These are two views from Hagia Sophia, when it was still a museum. One is an interior made from the upper gallery, the other is an outward view from a window on the upper gallery, towards the Blue Mosque - another icon - in the distance. I love harsh mid-day sun for this kind of architecture. I think it defines the form of a curved dome very nicely.
The negs for these photos are from 2007 but the prints are from a few weeks ago. I was going through my negative archive, inspecting them with a loupe (a reversed 50mm lens actually...it does the job), and was struck by the beauty of these two adjacent MF frames.
Yes, just like a print, negs can be beautiful in their own right. Then I saw that these were Delta400 developed in Perceptol (1+1), a developer I haven't used for ages. Naturally I was curious how they would print. And boy, do they print nicely! The only extra exposure I gave was a bit at the top on both prints; nothing major. The scanner couldn't preserve it, and I'm not too finicky about it either, but there is the tiniest detail in the whites of the upper windows in the interior view.
I also have to add that the optic these negs were made with is amongst the very best I've ever used: a Bronica 65mm f/4 on a Bronica RF645. It's a shame that despite some very nice haptics, the camera is a bit temperamental and not the pinnacle of reliability, but its lenses are absolutely phenomenal. This statement is no hyperbole at all.
The prints are on 24x30cm Ilford Classic paper.
I haven't been to Hagia Sophia since I made these pictures. That's 16 years now. Wow, time does fly. But Istanbul has been so overrun with tourists over the last decade, that every time I passed the church/museum/mosque I saw the endless queues and couldn't muster the determination for another visit.
So, that was it today. Hope it was worth your time. That's the big question, isn't it? Will it be worth my time? Everybody wants our time these days. At least this place is ad free. And by the way, don't bother checking the prices for the Bronica RF645 now! They've become pretty steep. Also, given their track record for reliability, buying one without extensively using and checking it would be a huge risk.Cheers...and cherish the light!
It was worth my time. Those are beautiful prints.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marcus.
DeleteHi Omar - I have to say that second print is masterful. It is really hard to deal with the slight bloom of lens flare and deep shadow, but you have and it has imparted such a feeling of depth and space I think Frederick Evans would be proud of you. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHi Phil. The materials did most of the work really....but I guess years of experience do come into play somewhere in the game.
DeleteI often think about Frederick Evans abandoning photography when platinum papers became unavailable. I was even thinking about writing about Evans in a post, in the context of "if our materials become unavailable...what then?". Call it quits? Seems too radical a decision.
The materials can take it to a point, but at the end of the day a poor printer can make the best paper look awful - thankfully that is not the case here. Great stuff!
DeleteAs for giving up, well personally I feel so dissatisifed with digital imaging I feel it could well be the case. I suppose we won't know until it happens or not. Most of the guys at the forum bemoan the cost of ink, so farm their pictures out to mail-order print places - I daren't say it, but that must be awful.
There is exactly one thing about digital/inkjet printing that has been able to excite me so far, and that's the ability to use different kinds of papers - I mean those lovely japanese papers from bamboo or what not, for example - and produce zines with them. But all the shenanigans of running a printer are so off-putting. Better seize the day while B&W is still alive.
DeleteI agree with you, though the choice over here (unless you're bankrolled) is getting to Ilford and er, Ilford! This being said, I still have some Bergger (never used) Agfa MG (fibre) Ilford MG (fibre) Ilford Galerie (Grade 2!) Ilfospeed (Grade 3) Tetenal Vario (very nice) Ilford MGRC (lots) and an ancient box of Kodak Veribrom (no idea what that is like yet). This being said I've found printing on MGRC in larger sizes far more satisfying than smaller sizes, but I don't like being driven into corners. We can get the Adox Agfa remake, but it is a fortune.
DeleteIs the Adox Agfa remake (MCC110) available in the UK? It seems to be sold out in Germany (@fotoimpex.de).
DeleteBut yes, having just one manufacturer is scary. 20 years ago, when I lived in London, apart from Ilford I regularly bought and printed on Oriental Seagull, Kodak Polymax, Forte (many different options), Agfa and Kentmere!
As to prices, everything has become very expensive. The lates headlines in Turkey are the price of onions! I'm getting used to the cost of B&W.
It was only on a to order basis, so probably the same as you - nice paper though. Kentmere is still going under the Ilford brand (I still have a box of old Kentmere stipple finish!) - new Kentmere MGRC is pretty much a lighter weight base version of Ilford, but is cheaper.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, Forte was lovely. The Foma 111 reminds me of a lighter Forte - it is nice stuff too.
Silverprint were doing that Silver . .something stuff from Japan - it was a new manufacturer . . however as of today, it doesn't look like Silverprint exist any more!
I just checked Silverprint and their website indeed doesn't exist anymore. Strange. I felt said when I read that they were moving out to...was it Cornwall or Wales?...somewhere west anyway. I loved their London shop in an alley close to Waterloo station. I hope they still trade.
DeleteCan't recall a paper that began with "Silver"...hmm, no idea. There was a paper called Sterling, which I never tried.
It was called Silverchrome - Ilford Japan apparently.
ReplyDeleteThey moved to the South Coast, but I think that was when Martin Reed sold up - I never saw their London shop. Looks like Process Supplies are probably the last OLD materials supplier in London - there are others too of course, but Process have been there for years.
Sad if Silverprint have gone though - I think they were one of the earliest importers of Agfa papers.