About two weeks ago, I came across a YouTube video about the life of British landscape photographer Raymond Moore. It looked like a copy of an old VHS recording of a television broadcast from the 1980s. Two things immediately jumped out at me: one, Raymond Moore is a damn fine photographer whose work deserves a wider (current) audience; two, money was not plentiful for him back in the 80s and he was working with a Nikkormat FT camera. In other words, he was producing great photographic art with some pretty basic equipment, even by the standards of the time. These days, a decent working copy of a Nikkormat FT can be had for $40. You know where this is going. I bought one that also came with a copy of the old version of the 50mm f/2 lens for $100. One fine morning, I grabbed a roll of something called Washi Z, a 400 speed near IR sensitive film. After shooting the roll on a hike through the woods, I made the fateful decision to process it in a monobath solution. The first sign of possible strangeness ahead was when I poured out the monobath, which had changed color from clear to bright yellow. The negatives were pretty thin and contrasty with a short tonal scale, not unlike a film from the 19th century. I decided to embrace the aesthetic, and, in the end, ended up with a set of images that I think are pretty cool.Here's to shooting in good light this weekend!
