Greetings from Richard Pickup Photography. It’s been some time since I’ve posted a blog update, so I’d like to let you know what I’ve been up to.
By referencing my adventures in large format in the title of this post, I’m tempted to describe a general ‘slowing down’ in my photography work. Perhaps this is indeed the cliché: you get the large format camera; you slow down. Well, yes and no.
The full work print, ready for inspection. The shot was made with Ilford HP5+ 5x4 film.
There’s no denying that I’ve taken far fewer images of late, and that I haven’t produced many finished prints. Unquestionably, doing much more large format work has had an influence on me, and of course it does force one to shoot differently. I am however contemplative and experimental by nature, so the full story is somewhat more nuanced.
I’ve been very busy in the darkroom. I’ve been enjoying using the Intrepid Enlarger, able as I now am to revisit the somewhat large stockpile of 5x4 negatives I’ve accrued since beginning this work in 2017. While printing one particularly difficult negative, I put some pre-flashing to use which prompted a re-appraisal of several older negatives I’d effectively given up on. This is surely one of the joys of darkroom: as your skills develop you inadvertently find solutions to old problems. There’s also so much aesthetic room for manoeuvre in our printing choices that it simply makes sense to go back every now and again.
Using the Intrepid Enlarger to ‘scan’ a 5x4 negative. I used a DSLR camera mounted on a Kaiser copy stand to photograph it.
Another aspect of the Intrepid Enlarger that I’ve been putting to good use is its digital scanning abilities. The LED panel has a wonderful, bright and even light which makes it a great source when combined with a copy stand. The metal negative carriers are a joy to use, and hold negatives flat so they can be photographed (and therefore digitised). This has been another access route to accumulating images from my negatives.
A selection of Intrepid metal negative carriers.
Being in experimental - or contemplative - mode, I’ve been giving thought to darkroom methodology, too. I have some thoughts to share with you in a post for a later date, so watch this space. Producing multiple versions of multiple negatives certainly makes the darkroom worker reflect on efficient working methods. Like I tell my students, this is artistic creation - and labour.
Long Mountain Centre, Shrewsbury. Shot on HP5+ 5x4 film and scanned with the Intrepid Enlarger.
There’s little question that this website helps to enrich my primary job as a photography lecturer, but it’s not all one way traffic. I’ve been inspired by an improvised camera obscura design that a student produced. I built my own cardboard prototype, and have been gazing wistfully at flickering inverted images in various locations. Perhaps some of these will surface on social media before too long.
Casting an eye beyond the darkroom red light (it does happen from time to time), I notice some important changes and developments in the industry. Ilford’s product line refresh is noteworthy, especially as they’ve created a fifth generation of darkroom paper. Naturally, I’ll be investigating. Other companies continue to innovate and introduce new products and, the invasion of viruses notwithstanding, the Photography Show in Birmingham is set to showcase even more analogue this year. We are increasingly spoilt for choice. What a time to be engaged with photography, in whatever form.