Then about six months ago I started listening to podcasts and one of my favorite photography podcasts is Lenswork by Brooks Jensen. And it so happens that Brooks publishes a bi-monthly magazine of the same name that features b&w prominently. And it isn’t your ‘normal’ commercial magazine - there are no ads (except for other Lenswork publications), no equipment reviews, and no color.

So of course I couldn’t resist and shelled out my hard-earned on a one year subscription. The magazine arrived yesterday and I’m just knocked out by the quality. The photo portfolios are printed in beautiful duotone, the writing and interviews are intelligently written and the printing quality is superb. This isn’t like any photo magazine I’ve ever seen, it’s the kind of publication that makes me want to wash my hands before reading it because I don’t want to get any fingerprints or smudges on the pages.

While I was at it, I also ordered the three books that Brooks publishes. Single Exposures and Letting Go of the Camera are written by Brooks and On being a photographer is written by David Hurn. I haven’t got around to reading them yet but a quick glance through them makes me think there’s lots of good reading (and pondering) in there.

OpenRAW format
4 Jul 2006

Your RAW files belong to you! ACT NOW and write your camera maker.

More info (link will open a .pdf document in a new window), or visit the OpenRAW website.



Digital Gallery
19 Feb 2006

Here's a few photos taken with my new Olympus E-500 DSLR.



Going Digital
12 Feb 2006

I've finally got around to buying a digital SLR (an Olympus of course). I bought the E-500 twin lens kit which comprises the camera body and the 14-45mm and 40-150mm zoom lenses. First impressions are very good and you can see some photos I've taken with it here.

Getting this camera represents a big change of direction for me. Up until now I've been a committed b&w photographer who swore to stick with film until the last roll. But times and techniques change and I feel I'm ready for a new challenge.

I certainly do not intend to give up using film. From what I've heard digital photography hasn't yet matched the tonal reproduction, print quality and longevity of traditional b&w film and prints. So for b&w my trusty OM-1 has been retained along with all my Zuiko's, I might even eventually buy that Fuji GW690 I've always wanted!



Beseler enlargers on eBay
15 Jan 2006

As I mention below, I bought my Beseler 23II-XL via the Australian eBay site. Just out of curiosity I've been following other auctions for these on eBay USA and I'm dumbfounded (and a little distressed) at how cheaply these enlargers are selling for at the moment.

There are some real bargains out there if you're still interested in traditional photography because everyone is dumping their film cameras and darkroom equipment to buy digital. If you've ever thought about trying 'real' b&w photography now is the best time ever to get into it. Quality gear is going for criminally low prices.



Darkroom in the works
21 Nov 2005

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Beseler 23II-XL enlarger (another eBay purchase) which has prompted me into getting a darkroom set up again. I haven't had one going for over 10 years because of various moving house dramas. We never seemed to stay long enough in one place to get set up properly, or if I'd wanted to there wasn't a suitable room or space. But it looks like we're settled a bit now so the time has come. Mind you, the laundry is more like a cupboard so it's going to be a VERY compact darkroom!

This is the kind of enlarger I've been lusting after for years, it'll do everything I'll ever want and it's built like a tank. Now I have an excuse to buy that medium format camera I've always wanted...



Galleries revamped
16 Oct 2005

I recently bought a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED film scanner (what a mouthful) on eBay so I've been busy redoing all my gallery images. I must say they're a great improvement over my old scans off the prints, I wish I'd got this thing a lot sooner. Still more images to come, I just have to find where I stashed that box of old negs, it's in a safe place somewhere.



Death knell of b&w film?
1 Mar 2005

I've been concerned for some time now that the range of slow-speed b&w films is becoming smaller. Kodak Panatomic-X was the first to go in the early 90's, then they dropped Technical Pan (a real loss) and more recently Agfa dropped APX25. At least Ilford is still making Pan-F but the company has been in trouble of late so who knows how long that will last. Thank goodness Efke is still making its 25 ASA film.

I recently made a trip to the big city (Melbourne) and did the obligatory photo store tour. In one of the larger shops I bought a 100ft roll of 35mm Kodak TMax 100 and as the salesman dropped it into a bag he made a comment that b&w photographers like me were becoming an endangered species. This startled me a bit because I figured that of all places this store would sell a reasonable amount of b&w film so his comment startled me more than a little bit.



Palm in the darkroom
10 Oct 2004

After a recent bad experience buying an enlarger timer on eBay I stumbled across a really cool program called Foto Timer that runs on my Palm Tungsten E.

Foto Timer can be used when developing film or enlarging. For example, when developing a film you can set it to time each of the processes - so many minutes for the developer, 30 secs for the stop bath, five minutes for the fixer and ten minutes for the wash. It "chains" all these together and as it finishes one process it starts the next. It even beeps to tell you a process is finishing so you can get ready for the next step.

When enlarging, it'll do the counting for you. You can even set it to tick like a metronome each second. If your Palm has a serial port and if you can make a suitable electronic "black box", it will also turn your enlarger on and off!

If you don't own a Palm™ hand-held computer, I'd go so far as to say go buy a cheap one on eBay just to run this program - it's that good!



Trigger happy
24 Aug 2004

I've been trigger-happy all day, I woke up wanting to go out for the day but it was drizzling with rain so I slept in, after the morning cup of tea cleared my head I thought about an indoor still-life but I just can't get inspired about anything. A friend gave me some poppy flowers to photograph but they've all died...all the peppers in the local supermarket are square-looking (not the least erotic like Edward's).

So I tried a still-life using an orange but it just looked too round and orange-like and I couldn't get anything I was happy with, I decided I didn't know what I wanted the photo to look like in the first place and as I fiddled with the set-up I just got more and more confused as to the effect I was after.

This has made me think about how my creative process works, I seem to be better at interpreting things "as found" rather than trying to set something up, it's a skill I've got to work on I guess...that was my idea behind using a pepper, I could try to duplicate an existing classic photo, only as a learning exercise mind you (I'm not into making second-rate copies) but I'm sure I'd learn lots to apply in making my own "masterpieces"!



Fotospeed Impressions paper
15 Aug 2004

This evening I made a couple of prints on the Renaissance paper and I think it's wonderful paper, it is warm-tone and it has a really nice lightly stippled surface. It's a double weight (feels more like triple) paper which along with the surface texture provides a rewarding tactile experience. It's a shame to put these prints behind glass because then you can't touch them!

Until now I've been happy using Agfa and Ilford b&w fibre papers but I'm definitely going to be using more Fotospeed paper too, the choice of paper tones and the varied weights/surfaces make for an appealing range of papers, do yourself a favour and try them out, I think you'll fall in love with them like I have!



Nature education
10 Aug 2004

The OM-1 and I finally got some fresh air and sunshine today, we haven't been out in quite a while and it was really good.

Waiting for the clouds to move into position gives one lots of time to sit and appreciate the surroundings so much better, I watched a hive of wild bees at work, I saw four wallabies bounce past me through the bush, an echidna crossed my path and I watched a tiny red-breasted finch dart about the trees around me.