Single Coated

Our old (and only!) wheelbarrow on its 'rest' position. I can't remember how many times I've pushed (or pulled!) it with who knows how many different kinds of load.

And now that I think, I also liked playing the role of load on it when I was a kid, and wasn't it fun !

This must be the kind of things you no longer even think on doing when adult, and to be honest, I'm sure it's still as fun as it used to be...

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa

Dear all,

as you may have noticed, this site is now on a new location. I've found the hard way that all the photos upload to blogger no longer can be accessed from this new URL so please be patient while I replicate them on pbase so that I can link them from here easily.

I'll try to go 'down' the list from more recent to the older posts.

I'm afraid it's not going to be solved in 5 minutes, so, please be patient. I'll try to add as much new and already pbase'd content as possible :)

Oscar

Even in the middle of paradise there's place for tragedy.

This little fox had lived around that zone for several years, we found it during an early morning walk, blood still fresh on tarmac. As happens with most animal deaths on the road, probably he became flashed by the headlights and couldn't dodge the car. Seems he still had forces to reach the road side and lie there.

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa

Legend, or I ought to say, popular wisdom says this niche carved in the rock, placed between a cereal field and a rocky hill near the Mesa river is in fact the tomb of one of the muslim warriors living and battling in that zone during the ages of Al-Andalus.

Truly, that zone and many others around there were scene of neverending battles, during the long gone years of muslim and christian conquer and re-conquer episodes.

I'm not very expert on the history of those years, but a quick search on the internet has confirmed that the shape, approximate depth and most important, the E-W orientation with the head towards the rising sun (and feet towards sunset, as you can see on the picture) are common on them.

Why is it supposed to be the one from a king, I don't know, but again according to what I've been told, years ago, during some severe rains and works on the cereal field, several more tombs were found, together with some archeological rests.

So, maybe whoever he was, he was somewhat different if he was worth carving a different tomb on pure rock instead of a regular one on the soft ground...

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Well, as is always the case, legends and popular wisdom are always better if supported (and corrected!) by the proper dose of historical knowledge, in this case thanks to these comments kindly provided by Luis:

To me, as ou describe it and more if there are more looks like (pre) visigothic tombs, as their presence in the area is well documented. I'm almost sure that isn't islamic because they have to be in the ground.

There are more examples in the area adn the relatively near Cuenca, and I'm not so sure now as I'm talking from memory, but I think that there are also in Teruel.

...

Since the fall of the roman empire and the later christianization as we know it there it was an age where the pagan tradition and christianity mixed. So you can find sacred woods devoted to Diana becoming a Maria's sanctuary and so on, as well odd (for us) funerary practices or ritual canibalism that was a fact in some places until the end of middle age.

Back to the main theme, many visigothic settlements and cities were left behind as the islamic invasion were coming close and never used again. The islamic army didn't found too much resistence because the current landlords were specialized in killing themselves in their own fight to local power. That explains why isn't much left of them.

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So, Luis, as always, thanks for your visits and comments ! :)

Categorized: _color | _valledelmesa

A simple walk along the road (watching out for some drivers who think they own it) is enough to realize how many of these livestock cottages are still around, for sure plenty enough to feed what could be an interesting photographic essay. Almost always facing decay, some seem to mimic the environment so well that one has trouble finding them on views like the one above.



The sort of rock 'fingers' peak present on both this pictures (on the center, more or less) is the same one, called 'Los Picones', which in a very free translation would mean something like 'the pointed peaks'.

Now that I think, I've never seen how is the view from up there...

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa

And maybe you wonder, what it is ?

Well I couldn't put it more simply, it's not fame, it's not money either, it's not a passport to a kind of heaven full of fast cars, glamour shooting sessions and top models.

The most valuable thing you'll ever get from photography is, plain and simply, friendship, in the shape of all the wonderful people you'll know on your walk along the creative path.

So, from here, I can say I'm honored to have met thanks to photography, either personally or 'just' virtually, such great people as Dave & Sue, Tony, Francisco, Joe, Tom(s), Beni, Luis, Jordan, Lynn, Gene, Mia, Roman & Nicole, Robin & Diana, Andrew, Don, Ray, Kris, and several dozens more that escape from my mind just now but that I hope will forgive me.

It is my opinion that no matter how much information you can gather as for new cameras, lenses or film, processes, chemicals or paper or even photographic projects. None of it will ever, ever enrich your mind and your creative soul as much as sharing part of your lifetime and your ideas with those friends.

So, let me add here a shameless plug for one of those friends, in fact the one which is 50% responsible of my entry into wet printing. Tony (P O'Dell) has IMHO achieved success in what is for me the most difficult part in any art making project, that is, he has completed it, and lauched it to the world. A never easy fight with oneself (ain't we our own worst enemy?) to successfully translate his inner vision into what he wanted, in the way he wanted.

And that way is, ladies and gentlemen, his just published new photography book, Middle Finger:

Take one artistic photographer, on an artistic high who has episodes of depression, from Totnes; one beautiful and talented model from Torquay; let them loose in the diverse landscape of Torbay and South Devon with two Holga plastic toy cameras; and you have the recipe for this book. In a world obsessed with glossy magazines and top of the range cameras, this book is unashamedly toy camera arthouse. The photographer has applied, and embellished, the techniques that the modern world appears to consider as the voyeuristic techniques of the street photographer. Structured very much like a silent play with 60 black and white pictures (printed single sided), the story unfolds picture by picture.

So, before going to order a copy of the book myself, let me just add, congrats Tony ! ;)

Oh and btw, don't forget to pay a visit to his wonderful site, In the eye of a Holga, which you'll find on the links section of this blog's home page !

This is part of an abandoned factory and workers residence complex that I found in a somewhat accidental way when looking for more abandoned watermills to photograph. Time and weather didn't allow me to go for the shots I had in mind, but I took a couple of quick ones to act as a reminder for myself so that I don't miss it on my next trip there. It will be also a bit tricky, since the place is surrounded by a wall and the perimeter closed by a locked gate with a 'no entry - collapse danger' sign.

It is located near the village of Turmiel and it probably was a resin processing factory since there is a similar and bigger one in the nearby village of Mazarete. That one is located just by the huge resin pine forest that became destroyed during the hideous fire on the summer of 2005.

I must admit that even if many times I get puzzled looks from my friends and family, I find it fascinating to wander around this humble traces of our rural past :)

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa

By seeing the external shape on my previous entry about it one wouldn't be expecting to see too much of a difference when looking inside, but I can't stand from thinking it's kinda sad that part of a place's history is left to its decay in such a way.

So it's good to know that some of these old watermills have been restored to working condition and play the role of private residences or rural hotels, and even if that means that they have become private property it's nonetheless their only chance to survive.

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa

Well, the Catalan 'Diada' is over, and I find myself back here after some more days spent in the countryside and another darkroom session.

This time I decided to keep to what I knew was the 'right' way. And to be honest, one should ignore the advice of those who went before you at one's peril.

I decided to stay simple, that is, work with ONE negative until I could come out with what was (for me) the best possible print. In the case of this specific negative this meant going through a test strip followed by six different 'good' prints, of which number 4 ended being the 'perfect' one after they all acquired their 'real' appearance by letting them dry overnight. This left me with what I wanted in first place (the print) plus 5 more which will be traveling soon ;) not to mention the priceless darkroom lesson.

And, to sum up, what I said to myself after that:

Know the negative well enough so that you don't mount it reversed on the enlarger !
Focusing is critical, have in mind the paper adds some thickness, and I need a proper focusing loupe ;)
The method of carefully evaluating test strips and prints really works.
Each new print can be seen as a new interpretation of the picture.
Once you come with the 'perfect' exposure workflow, it will work again if you repeat the same steps. So be sure to TAKE NOTE of what you did and all the involved settings and variables !
Dirty negs are a PITA in the darkroom (as you can see on the image above), and commercial processing isn't always the best to end with clean ones.
Try to master the negative you're working on before going for the next one, trying to work with too many of them on the same session can be frustrating (and I speak of experience).
Amazingly, the darkroom can teach you things you can use when going back to Photoshop !
And finally, going into the darkroom can change the way you take pictures, making you expose each negative so that they give as much play as possible when you print them.

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa | _darkroom

Once upon a time widely used for keeping livestock near the pasture in the warm months and very useful in case of a sudden storm. Currently the lack of both is quickly sending them to oblivion.

Categorized: _blackandwhite | _valledelmesa

Several entries ago, I was writing about the process of building some negative holders for the homemade enlarger I received from my good friend Dave (Greyhoundman).

Unfortunately, I had to park the whole wet printing idea for a while as I was fighting with the last months of the final project for getting my engineering degree, and later with some more weeks of house work. At some points I was really thinking I got a curse over myself or something.

But as happens with everything, time went by and I finally found myself with some free time and what was more important, with a spare room on the country house which I could transform into a more or less dedicated darkroom. I won't go into details not to bore the eventual reader, but to sum up I'll say that my set up ended being very, VERY simple, without even a column for the said enlarger (amazing what one's mind can come with!).

But it seems that I've been lucky to have very good professors (thanks Dave, thanks Tony!), and on my first attempt I was already experiencing the magic that everybody says happens when you first see the image slowly coming out on the paper. From there on, it has only been plain and pure addiction :)

So far, in a few sessions, I must say that I've already learned a lot of things, and most of them from (of course) my own mistakes and attempt to go for shortcuts without cutting my teeth first. You can find some of them on the top of this post, just below the raw scan from one of my first printed negatives.

That one was a bit hard to print correctly, yes, and still far from what I achieved with the same negative using Photoshop, but oh my, the tones and grain of a REAL print... And that's only a 'work' one ;)

Since I'm a strong believer in experimentation though, I must say that this won't keep me from also going with the so called hybrid way (shoot-develop-scan-inkprint), but that will be in a while. For now I'm just having too much fun in the wet darkroom, lol.

Good light.

Categorized: _darkroom