Balda Baldax - Ilford FP4+ 125

For our visit to Ribchester I decided to take Baldy the Baldax out to play, purely on the off-chance I finished my roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project. Of course I did finish that part of my plans for the day and thus baldy was retrieved from my bag ready to go. I had loaded it with a roll of Ilford FP4+ 125 and to cap things nicely, the sun finally broke through the haze, bathing us in all its spring glory. 

I started my roll at The White Bull, a lovely pub with what look like real Roman columns holding up the front porch and a model of a white Bull on top of it. This pub found fame when the popular British archaeology series "Time Team" visited Ribchester to search for the extent of the Roman settlement beyond what had already been found. It was the second episode of the first series and the whole town was involved as residents dug test pits in their gardens. You can find it on YouTube.

Ribchester isn't very large, it probably hasn't really grown much since it was founded all those centuries ago, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to photograph. Ribchester is full of sandstone buildings that are a couple of centuries old and there's been a lot of recycling of building materials over time.

There's also some new buildings that stand out, but they will weather in over the years ahead. In ten years you wouldn't know they hadn't been there long unless you knew what to look for. Ribchester is a conservation area thanks to its Roman roots which spread out in the local countryside, including an ancient road through a field that you can hike along.

Keith was indulging in photographing his favourite subject. Doors. To be fair there are some ornate doors around the town worthy of a photo and Keith made the most of them. I too got a couple of photos of doors as well as general photos of the buildings and details unique to each one. It didn't seem like we had been out for very long, but by 4 pm, we were both getting tired and made our way home, happy with what we had achieved.

I developed my roll of Ilford FP4+ 125 with BelliniFoto Euro HC for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 120 mediumformat film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I haven't used dear Baldy the Baldax for a few weeks as I have been busy with my autofocus cameras, so it was nice to spend a day with no batteries or automation bar my Gossen Trisix selenium light meter. I haven't forgotten how to use them, but it still shows where I cocked up the odd composition and a couple of light leaks strayed into my photos.

I'm not too fussed about it because perfection just isn't happening with a camera that's over 90 years of age. I just wanted to enjoy using it again and I certainly did that. Here's a few favourites from my roll of Ilford FP4 shot with Baldy the Baldax on a fine afternoon in Ribchester. I have posted them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Balda Baldax - Ilford FP4+ 125