You never had it so easy shooting digital black and white - my entry in to Monomad

More years ago than I care to remember or even admit to myself, I used to print black and white. I would shoot Ilford FP4 or HP5 and then process the rolls of film stock myself using smelly chemicals and hang the strip of 36 frames to dry.

I would then spend ages stood in the dark in a small room surrounded by even more smelly chemicals. Lord only knows what damage the chemicals did to my hands but I was quite willing at the time to dunk my hands in the obnoxious liquid and shake a piece of photo paper around in a tray.

I would try dodging and burning by placing my hands over the enlarger in various places to darken or lighten different parts of an image. I'd reject loads of attempts and end up with a pile of useless curled up prints that always inevitably ended up in a bin.

I'd then emerge from the dark room with a print in my hand thinking I've made a masterpiece but in reality I was still learning about photography.

Fast forward 30 something years and now it's dead easy. Set your camera to Auto, fire off of few shots or as as many as your memory card will allow and pop the memory card in to a computer and browse away without having to stand in a darkened room. And your hands are much less scalded by the chemicals!

This is a post of black and white images shot in the style I used to shoot years ago. My black and white stuff was always a bit more contrasty due to me probably leaving the film to develop too long! I see a lot of black and white images by others and I hate the pale, washed out, low contrast mono stuff I see. Clearly those shooting black and white like that ain't never developed and printed their own film!

Reservoir Tog

From a little urban explore around an abandoned waterworks, I had just bought a fast, wide prime lens and was using shallow depth of field all over the place!

The Chair of Doom

A few months ago, a local abandoned tool factory became accessible. It wasn't meant to be and I managed to squeeze through a hole in a wall to make an undignified entrance! I wandered in to this room full of something foul in the air. I placed the chair on the right hand third and lit the scene with an LED panel behind the chair. I didn't hang around long in this room because the dust was making my throat feel like I was having an allergic reaction!

The Office of Doom

This is quite possibly one of my favourite photos ever. I love the shot but it did go mostly under-appreciated on social media. Here I've re-processed the RAW file with a more contrasty HP5 look.

I call this shot the Office of Doom because the floors in here were sketchy as hell. The air again was quite fetid and I didn't stick around for long.

Loxley Nights

I don't normally re-process a colourful lightpainting image but here that's exactly what I've done. To get laser beams this defined, it's necessary to use a smoke grenade rather than smaller smoke pellets. The bigger the room, the more smoke you need!

Homeless in 2023

Slap bang in the middle of Sheffield city centre were these two sleeping rough. There's absolutely no need for anyone to be homeless since there is help available. The homeless charities apparently have conditions to stay in shelters based on alcohol or drug abstinence. These people presumably would prefer to be cold, drunk and stoned rather than sober, warm and dry!

It's all downhill from here on in

My nemesis is street photography. I spend quite a lot of time trying all sorts of styles in the search for my "thing" I still haven't found it yet but it's fun looking for it. I often revert to capturing motion as I do when shooting in the dark.

Fibonacci Street

I'll admit to being obessed with the Fibonacci spiral kind of composition. In street photography, it's damned hard to find something that works. Here I nearly nailed it, but not quite!

Street Architecture

I'm a fan of modern architecture. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I do like the shapes, lines and angles. This is a spot in Sheffield I regularly re-visit trying to capture a pedestrian walking by in the frame. I haven't managed the perfect shot yet but I will one day. One day....

I told you I was obsessed

Another Fibonacci attempt....

Sale

I told you street photography was my nemesis. That damned street bench got in the way!

ICM

I went through a phase a few months back where I was obsessed with moving the camera during the exposure known as ICM, intentional camera movement. This is in my local woods although you wouldn't recognise it here!

Graff in monochrome

I spotted this piece of graffiti in Birmingham and knew it would make a great photo. I reckon it looks even better in mono but unfortunately this photo will always bring back bad memories of a congestion zone charge due to the big gas guzzling pick up truck I was driving at the time!

About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.

Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/

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Should I admit I started out with B&W and also printing everything? Reading what you wrote brought back memories. I miss those days. I agree, high contrast with B&W.

I like several you have shot here. Favourites are the third one with all that decay, angles and lines. That spot in Sheffield is wild. I hope you get the shot you want with someone walking, since I can see why you like this spot. I also like the way you shot the woods, the abstraction is delicious. The last one is quite trippy, had to stare at it for a bit, so that's another favourite.

When you shoot a Fibonacci spiral kind of composition, how do you do that? I'm familiar with a Fibonacci spiral, but not clear on how to shoot that way.