Weekly Black and White Photography thread #3 for (16 Feb 2025)

It does me good to read "Tmax 400 pushed to 1600" and I understand the note about paper grades. You'll understand what those funny little burn and dodge symbols in Photoshop are all about as well. Them were the days.
Having read the intro, naturally I had to look at these large and check the grain. There it is, big globs of the stuff. Luverly. I burnt a lot of film back in the 1960s doing fashion photography and trying to be Sam Haskins.
It's the hands I like in these shots.

This is a nice piece of "classic" photography, that is how we Europeans immagine the American west. This is good use of monochrome.

A winter scene in the mountains

On this day, in the Austrian Hochkönig region, everything just really did look B&W to the naked eye.
I used my old Yashica film camera with a B&W film to get this shot.
As pictured this was the reality of the day and the film grain gave it a classical feeling.
It was displayed big in a exhibition and was one of the popular pictures :-)

A great shot from through the office window ;-)
Must be great to feel the freedom of riding through the open landscape as part of everyday life .
Good compostion, tonality and contrast in the image.

There are some very nice photos again!!
My top favorites are The Wranglers and the winter in the mountains (Austrian alps)

European fallow deer by Photobygms, on Flickr

Spotted this one at the Amsterdamse Waterleidingsduinen

Did use the Canon Eos 1V - Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM.
Film: Kosmo Foto Mono 100 a panchromatic 100 ISO black and white film.
Developing: Caffenol recipe, Caffenol-C-L at 22c and stand developing for 50 minutes

Snow scenes can be challenging to get the right tonality. You did a good job here. I love the fine intricate patterns on the rock that counters the snow covered textures elsewhere. I've done some winter photography in my youth and know just getting to the spot when the conditions are right is the first challenge.

You have to look at this image large to get the full impact. The stand development worked well as it give the smooth textures in the hair and really made the deer stand out in the shadows against the dark background.

A side note, I have always seemed to have issues with streaking when using stand development. But when it works - it really works for high contrast scenes.

Thianks, I actually live this lazy way of developing, just pour it in and let it stand for an hour 🤣

Do you mean you get dark and lighter development with one film as in Bromide drag?
Do or did you use KBr (Potassium Bromide) in your recipe? I do use KBr to prevent fogging and drag

I'm at the country house and no access to finer archives (or Silver Efex) so sharing this, converted in LR mobile. I am collecting images at the country house for a book, and needed one of this particular object, which I dug up in the back yard. My pharmaceutical historian friend says it is an old apothecary's mortar, early 1900s. My grandfather's sister was the local druggist, and compounded medications prescribed by her husband, the town's only doctor, so I suppose it might have been Aunt Effie's. I use it to crush mint for tea or lemonade. I'll add Cathead vodka and a handful of fresh blueberries if you'd like.

I liked how the conversion revealed all the scratch marks on the enameled counters from over a century of knives and other utensils.

Wonderful image. Lots of detail of the sheep and their fleece, the workers and the equipment.

Most wont appreciate how tough life in the shearing shed really is. One of the hardest physical jobs one can do.
You can see the harnesses passing underneath the men's torsos. These guys work all day bent over like that and it is back breaking work. Many older shearers did long term damage to their spine which was reflected in their posture - walking around half bent over. Another aspect was the heat. Generally they are uninsulated corrugated iron buildings and the metal radiates infra red. So on top of the already high temperatures inside, there is another dose of heat radiating from the corrugated iron roof and walls.
For many years we have had a brand of work wear in Australia named Yakka. That name became associated with physical work and the phrase "Hard Yakka" evolved - the shearing shed was definitely a place of hard yakka!

Marlboro Man for sure...

I like this image especially the train snaking across multiple points. I wonder if the highlights are a bit bright?

Being a novice in b&w, I notice the underside of clouds often appear quite dark. I am wondering if it is just accepted as a reality of b&w sky scenes or do people try and and lighten them?

I have been going through my older photos to see which might lend themselves to b&w. An interesting process as some do and many don't. A good colour image wont necessarily while a not so good might and occasionally maybe both will pass...

Here is an older one from my FZ300 time which some may recall from the Weekly C&C

This b&w captures the cold. I can feel it!

Bryan,

The little one is cute, but that is somebody I would definitely not want to tangle with in open ground.

Steve Thomas

Steve,

They mostly run / hop away but the males will defend and they are quite good at that with very sharp claws and the ability to balance on their tails and kick very hard.
When I got my dog I was warned about the way kangaroos will defend against dogs. They will lead the dog into water and then hold the dog under until it drowns! So I was always a bit worried with her as she likes to chase animals - something I am slowly trying to address...

Strong blacks plus fading tones. A potent combination for snow and mountains.

The slight S bend in the train is unexpected and adds to the pleasure of the shot. I feel there is a touch too much contrast in the clouds.

An unusual variation on bare trees in winter.
Would it be possible to tilt the image a shade to the right so the narrow band of black across the horizon extends completely from side to side?

Railing, road markings, lights. Sweep after sweep of curves all bending the same way creates a feeling of speed. I like the positioning of the car too. It's about to enter the corner and disappear and this gives some tension to the image.

Thanks Bryan. You are spot on about how tough shearing is. On the days I took these shearing photos the temperature was close to 40C outside. Inside?
The shed is over 100 years old and in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Hope

The winter is dark and gloomy, and the snow has covered all in despair. But the faint glow of the sun brings hope that summer will soon be here.

I like it. It has nice smooth tonality and soft details. It takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen.