St. Peter's Church, South Croydon #1

Description continued: the reason for the resemblance to St Nikolai, Hamburg, Germany is that it is the same architect. Sadly, St Nikolai was bombed and is now a shell but the tower remains and I have been up it (it is still the second tallest building in Hamburg and was the tallest building in the world for 2 years 1874-1876)

I had a disaster with this film and started the film in the wrong place. This resulted in 2 images lost and most of the rest overlapping. This happened because the start of the leader had green backing paper which changed to black. I thought the change to black was the start point but it was not.

I guessed the developing because I could not find times for FD10. Knowing this is similar to Ilfosol 3 I used the same time.

It is very hard to get a good picture of this church from nearby as the tower and spire are so very tall. The side that faces North is easier to photograph but is never in the sun.

I think I still have to work on keeping buildings "straight". I used the near building to align the vertical which makes the church tower look crooked. Should I have ignored the foreground structures and concentrated on keeping the subject straight? Any tips?

Svenedin, whatever isn't right - strikes me as invisible. Some of that may be the value of the story/history. Tone ranges & clarity/definition impress me alot - all the detail still visible in the garage. I'm not the strong perspective to make the compositional recommendations. Maybe Tony, Trail, Blansky or Andrew will have a moment to look. I have trouble saying how valuable their thoughts have been for me.
You're sure getting the goods from that lovely Ikonta.

Thank you. I am going to take a walk and try the same photographs but with an Ilford film today (probably Delta 100 or FP4). I got a lot of positive comments yesterday from people in the street and I got into such conversations that my little photo shoot took much longer than expected. I even got waves and smiles from people waiting in lines of traffic. Apparently there is a local group online and one of my friends has suggested I should post some of my photographs. I have noticed a flaw in a number of my photographs on the Super IV. It always occurs in exactly the same place on the negative. I thought it might be vignetting or lens flare but I am not so sure now. I really hope it isn't a bellows leak. I may post some flawed pictures and ask for opinions.

Convergence is a killer to manage, but to eliminate convergence often alters the view to something rather unnatural and even more a killer. I think this is fine. If you wanted the church tower vertical, it should be centered in the viewfinder and made vertical. You will not be able to make parallel the tower and any other vertical edge. Looks to me like you tried to make vertical the far edge of the brick building, which i think makes perfect sense since it dominates and is so much closer to the viewer. I (no expert in these things but only what suits me) would have made the same choice. I imagine a viewfinder camera makes this a little less certain in outcome. If using a view camera to make this photo, i think i would have zeroed out the tower convergence, though, to see if it looks too stupid. For this, it may have come out suitably. The camera would need both rear and front tilt in order to restore focus. I have been enjoying all of your Croydon images and this is one would be a shame not to have.

Thank you for taking the trouble to explain this to me Michael. I am re-learning and learning anew after a long break from photography and perhaps I never really knew what to do about convergence. I am not used to rangefinders and with this camera what is you see is NOT what you get. Not only am I not looking through the lens but the viewfinder presents a cropped version of what is seen on the negative so I am surprised that the field of view is greater when I develop the pictures. I have tried to photograph this lovely church (a landmark for miles around) ever since I was a child and it is really tricky. The easiest way to do it would be from afar with a long zoom lens but that is not an option with my Super Ikonta. You are right that I used the foreground building on the left to align the vertical -this is a small gap in the buildings where the tower can be seen.

I have been up this tower numerous times, not just to ring bells but also to clean gutters. It is possible to exit to the outside at the level of the parapet above the crenelations (where the tower becomes spire, "battlements as I called them as a child") -terrifying I first did that when I was 14. The spire is clad in shingles made from Western Red Cedar. These wooden shingles change colour according to moisture as well as light. The church is flint which is a feature of many older buildings in this area which is on the chalk. Croydon is much maligned but I grew up here. It has a fascinating history from Saxon times and was once the home of London's airport. The airport led to it being a prime target for Luftwaffe bombing and so it was very badly damaged. In fact it was even bombed by Zeppelin in WW1. Nonetheless, the postwar planners made it their sworn duty to destroy far more than the Luftwaffe ever did and they continue to do so mercilessly and with utter disregard for the beautiful or historic. However, they did deign to locally list my house...

Svenedin, I'm also returning after a long break, also new to the rangefinder (mixed reactions but I'll learn). Michael has also helped me w/ convergence, among other things. You'll find his help reliably wonderful.

Another fantastic back story too, which i always find fascinating. With shingles especially on a spire, i have marveled at the labor, skill and rigging that must be required to do that work. I have never been comfortable with heights even in safe settings, and could have never done what you have. And yes, those post-war planners, even long after, have both a legacy and continuing culture of disembodiment that exists into today, just about everywhere. Here it is the act of "condemnation" of private property by the town childish (could hardly call these officials, "town fathers"), almost always with large sums of money transferring to same said "officials".
HiHo, many thanks your kind note!

Just thought you might be interested in this - i downloaded the image and put up in photoshop (actually corel) and used the straighten tool to measure angles. The downspout of the building on left is at 92.5 degrees, while the angle of a line drawn along the center mullions of the spire window and the tower window is 90.1 degrees, so it appears the tower was indeed vertical and the building convergence dominated.

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. I wouldn't know how to do that. I am only just learning how to get rid of dust on my negative scans with Photoshop Elements . I have dogs and open coal fires so my house is never going to be a dust free place.