Fishmongers Ektachrome

Memories of Lucban

Glass Menagerie

Killer Rivers

A day after the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy in Manila, I decided to take a look at the devastation it left behind. I went to visit the system of rivers that swelled up in and around Marikina, Cainta and Pasig. I brought my 4×5 along and 5 film holders loaded with enlarging paper.

Everything was still quiet. The rescue operation was still going on and the survivors were taking their well-deserved rest in the evacuation centers. I went to Marikina River, the Manggahan floodway and the Pasig rivers which are near where I live.

I took these pictures which belie the destruction they have caused the day before.

The Marikina River.

Across the Manggahan Floodway.

The Pasig River  in Cainta

The Pasig River in Bagong Ilog, Pasig

Angelina and Yaya on 4×5 paper negs

Taken with a Crown Graphic loaded with Lucky 4×5 enlarging paper.

8X10 ENLARGING PAPER NEGS

Using an old 8×10 camera, Jay Javier, Bing Tan and I set up a two-pose portrait session at Fotofabrik. I also brought along 2  film holders loaded with 8×10 Lucky enlarging papers.

Jay calculated the ASA at 25 and exposed the paper negs with a flash at f/8 and a brief “B” setting.

The Paper was later developed at home in a 2:1 D-72  solution.

At first, I thought it was under exposed. But after direct-scanning the paper negative it came out dreamily haunting. Which I like.

Three 3×4 Paper Negs

This started as a mistake.

I bought a 4×5 camera from eBay. I saw the pictures, and the read the descriptions. It was being sold very cheap, a Seneca b. A very old field camera. The lens is also a Seneca, very old and has very small full aperture, f/8. It arrived quite speedily and was delivered to my doorsteps. A very lucky transaction. Until I opened the box and discovered that it is not a 4×5 but a 3 1/4 x 4 1/4  camera. It was a beatiful camera, indeed, but I thought I could never use it, because one of the most difficult film holders to find are the 3x4s. Then I remembered that once, I got hold of a bunch of assorted film holders which I left with Jay Javier, so I picked them up one day and found out that only three holders were working. That means 6 shots. I could go on a walkabout  with just 6 shots. That means I will have to think a lot, before I shoot.

Here are three test shots.

I loaded them with 3×4 sheets of enlarging paper. Exposed using a very low ASA rating, and developed with D-72.

The last Polaroid 4x5s

Eric Sales, a friend from Rangefinderfilipinas gave Bing Tan one of the last boxes of 4×5 Polaroids to play around with. Bing in turn gave me half of a box. Luckily, I have saved my 4×5 Polaroid adaptors from the 1980′s. I used up all the remaining films on Michael V during our taping of Bitoy’s Funniest Video.

Experiments with 4×5 Paper Negatives

This experiment is nothing new. What I find interesting with this technique is that I can use an ordinary flatbed scanner to scan large format negatives (4×5, 5×7 and 8×10).  If I were using film negatives, I would have to resort to more expensive options like buying a large format negative scanner, or use a medium format negative scanner to scan the film by sections and then stitching them together.

I find this simpler, although I can’t use a red filter for better-looking skies.

I loaded my Speed Graphic film holders with enlarging paper and exposed using a rating of ASA 25. After a couple of tests, I learned that the paper is more responsive to fluorescent light than incandescent. This is what came out after developing th paper on D-72 for 1 minute, with a dilution of 1:2.

I scanned the paper negative and inverted it using Mac’s Preview editor. This is what came out.

Here are a few more shots.

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My first day light photo using the same technique. With a Nikkor wide-angle lens.

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In the next photos, I used studio lights, and an old Anastigmat lens. At full aperture of f/4.5, the exposure was 30 seconds.

Di Mapuknat na Larawan

Ang kislap ng liwanag

ay hinuhuli ng mga mata at sandaling itinatago ng retina.

Sa maiksing sandaling ito,

itinatatak ang kislap na ito sa isipan,

upang maalala habang-buhay.

Isang di mapuknat na larawan.