Koh Samui, 2015 (Canon T70)

The photograph above is a shot of a pond reflecting the trees on a backstreet of Koh Samui, flipped upside-down.

The weather is noticeably changing and the light is disappearing earlier each day. I’m sad to see the back of summer but there’s something about the autumnal atmosphere that I love.

This weekend I’ve been working on a book of my photographs, with writing and notes. A single prototype copy is being printed just now and I’ll have it in a few days. In it, I try to be honest about my work, my process and where I am in my career (not far). I’m not sure what to do with it yet but I’m hoping to use it as an introduction to my work, hopefully to get jobs in the near future.

I don’t find self-promotion easy and feel like I should be reaching out to magazines and companies much more than I currently am (not much).

As for my home darkroom equipment, I’ve ordered chemicals and a dark bag (for loading film onto reels to be developed), so I’m getting close to starting this process – exciting!

We’re also heading up to Scotland at the end of the week, so I’m looking forward to seeing the family and having a (not long) mini break.

Hope you all have a fab week.

The attic room in our villa in Limone, Lake Garda.

I had a wonderful honeymoon travelling Italy with Becky. We flew into Milan, and travelled north-to-south throughout June. Our wedding was at the end of January but we wanted to wait for better weather.

I think it’s best to skip the places I didn’t take pictures, like Gardaland and Rimini and so on, to keep this as a visual diary. I wanted freedom from a bulky camera sometimes so had to balance taking pictures and just focussing on the present (although I took lots of iPhone pictures too).

I like to take photos over the mountain ranges when crossing France and Switzerland into Italy. I think this is when we were above the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso.

I’ve been to Limone, Lake Garda for many years now and love taking pictures of the view. Good memories from here.

Limone and Lake Garda was our first stop, as we know it well and couldn’t resist.

The waterfall behind the villas we stay at.

The waterfall is a great way to wake up: a cold and powerful shower to remind you that you’re alive.

Some snaps from Mogliano Veneto

After a short stay in the wilderness near Bassano del Grappa (we were staying in a cabin in the woods, but cut our stay short to one night because of the stormy weather), we had an impromptu stay at the charming town of Mogliano Veneto. We stayed at Hotel Villa Stucky, in a gorgeous room and had a relaxing time eating and drinking – and experiencing the Irish Festival which was taking place in the town’s main square beside where we were staying.

I’d love to hear about your experiences in the North of Italy. These were all taken on my (dad’s old) trusty Canon T70.

Did you travel anywhere nice this summer?

More soon!

A still summer night in London. T70 / Portra 400.

I’m up in Scotland again and tomorrow I meet my new niece, Aoife! It seems like the next generation of our family appeared out of nowhere and all of a sudden there’s loads of kids and they’re all fab. Living in London, I don’t get to see enough of any of them but it’s better than when we lived in Sydney, as we’d only see the family once a year, at Christmas.

I’ve been shooting some portraits and tests recently and feel re-energised and creatively productive. I also feel less precious about what I should be doing and in the mood to take on all types of work. This year I want to drop any pretence and be myself without guilt.

Activities like running, reading and gardening all feed into a positive mindset and the more I do, the more I’m able to do.

Lots of fun things planned while we are up in Edinburgh and, like always, it will be over in a flash and we’ll be back on the train to London. Dinners, baby meetings and festival shows fit into a couple of days.

Alexis gave me a few of her gorgeous plates that were broken in transit and I got some two-part epoxy to join them. It worked well and they seem to be really solid under pressure, but now i need to remove the excess. I hear open razor blades are recommended, but stanley blades barely worked for me. I was looking at small planes and tried sandpaper but nothing working yet. Hopefully I’ll figure it out so I can start using them.

What have you been working on in your free time?

I’ve wanted to talk about one of my highlights of 2018 (the year I also got married). I bit the bullet and started my own darkroom.

Getting the Equipment

For some time I had wanted to learn how to develop film and make prints and last year I enrolled in a darkroom course. I enjoyed it all thoroughly, the hands-on process, the trial-and-error of exposure and colour and the results at the end. I came away determined to get back into a darkroom, processing my own film and experimenting with prints. But I’ve not had the opportunity since. London seems to have higher demand (and higher prices) for dark room usage than Edinburgh.

On Monday I hired a car at King’s Cross and drove the 2+ hours to Ipswich, where I bought a selection of wet- and dry-side darkroom equipment that had come up from one of my Gumtree saved searches.

Jobo CPE2, for processing film and prints.

I’d been looking for a reasonably priced Jobo unit, like the one above. And when the advert for one of these plus a selection of other great equipment came up, it was too good to resist.

Durst M670 Colour Enlarger.

While the processing of film is my first priority, the ability to make prints at home is an exciting thought. I loved the stories Michel Gondry told about making huge prints when he was young in his childhood house in France in his Director’s Label DVD. For that matter, the scene in Ghostbusters 2 where they make prints of Vigo in the darkroom (before they become engulfed in flames) also fascinated me.

Next steps

There are many interesting items within the collection and I don’t know what they all are. I’m going to take a look at each of them over time as I add them into my process. I’ll likely blog about some in the future too. Fortunately, Michael (the previous owner) kept the majority of manuals and boxes for everything – as well as keeping it all in great condition. Google and YouTube have lots of tutorials, manuals and information available too, but I’m open to any tips or advice.

Michael also gave me lots of magazines (some are above) and books (not pictured) he was no longer using. I think I got a bargain and can’t wait to start using the equipment.

My next step is to get chemicals and shoot at least a couple of rolls of film that I’m okay with not coming out right. This actually doesn’t sound too easy a task!

I’m delighted I started my own darkroom and I’d love to hear about your experiences and if you have any questions!

The end of a picnic day, Clissold Park. Canon T70 / Portra 400.

Hello pals, I thought I’d post a summary update today and focus on certain things in the coming week.

• The picture above was from the start of May; it just goes to show how long and hot this summer has been in London! The blue marks and scratches on the image are from the rough treatment which the film received after processing. I thought I’d try out a local ‘lab’ for processing, a shop where you can also get portraits taken and buy tacky photo frames, as it was a quick, personal roll. I didn’t expect them to cut the film properly but it turned out they didn’t cut it at all, they just rolled it up and stuffed it into a 35mm film canister. I’m glad I didn’t give them anything important – and i actually don’t mind the mistakes on this one.
• We’re having a relaxed Sunday today, it’s the start of the Scottish football season and Becky and I are planning on getting the rooftop BBQ going this afternoon for a trial run.
• For some time, I’ve wanted to do my own film processing and printing. Last year I did a fantastic darkroom course at Stills in Edinburgh, tutored by Caroline Douglas, where I got some hands-on experience in developing my film, printing contact sheets and making final prints. I’ve been eager to do more, but have unfortunately just been dropping all my film rolls off for processing and getting others to make prints for time-saving and ease. Tomorrow, I’ve booked a rental car to drive a couple of hours north of London to buy a collection of darkroom equipment and I’m exited. I’ll write about what I get and what I’m doing as I go along.
• Yesterday, photographer Lachlan Bailey posted an instagram story about how he got started in the industry and the mental health issues he faced. I really appreciated it and you might too – he has it saved as a ‘highlight’ on his profile.
• For the next couple of weeks I will also be babysitting mother and will update on that too.
• Finally for today, I started running again yesterday – a nice, leisurely 7k – which felt good and I’m looking forward to carrying it on and trying to get back to run fitness so I can enter races again in the future.

I hope you’re having a nice weekend!