Ben Nevis – November 2016 – Upwards, Expired Fuji NPH 800.

So…It was about time we headed this way. As with many who frequent the British hills and mountains, Ben Nevis is often someplace, somewhere on a ‘to-do’ list. It had been talked about for several years but had never come about, thus after moving to Scotland, the excuses for not doing so became few and far between. As such, Sarah and I took a long weekend break and shacked up in a nice, but strangely-decorated, B&B in Fort William. I took along my recently favoured Pentacon Six, with the Biometar 80/2.8 attached and loaded it with a roll of expired Fuji NPH 800, on which all pictures from the way up were taken.

http://my.viewranger.com/track/widget/4251640?locale=en&m=miles

Northern Cairngorms – 2016 – Fuji Pro 400H

A few years back, a couple of good friends and I spent a few days hiking a circuit around the Cairngorm Mountains, and last year we made another visit; this time with Sarah. We had intended to extend the trip by a couple of days, so as to re-attempt a certain harrowing escapade on Ben Avon without the previous drama. Unfortunately and as is usually the case, when the time came, the weather was again bad, so we opted to take a low route instead.

Anyhoo. As with the last time we were out here, Loch Etchachan was the undoubted highlight. Such an amazing part of the world – a high-level loch at 927 m (the highest in the UK), reasonably remote and surrounded by the hills on all sides. We accessed the loch by a route via the Cairngorm plateau and Ben Macdui and spent two nights there, heading up Beinn Mheadhoin during the intercedent day.

It’s worth a trip up the latter, as the summit structures – built-up rocky outcrops – provide a channelling and shaping of the wind that can be a fun and enlightening experience, whilst breaking up the high level plateau also.

A Pan American Adventure; Part 4 – Odds & Sods from Seattle and Vancouver

As promised, here are the remaining images I’ve edited from 2015’s Pan American Adventure.

There are relatively few shots from the latter stages of 2015’s Americas trip compared to the Southern American leg – predominantly because my poor Pentacon gave up the ghost in Vancouver (so, annoyingly, there are no analogue shots of the Rockies). I did however, manage to get it fixed and CLA’d by a local specialist in Vancouver (CAMTEX) you’ll be glad to know, and it has been running smoothly ever since!

Everything here was shot using Kodak Portra 400, shot @ ISO 200, using the P6 with the Zeiss 80 mm f2.8.

I’m Back! Or so I’m trying.

So..It’s been a long while – toooo long really. Since my last post (apparently 11 months ago!) much so much has happened; I’ve moved to Glasgow, started a new job, acquired a cat, and am now looking to buy my first house with my partner. Eventful times, but if it hadn’t been, I guess something must have been wrong!

For various reasons it’s kind of been a difficult time, motivationally-speaking. At home, we’ve been without sufficient space to organise a darkroom so that’s wound up being neglected and thus, irrespective of what I’ve shot, I’ve been collecting the spent film in the freezer, bodging increasing numbers of spools into an already full tupperware. And what with all the change, trying to create new routines and finding the time or effort has been hard, but slowly I’m getting back on it. Hopefully the new house, whichever/wherever it may be, will allow us more freedom and a dedicated space(s) to create in!

In other, somewhat related, news I recently overhauled my PC; new graphics card, RAM and monitor, for the main reason that I had myself some drum scans done – a number of shots from the trek in Peru – which at some point I intend to get printed. That’s waiting until I have a consistent work space though!

Anyhow, before I offer anything more substantial in the way of blogging, I thought I would just put out a couple of posts with the last few odds and sods from my Pan-American trip; followed, in separate posts, by some items from some of the short trips around the Scottish Highlands we’ve managed recently.