The last two months have been spent working on my latest project that I have now titled “Pathways of Childhood” (see my news report of April 2008). The project will consist of two parts since I expect that over 100 images will eventually be included. In addition, since the work was carried out in two distinct but geographically close areas of the United Kingdom (the Derbyshire countryside or “Peak District” and the city of Manchester), a two-part presentation seems entirely appropriate.
My tools of choice for this project – if it really matters to anybody, included a Bronica SQB 6x6 medium format camera, two lenses and black and white slower speed film. I still worry about the effect of airport X-ray systems on higher speed film and prefer to play safe, even at the expense of using slower shutter speeds. As things turned out, the weather was surprisingly good for March although I encountered gale force winds on some of the days so the slower shutter speeds definitely posed a problem.
I was pleased with the photography, the work ran to schedule and (more or less) to plan, but I suppose one can always find reasons to go back and fill in the inevitable gaps in the story. However, I doubt I shall do this. I felt emotionally drained after this trip and feel that the project should be concluded while the thrill of the work is still strong.
I have now developed all 37 rolls of film using PMK Pyro developer. The difference between the stain obtained with Ilford FP4+ and Fuji Neopan Acros is quite remarkable. I did use a few rolls of Neopan 400 and this stains as strongly as the Ilford FP4+. I am about half way through scanning the film and will be preparing 8x8 inch digital negatives, which seems an appropriately intimate size for platinum printing of this work. I hope to have some finished products by year end but in the meantime I am posting a number of images in the “Portfolios” section of the website. Please check them out.
The images will be paired at times with my own poetry and also some words penned by the talented spiritual poet Emryss Wren who works out of Berkeley CA. I originally wanted to include ‘anecdotes’ about my childhood with the images but I quickly realized that I had other feelings about this work that could only be impressed through the juxtaposition of words and images. This is not the first time that I have used words and images in combination. I know that some photographers dislike this approach but the chips must fall where they may. Hopefully the work will prove of interest to a few people. That is all I can reasonably ask.
Thanks for reading this. Have fun with your photography!
