I saw a great shot of a Covered bridge in square format which felt very constrained and wanted to go shoot it in 5×12. So I picked a cloudy day and head out for another Sunday Morning Adventure. I get lost on the way there and of course it is in the middle of nowhere […]

On one of my Sunday Morning Adventures I ventured down a dirt road near Helen GA to follow the Chattahoochee River. I found a spot to park near a trail that led down to the river and a rock outcrop. While I was setting up my camera a local resident decided he needed to bathe […]

As part of my road trip with my son we stopped at a Washington Oaks Gardens in Palm Coast Florida on our way to Epcot. It was here I discovered the backing glass on my 4×5 was broken but the ground glass was still intact. I only had time for a couple of shots and […]

I have written several blog posts about the various cachetol based film developers I have been using the last few years. So I thought I would post my observations and personal experiences in more of a summary format for anyone who wants to explore a similar path. The only caveat is that these statements are […]

I had stumbled upon Jay DeFehr’s website a couple of years ago when searching for an alternative to Pyrocat HD which kept failing for me.  Obsidian Aqua is a simple two chemical (part A) that is highly concentrated and easy to mix. Like most of the cachetol based developers the goal of this developer is […]

Last weekend I went to visit my sister in Tuscaloosa Alabama. On Sunday I had the chance to visit Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham Alabama. Unfortunately a storm was moving in so I had limited time. The exterior of the old plant had nice lighting but the interiors were very dark even close to windows for […]

I shot some 4×5 Delta 100 on a recent Sunday Morning Adventure with fellow NGLFP member Bryan Garris. We traveled North and West to Cherry Log, Georgia to Falls Branch Falls. There wasn’t much rain recently so the falls were a bit bare of water and the lighting was spotty through the trees. The hike […]

I saw a posting in the Large Format Forum a few days ago that mentioned using Ansco 130 as a film developer. I have some stock of Ansco 130 which I use for a Paper developer and love the results with Ilford and Bergger Fiber papers.  The recommendation was use the developer 1:10 for 10 […]

Last weekend I returned to Edge of the World rapids in Dawsonville, GA. Even in early light there is a nine stop difference from detailed shadows (wet mossy rock) to the light blue sky. I am continuing experimentation with Pyrocat M now that it has a little age on it. Scene 1 Bridge and River […]

Today’s experiment was to compare two identical exposures developed with different dilutions of Pyrocat M.  My standard single sheet development method is to use Steve Sherman’s EMA technique which blends dilution with long stand times between agitations. Today I decided to try something a little more aggressive using a standard mix, shorter stand periods, and […]