comments and off-line emails. It is all very much appreciated.
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Olympus XA, f2.8/35mm lens, Ilford Delta 400 Pro, scanned with Epson V700, exposure info not recorded.
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burnt embers 
first one is absolutely brilliant!! you should be taking more pictures of her 🙂
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Hi Alexandra, and thanks so much – it is my favourite shot of her. I am taking quite a few pictures of the little darling – many of them just don’t show up around here. Also, getting her at the right time can be tricky.
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That’s a wonderful image to start off the new year. I admire your new project and the idea of starting work in the real darkroom. It’s a shame you don’t live round the corner from me, I’ve got a collection of darkroom gear including an enlarger and all the trays etc to dispose of.
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Hi Andy.
It is a shame indeed – it seems also that it is pretty hard to get rid of that stuff these days, very limited market except for the very best which tends to go for a song. Recently in Victoria there have been several fully equipped darkrooms advertised, one with a very good enlarger, one with two enlargers and larger format film holders along with all the necessary gear and then some. One was asking $75 the other $200 – I did not bite as I don’t have storage room, nor the certainty that I will use all of that gear.
I have not yet resolved on an actual darkroom. I will start by doing my film loading in a dark bag and go from there with light tight tanks on the counter top. However, now that the kids have left home, there is a bathroom that should be pretty easy to make dark. It has a fairly large counter for a bathroom and it even has the light switch on the inside!. I find my mind wandering over the possibilities. I was never good in the darkroom – did not study it enough, perhaps had light leaks from the several windows in the place I had set up as one, or the enlarger. Probably had a lousy enlarger, or at least a poor lens, and I don’t think I took very good negatives a lot of the time. Though there was someone that I had make prints sometimes and she could get all the qualities I was missing. In any case, one step at a time! I have spent a lot of time learning how to manipulate digital images, so for the time being scanning will be my darkroom.
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My first darkroom was the bathroom – a simple sheet of hardboard over the bath for the enlarger at one end and the set of three developing trays. The second one was the en-suite shower room. Then in our current house (going back 25years I created a bespoke darkroom in a large walk-in space underneath the stairs. Blacking out the window is always the tricky bit. I was very lucky because both the bathroom and the shower room had vellux roof lights that were double glazed and a sheet of black card could be inserted into the space between the two panes of glass. Blackout guaranteed. Not always as easy as that. Good luck.
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And, thanks for you comment on the photograph. I am very pleased with it, in so many ways
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Brilliant images – I love how you have captured her being pensive. I have bee dabbling with film recently (just dipping my toe in) but have still to purchase a scanner. Looking forward to seeing what you produce with film.
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Thank you Teresa. I found film very stimulating to my creativity. Especially the diptychs and triptyches I was making with a half-frame Pen, in camera. Tricky with a lot of v careful framing. Slows you right down and makes you look more closely.
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Amazing photo, especially the first is gorgeous (like your granddaughter)!
Wish you all the best in photography and health and happiness for 2015!
Ron
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Thanks so much Rondje. Best wishes to you as well!
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All the best for you and your family in the new year, ehpem! I greatly enjoyed your blog this past year, and look forward to more inspirations in the year to come.
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Hi Maddog. I hope all is well with you and your family and that you all have a great 2015. Including a trip to the coast sometime!
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Wonderful image – I love that little sweater. What a great idea 52rolls is – I so love film. I know you will capture much art. Wishing you an amazingly creative 2015!
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Hi Sheila, thanks so much. A creative 2015 would be wonderful :). I hope you have one too!
I think my daughter knit that sweater – she is an amazing knitter. Granddaughter doesn’t fit it anymore – this shot is from October and lots of growing has been going on.
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Your granddaughter is gorgeous! Best wishes fie the new year ahead – there’s nothing quite so satisfying as developing your own film!
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Hi! I agree, she IS gorgeous 🙂
I hope you have a good year too.
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I love it that she calls the ocean a puddle!
Your film project sounds very interesting, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. (I almost said “seeing what develops” but decided that would be silly.)
My best wishes for 2015 to you and your family, my friend!
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Hi Melinda – Happy New Year, we will be seeing each other in April – that will be a highlight I am sure 🙂
Seeing what develops would have been the best way of putting it, but I know that some people restrict themselves, and actually act on resolutions, on New Years Day. People often find in themselves flaws, such as with lousy punning, which are endearing and amusing to those around them. So if you have resolved to tone it down, then amend that resolution to toning it down for NYD – that way only a few hours of tongue biting left.
I am looking forward to what comes of this project, and also what the other people are doing. There are some very fine photos posted at 52rolls so it should be fun to be part of that group.
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My new year’s resolution is the same every year: to not make a resolution.
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Absolutely beautiful shot of your granddaughter. And your year looks well and truly set – good luck with the new endeavour and it will be very interesting to see the results here. I’m in the midst of a run of 10 daily posts, even that is hard to keep up with compared to my usual pattern. But an interesting experiment. Happy New Year and I’ll be tuned in during 2015!
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Hi Mike – thanks for coming by. That first shot makes me feel really good, and says a lot about her.
My year is well and truly set. I am going to be busy with photo processing and scanning.
The daily post thing can be a real drag at times – especially if there is not something of quality available to post. It drives me outdoors with camera to fix the problem, which is the good part.
I think the weekly roll of film will reduce that situation, except perhaps if there are some dud rolls in there as I might not have much digital to fall back on. My impression of the 52rolls community is that if you shoot a lousy roll of film, a technical disaster, then it gets posted about anyway, with examples. While I hope to be posting photographically interesting shots I anticipate a few technical disasters along the way and maybe they too will have interest.
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Ah yes, that’s a very good idea, posting about the less successful ventures. When I totally messed up my first roll of Zenit shots, I poured my heart out and whipped up quite a storm. Daily posting is generally alien to my practice, but it certainly keeps things turning over. It’s soon time to go out there into the field to find new material for 2015!
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It is indeed. I have had a roll of film loaded in a “new” camera for a few days, waiting for the first week to begin – itching to click the shutter, but showing restraint!
I saw a used Zenit in a second hand store yesterday. Resisted the temptation as already had 4 cameras in hand from that day of shopping.
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Wow. I should take a leaf out of your book. Just my one film camera spends most of its time locked away. There’s something close at hand in this hand which I must shoot… a nice gentle start 🙂
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Good thrift shop work. Will be interesting trying them out. The pics of yr granddaughter in that late evening light are quite beautiful.
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Hi geomack – thanks – I really like those photos too, and the heavy grain doesn’t bother me at all, though it might limit how large they can be blown up, they add to the feel of the photographs I think. As to the cameras – it will be interesting to try them out. A couple work in ways that are quite strange to me, so that will be fun to sort out. Thank goodness that so many have on-line manuals these days.
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Happy New Year to you (and all your cameras)! I look forward to continue following, whatever changes you make – it’s your blog, right, so you decide whatever way to go. Here’s for another blogging year!
That first photo of your granddaughter is amazing. We can learn so much from children, can’t we?
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Hi galeriaredulius – it is my blog and my decision 🙂 But I would not want to chase people away, though perhaps I have already done that with the recent heavy emphasis on film and black and white. I get a lot more likes on my more dramatic colour digital shots than pretty much anything shot on film. But, the likes are not so important as how much it pleases me to do what I do, so I will keep on “course” (not that I got a chart out and plotted a course, which would be, of course, silly and a waste of time).
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I reckon you have an interesting year ahead of you!
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Hi Yvonne – thanks so much – I think it will be too. I am looking forward to it.
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