It was a cold day this morning (hence the shiver induced blur on the photo above) but a beautiful day.
That's the sunrise as I left Crewe at 6am ish.
We're close enough to Summer now that I don't see the sunrise on the Manchester leg of my journey, which is a good thing, it means Summer, and rides where I can still feel my toes after 40 minutes are on the way.
If I were a cycling Mr T, I'd pity the car driver that missed being on a bike on days like this.
The rich colour of this building in Newcastle Emlyn (Castell Newydd Emlyn) seemed like a great opportunity to use some Velvia. I'm unsure of what the little paintless space's significance is here, but to me it looked like a little house icon.
It's one of those compositions that I'm quite sure pleases no one but me, but I really like the window, the colour and the "icon" filling out that space in the bottom of frame.
We begin today's page of self justification with this, a shot taken of the (recently) disused car-park on Princess Street, just by the University's John Garside Building.
It's a pretty good location for the aspiring minimalist, with some interesting lines and texture, and I've been back a couple of times since.
The film in use here is expired Kodak T-Max 400, from a bulk roll that I wanted to test - the Electro had proved itself with an earlier roll of HP5+, and as I didn't want to carry another SLR that week, it got the 10 shot test roll. The film seems to be ok, and has pretty much the tone pallette I'd expected from T-Max.
I thought I'd start today's page of context with this shot, chronologically after the others, but my favourite of today's uploads. It was taken using Adox CHS50, courtesy of Steve and developed in R09 (Rodinal old formula). It's wonderful stuff, very textural developed this way, and I've a powerful hankering to shoot more, and perhaps develop some in ID11.
The picture is of the beach at Aberystwyth, and shows my nippers messing about in the sea. What better way to while away the afternoon?
There's a huge compositional nod here to the work of an artist called Pippa Darbyshire, whose paintings of the Somme estuary I saw a few years ago. She composes with layers of colour and tone in these pictures, forming horizontal layers that ascend the canvas. I'm conscious quite often of attempting something similar with certain scenes. My being based in Manchester and its suburbs also means that the novelty of having a visible horizon for once has something to do with the desire to make it a major compositional element too.
The feeling I wanted to evoke was something of the awe I feel at times of parental responsibility - there are times when the world seems to be an awfully large place, and my children terribly small.
Pony Express, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.
The second, and last film shot for today is this one, of my daughter at the amusements in New Quay (Cei Newydd). Sometimes, you might almost think she doesn't like having her picture taken.
This shot is HP5+ developed in Ilfotec DD-X, a great combination, in my view. Looking at this now, it's evident that a colour film (or digital) would have been way better for this, but moments pass, and sometimes it's more important to get something than to wait for something perfect.
Groynes #1, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.
Groynes #2, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.
These two digital shots both show the beach at Aberaeron. I can't help feeling that there are better shots than these in the textures of the pebbles and metal here, and I shot variants on the same theme last year too, and I'm sure I'll still be looking for the perfect take on this many years hence.
Harbour, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.
Last, and possibly least is this view of the harbour at Aberaeron. I liked the strong verticals of the poles marking the harbour entrance, and the dramatic sky over the sea.
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