Down By The River

[Rob MacKillop]

Water of Leith, Edinburgh. Pentax 6x7 with the 105mm lens and Ilford's Ortho Plus film, developed in Cinestil Df96 Monobath using the minimal agitation technique, ten seconds every minute for six minutes.

I've been desperate to get out to the Water of Leith again, as I'm 3/4 of the way through a year studying the river with my cameras. I felt I'd lost my mojo, and was convinced none of the shots would be good, but, yeah, some are not bad. Done better. Done worse. It was just a great feeling to actually get back there. Mind you, even at 7.30am there were a lot of runners and dog walkers. Most distracting.

The jury is still out on the Ortho Plus film. Very dark. I like it for some shots, not all.

The first is out of focus (wrong choice of aperture!), but I still like it.

 

[John Holland]

Nice series, Rob - the fourth image is the winner

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, John. I'm not so sure...too oof on the right..?

 

[Chris Bennett]

Nice Rob.
I like that one too. No-one spotted those twigs til you mentioned them!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I'm my own toughest critic...annoyingly!

 

[John Holland]

I agree with Chris, I did not see the OOF areas until you mentioned them . I still like the image.

 

[Dave Farnes]

That does look like a great place to visit. A fine set, I do like the 4th one and the 5th. The high contrast between dark water and tree trunks and bright leaves works well.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

And it's only five minutes' walk from Princes Street, the Main Street in Edinburgh. It's down in a gorge, and you can't hear the traffic. Don't tell anyone, though, I don't want the place to become a tourist attraction. Runners and dog walkers are enough already.

 

[Pete Askew]

A damn fine haul, Rob and it looks like you've cracked this development business. I like the selective focus in the first and the way it draws you eye to the vertical trunk. Number three though is my favourite. There is something about the random arrangement of the leaf buds that mirrors the type of reflections you have often captured in the water.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Pete. I'm enjoying developing film, and wish I'd discovered the monobath earlier. It gives decent results.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thought I'd upload a crop of one of the above, to show the detail with this lens/camera/film combo. I'm really growing to love this film.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Your results have persuaded me to try some of that film, Rob.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Good. I'm really impressed with it. Ilford have shut down for the duration, but you might get some elsewhere.

Although ASA is 80, my camera can only get as close as 100. Seems okay, though.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Here's Hamish's positive review: https://www.35mmc.com/13/01/2020/my-first-two-rolls-of-ilford-ortho-plus/

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thanks.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Sorry, events conspired for me to post that last single word before I intended to.

I was going to say that I'm not in a big hurry, as I have a list of a few things I want to try and I've added that one to it (near the top though!)

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Beautiful haunting quality with the third being seriously good. It puts me in the same frame of mind as some of the images that have accompanied Brian Eno's music scores.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Shaun. I watched an Amazon Prime (or was it Netflix?) two-hour long documentary on Eno last night, concentrating on his "golden years", from Roxy to Bowie, and then his solo projects. It was quite good, though repetitive, and could have made an excellent one-hour film. Anyway, I've really liked some of his recordings, and he can use my photo on the cover of his next recording if he likes!

 

[Aaron Quinn]

That first one just jumped at me. The bright of the trunks, that dark water and the out of focus of the background really grabbed me. Great set!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Aaron!