Afternoon in the Heat!

Newcastle, and the rest of Australia, are in the grip of a heatwave!   Here at Newcastle the temperatures have been in the mid to high 30's (Celcius).  Today it is currently 38℃ (about 100℉ in our backyard) and considering it is 3pm here at the moment, it could climb further!.  For the last week the lowest overnight temperature was 21℃  and  the highest day temperature was 40.2℃ (104.4℉ for my friends who are not metric!)  The constant heat of a heatwave just sucks the energy from you!

I have been basically hibernating in the air conditioning at home when not working; it is just too hot to be out and about with cameras.  Perspiration makes for wet, sticky hands which can ruin the leatherette on a camera.  I had a melanoma removed some years ago and I am a bit averse to go out into a day that will fry you after 5 minutes!

So, when the temperature dropped for a short while last week, I grabbed my gear and headed on out to the beach at Newcastle.

My intention that afternoon was to hang around until Sunset.  The big Aussie sky was filled with Cirrocumulus Cloud (little fluffy ones that remind me of a school of fish for some reason!)  I figured that if I went to the end of Nobbys Breakwall, I would get some lovely Sunset photos with these clouds being present for most of the afternoon!

I arrived a couple of hours early for Sunset and went down to Nobbys Beach to start off the afternoon.  It is a lovely beach and you can see all the way up  the beach to Nobbys Lighthouse and the Meteorological buildings.

A couple of photos there and then moved down to Newcastle Beach.  An obligatory photo of the Ocean Baths Pumphouse and of people wading in the Canoe Pool just in an effort to keep cool.

From there I drove up to Nobbys Beach and began the 1.5km walk up to the end of the Newcastle Breakwall.  It wasn't too bad, about 31℃ but there was a sea breeze which made it bearable.  On reaching the end of the breakwall I turned to see where exactly the Sun would set and how I could work it in with the lighthouse and the water in the harbour.  Uh-oh!  My lovely high altitude Cirrocumulus Cloud, which would've looked great just after Sunset, had been replaced by darker Altostratus Cloud which blocked the Sun as it was going down and put paid to any chance of a golden Sunset!

Now, this had happened to me before and I have learned to stick it out because you never know just what will happen!  I took a few photos from the end of the breakwall but unfortunately, the cloud just got thicker as it moved eastward and blocked the Sun entirely.  No lovely golden Sunset for me on that night!

It wasn't an entire waste of the afternoon.  I did get some good photos of Nobbys Beach and down at the Canoe Pool earlier.

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Here you can see those beautiful clouds that had me all excited about the possibilities of the Sunset!
Nobbys Beach - Newcastle, Australia.

Looking up to Nobbys Point from Shortland Esplanade.
Newcastle, Australia

The Sun was getting low and the exposure was a little blown out.  I took three bracketed shots at +/- 1 EV
to merge for a High Dynamic Range photo which I edited with the Nik Collection HDR Efex Pro software.
Ocean Baths - Newcastle, Australia

The same photo as the one above.  Converted to Black & White in the Nik Collection
Silver Efex Pro software.  It is part of my work flow to see how photos will look in Black & White as I edit.
Really liked how this one has turned out!
Ocean Baths - Newcastle, Australia.

It was much cooler on the coast!  This young bloke had the right idea!

See that 'waterhole' in the middle of the photo?  The water in there comes

in via a crevice in the rock.  Each time the waves crash against the rocks

the water pours in through the crevice and the water level rises.  Mind you

it disappears just as quick too!  This young man spent most of his time

jumping in and out as the water reached its highest point.  The man standing

on the rocks was counting the waves to determine the set for when the

biggest wave would hit.

Rock Pools near the Ocean Baths - Newcastle, Australia.

The leap of faith.  Here we see that young fella jumping in when the water
was at it's peak.  I should probably have changed lenses to get a bit
closer in with this shot but there was a lot of sea spray around and I
didn't want anything to get into the camera!
Rock Pools near the Ocean Baths - Newcastle, Australia.

As soon as I had taken this I knew exactly how I was going to edit it.  Taking the photo directly into the Sun
didn't do much for the exposure and I knew how good it would look with an edit in the Nik Collection
Silver Efex Pro software.  I used the 'Film Noir' preset, which gives a very contrasty finish and added
a burnt vignette.  I think this edit highlights the very mood of the afternoon; everything burned to a
black finish by the hot Sun as the surfer seeks the cool solace of the water.
Canoe Pool - Newcastle, Australia.

Many people decided to just go for a quick paddle in the shallows of the Canoe Pool.
Newcastle, Australia.

This Newcastle Icon is like a magnet for photographers.  The Pump House
of the Ocean Baths.  Every time I see it the light is different in some way and
so I simply have to take a photo.  There was a big blowout in exposure
where the shade from the Ocean Baths wall cut across the Pump House so
I bracketed my shots +/- 2 EV to obtain a better overall exposure after merging
in the Nik Collection HDR software.  Further edited in PS using the Burn
& Dodge tool.
Ocean Baths Pump House - Newcastle, Australia.

So, this is how the lovely high altitude cloud turned out when I reached the end of the breakwall
to get some Sunset photos.  As you can see, the heavier cloud in the west had moved in and was moving
east so it was going to be blocking all that lovely golden light that I had hoped I would capture.
It was still a lovely afternoon out on the breakwall though!
Newcastle, Australia

And this is what was left of the 'Sunset'.  I was lucky to capture that little bright gold hint of colour!
Nobbys Lighthouse - Newcastle, Australia

In my Bag - Bronica ETSRi and 'Focal' 35mm colour film

It seems like ages since I last posted!  It has been a very busy Christmas and New Year and my  photography has had to take a break!  I hope you all had a Safe & Happy Christmas and New Year!

I have only put one film through my Bronica ETRSi.  That was a 120mm Fomopan (see results here)

When I purchased the Bronica, it came with a 120mm film back and also a 35mm film back (the normal not the wide angle 35mm back).  The 35mm back didn't appear to work as, when connected to the camera, the winder did not work.  I thought that perhaps it needed a film in it to work correctly.  Well, I was wrong!  Even putting the film into it it didn't want to wind on.

I had chosen to load the back with a Focal branded 35mm film.  This is an expired, discontinued K-Mart brand and had been frozen for some years.  It was gifted to me a couple of months ago and, I figured that this would be a good film to use rather than one of my more expensive Ektar rolls.  I am shooting it at box speed (ISO 100) because this is more of an experimental project at this time to see how the Bronica and the 35mm film back work together.

I wasn't concerned about totally over exposing the start of this roll whilst loading the film and during any trouble shooting as to why the camera wouldn't wind on.

I tested the film back before mounting it on the camera.  All of the gears on the film back were turning correctly, before and after loading, using the wind knob on the side of the back and, I had loaded the film correctly.  After mounting the film back onto the camera to find out it was not still winding on, I decided to compare the 35mm film back to the 120mm film back.   I removed the film back from the camera and immediately I noticed 2 anomalies. (see next photo).

The 120mm film back and the 35mm film back have these 2 pins.  The 1 on the lower right hand side is designed to lock in the dark slide when the back is taken off the camera.  However, on this film back it does not do that; I can still remove the dark slide when the back is off the camera.  The pin on the left near the wind on transport cog is activated by the camera during exposure to allow the film to wind on ready for the next exposure.  On the 120mm film back, both these pins were pushed in, on the 35mm film back they were not.

Photo of the 120mm Film Back showing the pins.  The pin on the left determines the winding on of film for the
next exposure

So, using a thin implement, I gently pushed both pins in on the 35mm back.  I re-connected the back to the camera and - Voila! the film was winding on!   I inserted the dark slide and then removed it; the film was NOT winding on.  Ok, so, I surmised that the problem had the be that the pin nearest the wind on transport cog that allowed the film to wind on for next exposure, was not resetting itself after removal of the dark slide.

I removed the film back and then removed the dark slide (exposing more of the film but figured it was worth it to troubleshoot the problem).  I gently pushed in the pin that engages the winding on of the film and then re-mounted the back onto the camera.

Bingo!  It worked!  The film was winding on and I was able to take photos normally.

I decided to leave the dark slide out; I wouldn't be swapping film backs back and forth so it would not be needed whilst the film back is attached to the camera.  Hopefully, I will be able to keep taking photos and winding on from now on.  I will update the blog with the outcome.

I still reckon, after totally over exposing bits and pieces of this film, that I may have about, maybe, 20 exposures left?  I'll still put it in to the lab for development just to see what is on there.

The jury is still out for me as to whether I will be a regular user of a 35mm film back on a Medium Format camera.  I guess it depends on how the shots turn out.  I have many other 35mm cameras!  But, if I have the equipment, I like to think that I can still use it if I want to.

Harking back to my last 'In my Bag' - I still have that Fomapan in the Yashica EE!  Only about 3-4 exposures to go though and I'll get it into the lab this week.  I have also a Fuji Velvia 100 to post to Sydney (the only way I can get slide film developed) so in a couple of weeks you will be bombarded with my film adventures; Stay Tuned!!