Catch up

Geez it's been a while since I have blogged. I have been extremely busy but not really doing much. Work was busy and then I have been just too exhausted to do much else. So going through my photo diary I'll transcribe what I have written there.

general
Agfa Cadet trial was a failure.. Mostly do to my inept handling of the film. I needed more sticky tape.
My No1 Box Brownie needs a winder so I sourced a broken n2 Box brownie as a donor. This camera dates from 1904-1907 and uses sight lines on the top of the box for lining up your shot. It's as small as a bug!! I am constantly amazed at how tiny these boxes are and what lovely photos they produce 100 years later. As this on uses 117 film size I may be able to get 127 size to fit.

The Box Brownie Flash II Had issues last film in the winding the holes in the 120 spools where just too big for the winder.

2 May

My Birthday box filled with goodies arrived. It was filled with all sorts of goodies that I had collected from January to April in my US mailbox. 10kg of presents.
2X Diana Clones
1X Black mini
1x Box Brownie No3 though I have since decided to sell this one. The film size is 4.5 inches wide!! Unless I wind two 120s on one spool... :-(
1x Box Brownie special ( trapezoidal shape)
1x Valiant Six-20 folding camera with box light tight bellows. Very exciting
1x bag of film but from when I wanted high ASA so hmmm I'll sell most of this
Japanese film and some spools and a military bag that I wanted as a handbag. :-)
Several copies of Light leaks magazine. The only ones missed, I have as PDF anyway.
Brightened a low day I was now too busy to be depressed.

3 May
Mother got the mail today and so I woke up to a huge box and two smaller boxes. One had a pristine No2 Box brownie that I have dated to 1919. This works flawlessly and takes 120 without any need to re-spool. The awesome thing about this camera are the three apertures. Research tells me that they are f/11, f/16 and f/22 but some forums are telling me f/16, f/22 and f/32 I am inclined to use the first scale as my BBF2 is around f/11. The Brownies have a shutter speed of 1/35 to 1/50th of a second.
The other small Box has a pocket folding Kodak No1. This old camera is a little worse for wear, the red window was missing, the glass at the front of the spotter is missing and the bellows part is stuck to the film part. I spent some time priding the two parts apart and found a film! Gee. The Bellows tested as light tight.cool!!

4 May
Birthday spent totally alone. Don't ask.

5 May
After night shift, I went to Cape Banks. This is my healing place and the past few days have been emotionally very tough. I do manage but some days are harder than others.
I arrived before dawn and the sky was only beginning to lighten. The car park was filled with Rabbits who scattered as soon as my headlights hit them. Only one lone fox near the houses.
I sat in the car for a few minutes and watched the sky lighten a bit.
Leaving the warmth of the car, I headed for the cliffs. As I walked down the path, I felt my mood lighten My plan was originally to go to the little Island and watch the sun rise from there as the freight ships come into port, but as I reached the top of the cliffs, I saw the rock pools left over from high seas last night. Heading over to the edge, I found a dry spot for put my bag down and set up. I found a sheltered spot for the pin hole camera where it would not blow away and settled down with my 1946 folding Kodak to shoot the rock pools as the sun rose.
Finishing the roll, I stood and and turned to change cameras and was quite startled to see a fox sniffing my camera bag. Faster than I can lift the iPhone, he vanished. Thankfully without Any of my stuff.
Next camera out was the 1919 Box Brownie No2 this had an ASA 50 film in it a fact that I promptly forgot and forgot to time expose two frames (d'oh!!)

Cape Banks worked it's magic on my soul. And as the sun took full custody of the day, I was ready to go home. Next stop was Vision Image.

Vision Image was not too difficult to get to from Cape Banks but as I passed under the airport flyover, I spied a sign telling me that the airport tunnel had one lane closed. OH No!! The South/west traffic was as a stand. Hmmm

The Man at Vision Image looked oddly at my ancient films. After careful study, he offers me Caffenol processing for the old old colour films. Some films were e-22!!! The Japanese films were a no go They were just too small.
Disappointed about the Japanese films, we chatted about the others, two Pan-X and a kodacolor. He suggested that if I want them in colour then he could ship them to the states. Eep I don't want to mortgage my house for film developing so we agreed on the Caffenol route,

I headed home via Botany road Maccas and pulled in for a coffee and a toast or muffin. As I walked in, I spied a sign "NO EFTPOS" due to banking problems. Westpac had suffered a huge failure and across the city hundreds of businesses had no EFTPOS. For me it meant nothing to eat. I headed home via the princess hwy then the M5 and I was delighted that this way had not traffic WIN!!

Later In the day I headed to the PO where there was 2 expired films waiting for me. A back 120 roll and a 127 one.

The 4th was such a shitty, dark day and the 5th was a golden one. It figures eh?

Cape Banks (digital photos at this stage)

As I finished work at 6am and had to start again at 1400, I did not have time to go home. SO I went to a favorite haunt, Cape Banks.

CApe Banks for people who do not know sydney, it in the south east, not far from La Perouse loop and it forms the entrance to Botany Bay.

I took my analogue bag and Lots of film. Cape Banks is the resting place of the SS Minmi, shipwrecked 8 May 1937. I do love shooting this wreck, but today, the tide came in too quickly for me to get to the wreck so I climbed the hill above it and shot her from above. Sunrise was disappointing this morning, almost colourless. :-( Always the way you have the cameras out and the sun wont play. :-(
For the record I had my Canon 7D for HDR, Cmena 8M (Redbird film)and Cmena 8 (B&W) film, Spinner (Lomo film) Sprocket (Unknown film) Tim135 (Happy film) and Lubitel 166B (which had to begin with Lomo ISO400 film.).


Some fishermen had climbed up the cliff behind me and so I watched them for a while, shooting the waves crashing against our position. I used up the Lubital roll (Lomo ISO 400)and then a second one (Lomo Chrome 200), changing as quickly as I could in the sea spray. I missed a frame on one roll and the next roll had frame 6 exposed as the back fell open. I was glad for the tape in my bag and I repaired the camera and soldiered on.

The spinner used a roll, and as I had not written down what film was in it, I was surprised that it had an ISO 800 in it. DAMN my photos will be overexposed. I keep better notes now....Spinner re-loaded with Fujicolor Superia ISO 100, and so I will have to use the rest of the roll in bright sun. Hmm WIll need to remember to keep the camera on cloud setting.

I headed back towards the car, then as a spur of the moment thing headed up to the old cemetery. Called the Coast Cemetery or Prince Henry Hospital Cemetery it was used from 1881 for the small pox outbreak. The infectious decease hospital being located here at Little Bay as it was far enough away from the city to quarantine the sick and dying. Eventually this little hospital house Typhoid, Bubonic plague and leprosy victims. Anyone dying of one of these diseases was interred here no matter where they died. Its a shame that most headstone have not survived, being close to the coast and also as it is so isolated, it gets vandalized. :-( Poeple here may not have even had a headstone. The stones are scattered and there is no order here. No neat rows. I wonder if these people still have any family still living. There was a grave of a 5 year old child. :-(
I didn't dwell here, I need to return on a less sticky day.

Onwards to the cliffs again. Here at Little Bay, I took out the Sprocket Rocket. I dunno what film is in this camera, but I am determinded to get at least one usable photo out of this camera. TIM135 came out to play as well but after doing a lot of shooting, I realized that I had left him on cloudy, so another over exposed roll. I have not used a whole roll from this camera yet. These 36 exposures seem to just keep going and going. It was here that I sat to update my film notes. I ventured further north towards the golf course but the heat and hunger were gnawing at me.. so I gave up and headed home.



I never did find the access to the gun shelter above me at the Westpac Chopper hanger. Something else to do next time.
Finding my car where I left it.. (WIN!) I got to the entrance to the Golf course, when a sign with a castle distracted me.. I turned left instead of right... and ended up at the La Perouse loop. The most southern point for the Sydney Trams, this was a balloon loop that was always busy. Now just tourists and not many. The castle was the Barracks tower sitting in the centre of the modern day loop.
Took a few shots, Saw the Alexander Spirit in port at Kurnell, but she was too far away for my film friends (Not having the Canon 10QS with me) SO I only took Digital.

Finally I was driven to the airport's fast food outlet, where I got supplies and headed to the lookout near the Tower. Here I shot with film and analogue, and then tried to assist a guy move his ford, which he had managed to stick on a hill in the sand. It was stuck and even with 4 adults, we could not shift her. No one had a strap, so he was stuck and had to wait for the NRMA. By this time, fatigue had caught up and I headed for work.


Showered and dressed, I slept for 2 hours before starting my shift. I felt much better for the shower I can tell you. My nose is red, my arms mildly burnt but I shot a bit of film and feel good about the trip. NO matter how many times I go to Cape Banks I always discover new things to shoot and explore.