Ned's photos with the keyword: vidalon vellum

North Wright's Beach on the Sonoma Coast in California. Really beautiful day at the coast, I was in my shirtsleeves. Some of our best days at the beach are in late fall and early winter. Calotype made with Alexander Greenlaw's process. Bright, cloudy. LV 16 brightest clouds, 15 sky, water, beach, 14 near slope. 12m @ f/32 Development, as usual, very faint image at start, 2 scant eyedroppers ANS, came up pretty fast, done after 29m. This calotype has a bunch of problems and I'll be going back to try this again. It was a lovely day but the light was a bit flat, so it wouldn't be a bad thing to try again ( like I need an excuse to go to the beach! :) I don't know what causes the marbling ( in the middle, in the water and sky ) but it happens occasionally. There are a few pinholes, some are small enough to have been caused by dust in the camera, but some are bigger white spots. A few small black spots. And that funny lighter area on the right: I've seen that before a couple times too and it's always at that end of the calotype -- I wonder if one end sometimes doesn't get sensitized enough. Also I'm going to include more of the near beach.

Coast Live Oaks at Ragle Ranch in Sebastopol, California. Alexander Greenlaw's process calotype. 7x11 Eastman No. 2, uncatalogued Wollensak lens. 4PM sun fairly low. LV 10 on trunk, 11 mid-scene, 12 brightest light through branches. 1 hour @ F/16 Development: 1.4g gallic acid in 200ml DH2O. Added 2-1/2 eyedroppers ANS, image was most faintly visible at start, came up normally. Stopped development at 28 minutes. Wash 2x5m DH2O, fix 2x10 minutes in hypo, 3m in sodium sulfite, wash 1.5 hours in changes of RO water. Dried for 2+ days between 3 changes of blotter. I didn't notice any pinholes or black spots or defects on this calotype, which goes along with the idea that they get better after the 1st one goes through replenished sensitizer.

On the Sonoma Coast in California. The rock out in the water on the left is called Arched Rock, the arch goes seaward, so is not visible from this side. This is a nice pocket beach where a small stream reaches the ocean. 7x11 Eastman No. 2, uncatalogued Wollensak lens. f/32 for 24m Light was a little difficult, it was sunny but with morning haze, so hard to know how much UV might be bouncing around. LV 15 water, sky; 14 sand, 13 foreground rocks. Calotype made with Alexander Greenlaw's process. Development: added 2 eyedroppers of ANS to 1.4g of gallic acid in 200ml DH2O. Image was very faintly visible at start, it came up fast and I stopped at 23 minutes. More pinholes and black spots than usual... I had just replenished my sensitizer and I wonder sometimes if it's more prone to some of these problems with fresh acid and silver in it. Dried between 3 changes of blotter for several days. ( digi-snap of reverse side by mistake.. I flipped it back in software but it's not as sharp as the front of the negative )

Inverted digi-snap of calotype negative. Mouse over note to view calotype. This calotype had lots of problems, starting with curl that I didn't control when sensitizing, which caused the damaged areas in the sky -- it was my last piece of iodized paper, or I would have started over. Then I thought it was overexposed ( it wasn't ) and I developed it too slowly. After about 50 minutes developing, I realized what was happening and could have fixed it, but put an eyedropper of sulfamic acid into the tray by mistake instead of silver.. and that was the end of developing it! The negative is very red and it is underdeveloped. Anyway, I enjoyed making the photograph and met some nice German visitors while making it. We had a laugh when he held his compact digital camera next to my big view camera. The seagull landed on the rock about 30 seconds into the exposure and posed there the rest of the time :) Even though the photo didn't come out well, it was a lovely day at the coast and I enjoyed the attempt. LV 15 water, 14 sand, 13 rock. 5m30s f/22. As noted above, due to a mix-up with some notes, I thought it was overexposed, and developed it for 50 minutes adding scant eyedroppers of aceto-nitrate of silver several times along the way, wondering why it was coming up so slowly :) I think it still could have been developed correctly if I'd added more silver, but no great loss since it was already damaged and I'm not going to print it. I iodized a new batch of paper today, so will be ready to continue soon!

This "fairy ring" of redwood trees is probably on the same ground a prehistoric giant once stood upon. At Riverfront Regional Park near the Russian River in Sonoma County, California. Greenlaw's process. 7x11 Eastman No. 2, un-cataloged Wollensak lens. My first successful calotype with this camera! LV ~12, heavy fog. 25m @ f/16 Developed in 1.4g gallic acid in 200ml DH2O. No visible image at start. No image after 5 minutes in gallic. Added 2 eyedroppers aceto-nitrate of silver, developed 45 more minutes, until shadow detail apparent and could not see shadow of fingers moving behind the sky. Hope to make a print tomorrow.

This is a calotype ( a kind of homemade paper negative ) made at Crane Creek Regional Park in Sonoma County, California. This kind of negative is slow! This exposure was 25 minutes at f/22 on a sunny morning. The paper is 8x11 inches.

Oak Tree at Luther Burbank's experiment farm in Sebastopol, California I had difficulty with the paper becoming wavy in the holder, and this lens works much better if stopped down a bit. That is why the photo is soft and the edges are not straight and clean. But this is my first full-size calotype on vidalon vellum paper. I'm pleased because some hard parts of this process went smoothly. The paper is 8x11 inches. A salt print is currently washing and I'll probably post it tomorrow. Camera is homemade foamcore fixed focus, lens is one element from a B&L Rapid Rectilinear. Exposure was 14 minutes at f/11. This is a calotype made with the process used by Alexander Greenlaw .

Bennett Valley Grange is the oldest still-active Grange in the United States. The hall was built in 1873. I would like to make a nice calotype and salt print of this Grange Hall to show at the California State Grange convention later this year. They have a craft exhibition, with a photography category. So this is a potential subject for a larger calotype. Greenlaw's process on Vidalon Vellum. Kodak 3A series II camera.

Greenlaw process calotype. I wanted to make one with some water, and almost forgot that this wonderful nursery near my house has a lovely pond. The pond had some bluegreen algae growing which is why the reflections are muted, but I'm going to come back again with a big camera once I have this process under control. A real egret landed near the far trees just as the exposure was finishing. I'm aiming for more contrast and a denser negative and I think I'm learning how to better judge development. I believe this one will have good contrast for a salt print, which will follow soon. LV 11, F/8, 15 minutes. Kodak 3A camera, 122 format ( 3.25 x 5.5 inches )

Another Greenlaw process calotype on Canson Vidalon Vellum paper. LV 13, 3.5 minutes @ f/8.