Technical Information

Many of these images have been taken using a medium format Mamiya RB67 camera and Voigtlander Bessa II / Baby Speed Graphic 6x9cm rollfilm cameras and slow or medium speed B&W negative films. Other negative formats used include 35mm, 4x5 inch (Graflex Speed Graphic)and 5x7 inch (Gandolfi Variant). When necessary I make enlarged negatives for the printing-out method that many of the old processes demand.

I use Ilford Warm Tone papers much of the time - after being developed in hand-mixed A130 developer they produce a lovely warm image, which is further enhanced by toning with selenium. Forte Warm Tone paper is another favourite. I also use Centennial POP for some of the printed-out images, toned in a gold chloride solution for permanence and added depth of colour. This paper and Kodak's Azo - which I also use - seem to be the last of the old-style printing-out papers still in production, which is a great pity as they are capable of producing outstandingly beautiful prints that modern papers struggle to compete with.

The images made via alternative processes such as vandyke brownprints, gumprints and cyanotypes are made on fine artist's watercolour papers such as Rives BFK, Arches Aquarelle and Somerset. The paper has to be hand-coated with a light sensitive liquid which I make with simple chemicals, then exposed under a negative of the same size as the finished print. Exposure is carried out under a modern UV light source or, more romantically (weather permitting) in sunlight!

All processing is carried out to strict archival standards for maximum image permanence.

When mounted prints are ordered each print is set on an archival board with a bevelled-edge window mount, also of archival board. Prints supplied like this are ready to take to the framers!

Each print is individually signed and dated.

The scanned images of my work on this web site are of inherently low resolution compared to fine photographic prints and, although suitable for viewing on a computer screen, they cannot do justice to the quality of the original photographs.