Greenbriar Lake and White Trees work.

Dogwood, Greenbriar Lake. Very late in the evening, about a 12 second exposure.


Moonrise across Greenbrair Lake.


Wild Pear I have been photographing for 20 years.

This month. All with 5X7 Deardorff. Not as happy with Xtol as I thought I might be. Might be going back to HC110. Xtol can really build density along the film edge. Proofing in the real darkroom and digitally copying the proofs. I am getting a pretty good idea about what I'm going to run into in the darkroom

Hawk and Owl Feather.

From about 1980. My Deardorff with a 4X5 back on it. Window light. 210 lens and a camera darkcloth for a background.

Darkroom.

Knives in an old beaker from Tom Swinney's darkroom. Digital file.

Water temp very good. Nice time to be working.

Xtol and HP5.

One of the signs that the end times have come and gone is the conversion of normal American products into metric measurements. A gallon has been a gallon forever but now in the end of darkroom processes, (since Kodak ruined Tri-X), I decided to try Xtol, the last Kodak black and white film developer that their will ever be.

Mixing it is a pain though...because it's in LITERS. And not just four liters that more or less equal a gallon....FIVE liters. A gallon and about a quart more. What do you do with the extra quart? Put it in a spare bottle? Use it one the spot? Dump it? Find some container that holds, (as none do) five liters? And the mixing can't be done in two 64 oz stainless steel pitchers that have been mixing chemicals for 40 years....you have to get a big plastic bucket.

So. Gallon bottles abound. What the heck holds five liters? God IS dead.

Mixed Xtol, stored a gallon, processes 24 ozs worth- two sheet film runs and dumped the extra.

Tap water and white trees.

Big limb seen overhead here broke and is angled out of the tree on the grass, all bloomed out. Like a huge garland. This same thing happened about ten years ago when a whole white tree fell out of the woodline and then bloomed. I print that image but it's difficult because I was using new Tri-x just after they changed it without telling anyone. They ruined the high values with the new emulsion and it prints with an odd flatness I didn't expect. Now using Ilford HP5 and Xtol. I'd used Tri-x and Hc110 for 30 years, with happiness.

Out with film to get a couple images that matter of white trees. Windy yesterday at my favorite tree out on Hiighway 64. Give it another shake today. Going into the darkroom to run film now and reload my holders. Beautiful time of the year.

Making a real effort to shoot in the most dramatic light of the day.

Tap water running at 50 degrees. Have to turn on the hot water heater to get a little help. Usually I just walk down to Brady's coffee with a 64 oz pitcher.