End of ...............

Twas the end of the roll of Polypan-f film in the camera and it's too tempting to leave it there for any longer. So a little stroll around the Capitol of the islands soon gave the opportunity to see it off.

No it wasn't a square format camera but merely cropped from 35mm. Used the old Zorki6 I've had for many a year. Go on, go and have a clicky on the link. I don't mind as long as you come back here afterwards.

Ooh, I am rather partial to these peoplescapes I do. Must do some more.

Summer in the car park

It's not always as dark as this, not literally anway. It's been warm and sunny most of the time but I wait till the clouds come so I take some snaps.

The car-parks get busy round the village with these houses on wheels with their accompanying surf-boards and dogs. Nice really. Lovely peeps in the main too.

Anyway, I 'saw' them through a really small hole, 'painted' the image on film and everything. Here it is.

I met this civil engineer the other day

The engineer was busy building dam on the stream that falls into The Minch . All wet and watery it is. Runs across the sand, and joins the other waters there in the sea.

I said "Ey oop Sir" (because I suspected he was English). "What's going to happen there then? If you stop the water going into the sea we'll have nowhere to swim or sail the boats."

We turned around and right enough the sea was already shrinking. Becoming all Aral Sea like. The engineer frowned, mildly sneering at me as he stopped the civil engineering works and returned to his family sat on the beach keeping him company.

I was right though. Once he stopped the water came back again.

Water

Surrounded by the stuff here. This is the very same over Bhaltos way. Did you know that?

How about this?

We, Eve and I were strolling around the Valtos area of the island the other and I, as I am prone to do, fell into conversation with an amiable chap with a very nice boat. Lovely you might say but it turned out this amiable chap and I knew each other some fourty years ago.

Apologies to Angus - for that is his name - in that I did not immediately recognize him after all these years, he may have change a bit. And I too have seen times change somewhat.

Lovely thing is he's in the process of moving here - in a tremendously wonderful spot - to build a house for his lovely family. How good is that !

Four coows

Yes they are there. You just have to look properly.

Braved the sunshine and went down south west to Uig area on the island with Toots. Tooks some snaps and everything. And this is one of them.

Mr & Mrs

The Bantings.
See here

There he is

There you are, he's the one I've been telling you about.
Oh I haven't?

Well, he is Alex Boyd of the next parish. An incomer to island who works does something at an Lanntair on the island. Took this snap soon after he woke up in his office. Can you tell?

Anyway, Mr Boyd is having a wee exhibition at the same place he works but with the delightful and talented Chris Friel and the even more famous and equally wonderful Ragnar Axelsson. Eh? How good is that?

if there is one exhibition you need to miss, this isn't it trust me. Not sure when it's on but it is this year!

Ooh, sailing

No it wasn't raining yesterday. Twas about 390 C in the shad it seemed. Got overwarmed and everything. But we went sailing. Lots of wind, waves and all.

The Sail Stormoway Cruise in company it was only they weren't good company really as they went off fast, sailing over the horizon as we wrestled to get the little boatee Freyja out beyond Arnish in the outer harbour. I mean we had to turn this way and that to make headway, then the water started bumping around a lot, the wee boaty went up and down.

To be totally honest, we must have been proper first back taking in account our boatee was a tiddler, our age and incompetence - all worked out in a proper handicap. Only, they, the others didn't see it that way.

Lost my pink glasses an all on the way back in - very nice sailing though thank you very much. The string holding the bins slipped off my hair and plop, they were gone into the harbour.

Still, we moored up on the absent Admiral Hales' summer moooring for a while to have a sleep before putting the boaty back on our ropey things back behind the rocks and whathaveyou - once the tide agreed to come back in a bit.

The day the dog danced

It may be a concern

Oh dear oh dear.
Couldn't find a quiet seat in a nice cafe this day. Peeps all over the place smiling and dare I say it, laughing. Some street urchin from Englandshire throwing things in the air and encouraging people to cheer - and give him money.

Couldn't even hear the birds coughing as the circus on the castle green seemed to about to explode.

But no fear there was always someone to hand out a message about a 'righteous path' to somewhere.


Hrumph

Feet, hair and water

Sail and Row

There's a bit going on down Stormoway way. The music festival starts in a day or two and the sailing and rowing for everyone is running now.

I went down in the heat of the day - yes over 20C - to help. Held a string at an opportune time, got wet feet - that sort of thing and bumped into Murdo photo who is back on his native island for a day or two. Lovely chap too. remembered my name and everything from four years back!

Anyway, needless I snapped him up with my Vivitar UW&S before he started collecting pixels with his imaging device.

I then started to feel awful so came home and laid down. As I do

I may have told you how it all started

Or maybe I have not

Summing up

Basically, in our spare time Eve rides bikes, we sail, and I take snaps. Sometimes we do all three things on the same day - plus enjoy some local cafe culture. I mean, Stormoway is the town of a million cafes these days.

My fav Stormoway cafes; Nice & Chilled @ Cycle Hub. Bridge Centre Cafe, An Lanntair, Woodlands,. There are I might add plenty of others - all very nice.

There's a music festival this week too - oh, and the sailing / rowing things going on.

Oh, we are so very sophisticated up here these days.

Maybe

Maybe I'll tell you about yesterday soon, but today is not that day.

It was, however Alex Boyd's day of his birth some years ago - yesterday.

I'm still doing it. [whether you like it or not].

Warmness

It's been warm these last few weeks. The darkroom sessions have been few and far between as I enjoy the higher than usual temperatures and the sunshine. So much so, I have lost my mind a few times and paddled in the usually freezing sea. Only, it wasn't. Freezing that is.

Look I could stand there enjoying the warmish water round my ankles and dearest Eve snapped me up with the UWS.  I love this little gem of plastic. simple but interesting.

Nice imagary when shot into the sun too. I must use this thing more.

I took the thing the other night when out sailing with Admiral Hales in his good ship Ammonite. Only thing is, I was so engaged with the lovely weather on a lovely boat that I forgot to use it!

Enhanced

This lith print wasn't quite right - so I enhanced it a bit. Darkened it in the pooter. I like it now

I like it anyway

Sometimes, the messy-ness of an image makes it sing for me.

I think this one is a tad wabi-sabi

Are my apologies accepted?

How lovely. I might feel better Soon.

Still, I do feel that this portrait of a place is better squarer don't you think?

Sorry and everything

You'll have to forgive me. The TdF is on and yesterday the epic stage in the Jura mountains. Have to keep tabs on it as it happens. And didn't it happen eh?

Don't worry, I dragged Mr Toots out the other day to his fav subject - the blooming machair over on the west side of the island.. Of course I shot a bit too - but in good old B&W and in 35mm.

ooh it was raght lovely - warmish sunshine [between the clouds], little breeze and the machair just in bloom.

Mr Toots set too with his selection of cameras and Velvia film while I wandered about. Oh, I did shoot Mr Toots' car oop. It's some sort of faux 4wd out of Romania via France.

I shot the view too, can you imagine/ Used an orange filter I found in my pocket as well.

Yes, I know, I'll stick to binscapes !

Colour boating

See, when the sun is shining and the wind dies a little, there's plenty of boating happening at Cuddy Point. That's in Stormoway harbour.

That's dearest Eve in the red skiff coming back in after a wee row round the outer and inner harbour. Not sure if the canoe club was going or in at this point. Oh and there's the sailing club here sometimes too - not forgetting the yachts from all over the world going in and out and the fishing boats making a noise and smell about the place, the whale watching boats and some yobs in a speedboat creating havoc - until their boat ran out of fuel and they paddled part way back in till someone gave them a tow. Would have left them out there if it were me :-)

I needed it

After a few snaps where all went wrong, I needed to reaffirm my incompetence to myself. I shot out to a village beach with a 6x6 and some Rollei400s film, finished the roll in 30 mins as the rain arrived, developed quickly in PQ ( 1:10 - 2 mins] and I had some dodgy looking snaps - all shot wide open at f4. Just because I can.

Ahh, feel better now.

Salvaged

Ok, ok, what's going on?
Seem to have hit an impasse at the moment with everything film related going up the creek.
This is from the latest fiasco when yet another film - this time the ill fated Shanghai GP4 film - is useless after development. I suspected this might be the case so I quickly developed the thing in PQ print developer.

I suspect it was the unusual warm sun blazing down that threw me off track. Two whole days we had of that. You'll be pleased to hear it's gone back to the damp dullish days now.

As it happens I salvaged this neg and lith printed it on Slavich Unibrom - which isn't half bad but, this isn't that. I prefer to show you my mess-ups not my triumphs

Do I admit?

I went over to The Stones the other week. Just for a change of scenery and a scone you understand. I rarely ever actually look at the Stones since they don't seem to have finished them yet and they always look much same - either with or without hoardes of pixel catching peeps.

Don't expect Stones snaps  here [too often] but I do have a snap post tea and scone in the cafe. This is when the Pentax Espio Mini seems to work best. Obviously, I shall have to eat more scones.

I had with me this suitably unsuitable camera

This one. I've used it before only not sure it's working right. Always a tad darker on one side of the neg.
Loaded it with Foma200 film in a 400 cassette so I had to push the development - ID11. Now that's technical enough for me.

 I shot here and there while out the other day on that ill-fated crappy film stroll. Mainly there to be honest. The track was merely damp which was nice, the sun shone warmly and the orange filter I held in front of the lens made me all the better for it.

Mr Toots had been round for his tea the other evening and post dindins we watched a film on the pooter about Fay Godwin. She used a red or yellow filter often so I thought I'd better too. Come to think of it, me pal Mr A Boyd has one her old Mamiya cameras - all properly authenticated and everything - although I suspect one can still take rubbish snaps with it.

Now I am exhausterated after two strolls today and, carrying the coal in with my dearest Eve.

My numbers are marked

Oh botheration !
I thought I'd seen the last of this when I stopped using Shanghai 120 film.  Tis the numbers from the crappy backing paper on the film coming through. Must be the ink or something.

I'd had a lovely stroll down to where The Crofter used to dig his peats. Hadn't been there for a long time so it was nice - especially as the sun was shining with a slight breeze to keep those midge biters at bay. Thought I'd do a portrait of the track up there.  Took the Balda Baldix folder for company.

Even the local sheeps posed for me while they munched the 'grass' and looked at the view. What a pain after I'd sloshed the film [Rollei RPX 400]  in the developer and saw this. Might just have to buy some decent film :-(

film ? yes

Messed with film and everything. Like it though.
I shall be playing in the darkroom soon enough. Have to get up early to do it since the TdF is for watching in the afternoon :-)

Had a soggy bot yesterday too. The sailing turned out a bit damp as the rain came down. drying out.

All hail the Mighty G

All hail the Mighty G

New print. Nice paper.

Ooh, I like this paper. It may be RC paper but it is cheap and toned really well. Took this neg out for a try and love it now - especially after diffusing one of the split contrasts. The left hand glowey bit is light when I snapped the print up with me phone .Eh? What you on about ????