Monthly Shooting Assignment - March and April 2014 - SALT

[StoneNYC]

Thomas, coming full circle, D-76 is full of salt! Metol, sodium sulfite.

Darn... Now I'm going to have to shoot with D-76 to stand a chance of winning!!!!!

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I wouldn't worry about it, Stone. DDX has a lot of salt in it too so you're fine.

There is so much more to salt as chemistry than the regular NaCl we see as table salt, isn't there? Get creative with the periodic table, people!

 

[NedL]

I am trying to include a pinhole image for each MSA, so here is one I made yesterday:

I recently made a macro pinhole camera. The pinhole is optimal for a distance of somewhere between 1-1/4 and 1-1/3 inches, and these hypo crystals were much closer than that. This is the negative image just like the paper in hand. My entry is the actual paper negative above but here is the inverted scan in case anyone is interested:



I've got something else in the works for this MSA, have gone on a couple of scouting hikes and learned about new things like "bittern"... so I hope to have at least one more entry!

 

[StoneNYC]

I am trying to include a pinhole image for each MSA, so here is one I made yesterday:

I recently made a macro pinhole camera. The pinhole is optimal for a distance of somewhere between 1-1/4 and 1-1/3 inches, and these hypo crystals were much closer than that. This is the negative image just like the paper in hand. My entry is the actual paper negative above but here is the inverted scan in case anyone is interested:

View attachment 84353

I've got something else in the works for this MSA, have gone on a couple of scouting hikes and learned about new things like "bittern"... so I hope to have at least one more entry!

Well why should I bother now... That's incredible... I like both actually... Hmmm

 

[adelorenzo]

Wow Ned. Macro pinhole? Very cool image and I like the negative version very much.

 

[TheToadMen]

Actual Salt Print

SALT as in: actually printing with it like they did 180 years ago for the first time.
And guess what the cow is tasting ...

(scan of my actual salt print)

This print is made with the alt-photo process of "Salt Printing" on aquarel paper. I scanned my original photo and made a special digital inter-negative for theis printing process.
Salt printing is an old process technique whereby paper is treated with a solution of salt and silver nitrate and then subjected to outdoor exposure (sunlight) or an indoor UV lamp. I used a lamp this time. I love this process for its simplicity and beauty of the prints.

"[Excerpt from alternativephotography.com] Combine hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide and what do you get? That’s right, sodium chloride commonly known as table salt. Salt is one of two key ingredients in the making of salted paper prints. The salted paper process was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, known as The Father of Modern Photography, in 1833 while he was on his honey moon. He was the first to make a silver image on paper. On his first attempts paper coated with a silver nitrate solution and exposed to light only gave a faint metallic silver image. He later discovered that by first applying salt to the paper and then coating it with the silver nitrate solution he could get a much stronger image. This is basically the same way that we make salt prints today."
For more info about this historical process on [url]http://www.alternativephotography.com click here:[/URL]

BTW: the streaks on the right side of the nose (upper right corner) are from uneven coating of the aquarel paper with a brush, while making the paper light sensitive before exposing it with a negative (sandwich as a contact print).

 

[adelorenzo]

Bert you beat me to it! I was planning to do a salted paper print as well. Nice work!

 

[NedL]

Thanks Stone, Anthony! My first exposure guess was off by a factor of 20 and I found out just how deep LPD can make blacks... I tried some kosher salt first but hypo looks neat...

 

[NedL]

Bert you beat me to it! I was planning to do a salted paper print as well. Nice work!

Bert you beat me to it too! I'm also heading in the same direction, with a little twist!

That is a very fine salt print, after the cow enjoyed the salt lick I think! The detail and tonal range is fabulous.

 

[alex gard]

Got told to submit this, Antarctic sea-ice

Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed by Alex Gard, on Flickr

 

[TheToadMen]

And a beauty it is!! I like the vignetting in the sky. Please tell us a bit more how and when it was made.

Antarctic ice ... with or without salt? Land-ice is without, but is this also the fact with frozen sea water?
Or did it freeze, leaving al the salt behind?
A nice "brain game" involving salt: welcome to this MSA!!!

Bert from Holland

Got told to submit this, Antarctic sea-ice

Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed by Alex Gard, on Flickr

 

[alex gard]

Well, when sea ice forms, most of the salt is pushed into the water below it, however some salt still remains in sea ice.

I was on a SIPEX (Sea Ice Physics Experiment) voyage a couple of years ago, and there was a german scientist on board who found "ice diamonds" in the sea ice. My memory of it is a bit foggy but it was something like the chemical events and the pressure in the ice compressed the brine so much that it formed "ice diamonds". Quite rare to find actually. He had some in a little vial, apparently they would melt very easily and were quite an unstable element. I asked if I could have some to put into a neclklace for my girlfriend at the time, he said he would but unfortunately the diamonds would melt/break down as soon as they were out of sub zero temperatures.

The above photo was taken on a Sinar F2, on 4x5 T-Max film dev'd in T-max developer.

It was taken when we were en route to Casey Station, just after rescuing the passengers on board the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.

 

[NedL]

Alex, it's wonderful that we have someone here at APUG who was on the ship that rescued the passengers of the Akademik Shokalskiy, and is sharing these beautiful photos with us. Thank you, I've enjoyed them all! Some are hauntingly beautiful and stark and forbidding at the same time. Imagine being iced in for a whole dark winter like Shackleton's men... then there were some photos recently recovered from Scott's doomed expedition: http://www.nzaht.org/

A salt-related note: We got home last night from a week vacation on Maui ( polar opposite of Antarctica! ) where I picked up some pinkish-orange Hawaiian alaea salt to try making salt prints with.

 

[StoneNYC]

So, all salt water would count? Hmmm

 

[TheToadMen]

So, all salt water would count? Hmmm

If you mean like surfing ocean waves with an 8x10" camera mounted on your surfing board ... yes!!

 

[StoneNYC]

If you mean like surfing ocean waves with an 8x10" camera mounted on your surfing board ... yes!!

In your example I am inferior could do this because you didn't say that the surfboard itself had to be in the water

I do live on the ocean or near enough to it that I could go there and take pictures it just didn't occur to me that that could be part of the image thinking thinking

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Some very interesting developments in this thread. Keep them coming, boys and girls.

Alex, did you take any pictures of the salt crystals???

 

[TheToadMen]

Take me there please and show me the ocean I never saw before.

I do live on the ocean or near enough to it that I could go there and take pictures it just didn't occur to me that that could be part of the image thinking thinking

 

[StoneNYC]

Take me there please and show me the ocean I never saw before.

You're welcome here anytime

 

[TheToadMen]

You're welcome here anytime

I would if I could, I really would! But for now, take me there with your camera and let me hear the ocean in your images ...

 

[alex gard]

Some very interesting developments in this thread. Keep them coming, boys and girls.

Alex, did you take any pictures of the salt crystals???

I did not. However you can find the article about them here: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-...ies/spotlight-on-the-sea-ice/sea-ice-diamonds

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I did not. However you can find the article about them here: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-...ies/spotlight-on-the-sea-ice/sea-ice-diamonds

Thanks for the link!

 

[Bertus]

Spend a few rolls for the Salt topic today. Results this Month I'l try!

 

[TheToadMen]

Spend a few rolls for the Salt topic today. Results this Month I'l try!

Hi Bertus,
Can't wait to see your contribution to this MSA, looking at your other images in the Gallery.
I'm guessing maybe something with the ports of Rotterdam? Enough sea water, "zoute haring", ships, etc. from all over the world in you backyard to play with. Must be nice to have one of the biggest seaports in the world around.
Bert from Holland

 

[Bertus]

Salt

Here is my contribution for the Salt MSA: Salt storage for Road sliperiness, right from darkroom! Bronica sq ai and 110 mm. Ilford fp4 outside and kodak tmax at 800 asa inside. Ilford mg paper.