These three photos  were  made whilst on a photowalk in the Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park with Adam and Michael  Duttkiewicz and a couple of  their friends at the time.   This would have been a decade or more ago.  It would have been  around the time when I was still living in the city,   re-learning to photograph  in black and white,  and experimenting in seeing in b+w.   

I have not looked at these  files for a decade or more,  as the quality of some of these b+w negatives was poor.  I was embarrassed as they  were underexposed, overdeveloped, and  clumsily  composed.    

The scanning by the lab  was  done for the appearance of digital and not  for analogue -- it was  over-sharp.   The software that I had at the time  (an early version of Lightroom, if I recall )  was  basic, and  I couldn't do much  editing the scanned files.    I did go and buy my own scanner as I wanted the  softer appearance/presence  of  film. 

 I didn't bother to go through these archival  files  to see what is actually there.  I dismissed them and forgot about these archives.    Until now.  

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I mentioned my  brief  experiment using a roll of expired film --- Fuji Velvia 50 transparency---  here on the Leica poetics blog. Though the results were pretty ordinary, if not largely  disappointing,  I've  decided to continue with the expired film experiment.

I've been gifted  with more  expired Velvia 50 in both 35mm and 120 formats.  I had hoped to use  the Rolleifex 6006 for the 120 film,  but it is not working, despite a newly packed  battery. The electronics are the problem by all accounts, and it needs to go overseas to be repaired as  nobody in Australia  is willing to, or capable of  repairing  it. That's expensive,  so I will  continue  the experiment  in the short term  with the expired 35mm Velvia 50. 

I recently  acquired, courtesy of  Brett Rogers in Moleswoth, Tasmania,   a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super  SLR camera with a standard 50mm Tessar lens, leaf shutter and   coupled selenium light meter, along with filters,  lenshood and a  camera bag plus  the loan of 35mm and 85mm lenses  to use with the 35mm Velvia 50.  The Zeiss Ikon Contaflex  SLR, which  was manufactured by Zeiss-Ikon AG in Stuttgart, West Germany between the years 1959 and 1962, is what's known as a vintage camera.    Mike Eckman has a very informative account of the  post war history  of both the Contaflex and the Zeiss-Ikon company.   Zeiss today is a high end lens manufacturer.

This history indicates that I have stepped back into the subculture of collectors and vintage cameras  with  its nostalgia, archives,  museum  and memories --- often to the extent of living off its  remembered inheritance and history. It  is a step back into past times  so as to  use a quality vintage, mechanical camera  in the present with expired film.  This requires  that you have  access to skilled technicians,  like Brett Rogers,  who have the knowledge and expertise to  repair these antique cameras, restore them back to life, then to look after and service them with tender loving care.    

So the experiment will start with  the expired  35mm Velvia 50 and the old world  Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex SLR.  This will be take a while to kickstart as the Contaflex is yet to arrive, the film needs to be  exposed, then developed by a lab and  scanned by me. I'll post the images  on this blog, even though it lacks  a photo gallery facility or plugin. 

 The  two photos on this post are from the original roll of expired Velvia 50 that were  made with a Leica M4-P rangefinder. Looking at them I can see that the film needs to be rated at 32  instead of 50 ASA so as to increase the shadow detail.  They provide a starting point. The photos in the next post  will be those made with the Contaflex.  

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An experiment using  double exposure to layer the photo  and to make the ordinary seem  a bit strange through  imperfections.  

Strange in the sense of a memory image or a melancholic dream image.

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 I have an ongoing photographic interest in edgelands. Edgelands are usually understood as  the banal hinterlands that exists between urban and rural environments, and they disrupt and  challenge the common notion of beauty in the landscape.

The picture below  is a  recent (2024) attempt at an interpretation of edgelands in Waitpinga. This   earlier attempt (in 2022)  was centred around  the early morning light and it adopts a pictureesque approach.   The more recent interpretation below is bleaker.

The more recent interpretation builds on earlier work here (in 2020) and here (in 2019). It is the bleak interpretation  that is more fitting   to this particular edgeland, rather  than the earlier  picturesque  approach.  It fits with the aesthetic experience of being in (walking in) a  degraded landscape.They are very modest compared to the work of Naoya Hatekeyama.

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The image below is a continuation of the little experiment that I'd started  a couple of years ago to try and photograph light itself. Light is the subject. 

This  is late afternoon light in the Redwoods near Beech Forest in the Otways in Victoria in March 2024.   I was concerned with the  intensity of the light. 

I  experimented whilst walking amongst the Californian Redwoods that afternoon, but  I wasn't really happy with  the results of light falling on the trunks of the Redwoods.   I needed to de-literalized’ the images much more. 

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I've started experimenting  with digital black and white whilst making some seascapse with the 5x4 Linof Technika IV  and colour sheet film. The weather condition chosen   was the mist and fog hanging around Encounter Bay on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula over the Xmas/New Year period (2023-24).  

I've never had much success with digital black and white conversions from a colour digital file using the Sony A7 R111--- the results have always been disappointing, as  the images have  looked bland and muddy.   The recent seascapes and fog offered me an opportunity  to experiment to see if I could create something better.   The above 'behind the camera' image is an example  of  this experiment.  

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Now that Suzanne's broken fibula is healing and she is able to walk one of standard poodles I am able to start to plan a photo trip to the Murray Mallee in South Australia. I will take Maleko with me. 

I plan to pick up where I left off prior to  the Covid pandemic, which was  in 2019. This was the Claypans  and the nearby  Copeville and Galga area  that were on the old  Waikerie railway line, which was a branch line from Karoonda. The railway  was constructed around 1914  and was closed in the 1990s.  

I will start by returning to this  site and this photo:

It will be a large format photo trip and my initial camp will be in the quarry near Copeville,  as it was on the previous trip.  Things have changed in the meantime.  The Copeville silo was painted  by Jarrod Loxton in 2022 as part of the South Australia silo art trail. 

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The picture below  (from early January 2023) comes from  my decision to explore and  experiment with  a  different approach to the seascape project that I have been engaged in over the last year. I am finding it an intriguing project. 

The exploration involved searching for   different locations from the Rosetta Head one  that I had previously been using. What I was looking for was  a site   that  would enable me to get closer to the sea , as well as  provide protection from  any surging rogue waves. I was wary as I'd been previously caught with expensive consequences for the photography gear. 

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Last Sunday (26th March) was  overcast and raining.  These are  good conditions  for  returning to the  Spring Mount Conservation Park in the southern part of the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia to make some large format photographs of the bushland.  I did return,  and my objective  was to  photograph the bushland in  black and white. I have learned that monochrome works better representing  this old growth stringy bark  bushland  than colour film.   

The photo making  needed to be after  the rain  had eased and before the cloud cover cleared and the sun came out.  The location chosen was along Strangeways Rd,  which I had identified  the day before whilst I was on an afternoon poodlewalk with Maleko.  There was no low cloud or mist between the trees that morning  but it was gloomy -- suitably so  - and, luckily,  there was little wind.   

I had about  45 minutes to an  hour in the  mid-morning  to use the 5x4 Sinar F1 view camera.   I was able to make 2 exposures before the sun came out and changed the atmosphere. 

Like the Gitzo tripod I was using,  the entry level, Sinar is around 50 years old,  as it was probably made sometime in the 1970s. It is  a lightweight, modular, view camera and very  easy to use in the field;    or  either  the right angle viewer  or the   binocular reflex magnifier on the back  of the camera.  I don't have either of the latter.  I just use a simple dark cloth, which is a hassle to use when the wind is blowing. I didn't have time to put  the Sinar pan tilt/head on the tripod. 

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Continuing the light series/project.  This  is  Light #3 for contrast. 

The photo was made on a  spring morning in October 2022 looking across Encounter Bay from Rosetta Head at Victor Harbor.  

There was heavy seafog that morning. These are infrequent as they only happen a couple of times during the year.