Fine MonoChrome Photography - Tony Smith musicians gallery

Welcome to a sample of our fine Monochrome work.

I hope you enjoy the images here.

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Loud & Proud - Zoomtang from May 1996. ŠTony Smith

TMAX400 rated at 800ASA 1/8th sec f4.
TMAX developer. Paper Ilford MG2

Black and white film has always held such a magic for me.
From watching my first print develop before my very eyes at a neighbours house I was hooked. Tmax400 is my choice for live work, pushed to 800ASA or higher with Tmax developer. I have dabbled with other developers and films but always ususlly soon returned to my trusty Kodak 35mm & 120 roll film refrigerated stock quite soon!
Some of my Monochrome work at Manchester and North West venues has been done with Tmax3200. One notable occasion was during an extended time in New Orleans. I had protected my 3200 asa film through so many US airport (film safe) Xray machine I had lost count, but really needed the stuff at the old crumbling 'Preservation' jazz venue, lit only by 100 watt tungsten bulbs. It was really hot in there, atmospheric with the old jazz men with me barely capturing those slight rays of light on the 3200 asa film. No flash (or booze!) allowed. Shooting at the time with my trusty Olympus Om4's gave me some truly memorable images.

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Tony Douglas from Jan 1999. ŠTony Smith

Ilford Delta 100 120 format 1/125th sec f8.
TMAX developer. Paper Ilford MG2
Negative masked during printing
Selective Sepia toning used

My interest has always been portraiture.
People are so exciting and varied to photograph. Fashion combined with expression creates magic for the camera
Various sessions with models such as Karen Howles, Shez and Karen Gilmour all helped capture that magic, this time with Ilford Delta 100 or Ilford PANF 50asa & not so forgiving for bad light, but wonderful to enlarge from.
Fashion gurus and fashion victims interest me. People on the edge of life, on the edge of music.

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Orange Deluxe from Sep 1997. ŠTony Smith

TMAX400 rated at 800ASA 1/15th sec f4.
TMAX developer. Paper Ilford MG2

Live bands offer such challanges
Quickly changing lighting, determining accurate exposure, getting in a suitable position, getting a printable negative, retaining shadow area detail etc, etc.
The situation of these parameters makes the darkroom skills invaluable. Some of these have obviously transferred to the realm of Adobe Photoshop skills, but skills all the same. Knowing how to use graded or fine art papers, or to be able to burn in essential details at multiple grades is learnt only over time after much necessity and experience.

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A Punk at home, Shez Dec 1998. ŠTony Smith

TMAX400 rated at 800ASA 1/8th sec f4.
TMAX developer. Paper Ilford MG2

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......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... . Dabbling in a darkroom with enlargers , various grades of paper with developer , stop bath, fixer, toner (or toning chemicals) gives a certain pride with the end result, a combination of composition , exposure and the physics of silver. Work in the 1980's with the McBride brothers helped very much to firm up a feeling for monochrome photography. Current Photographers in the North West include Ged Noonan ( aka ged Camera ), and Karen McBride. The 1980's star photographer was undoubtedly Ian Tilton , live music photographer of The Smiths , The Hacienda ( Factory records last artifact) - now sadly being turned into yet more luxury flats. Ged is mainly a colour film man and Karen McBride is mainly a mono film photographer. Module 3: Print Processing Lesson 7 The Darkroom The Dark Room The Permanent Darkroom Lesson 8: Darkroom Equipment Basic Darkroom Equipment The Enlarger Developing trays Tray heater The Printing Easel The Safe Light Timers Thermometers Tongs Focusing Tool Lesson 9: Black & White Materials Black and White Paper Resin Coated Paper Fiber Based Paper Paper Grade Paper finishes Printing Chemicals Developer Stop Bath Fixer Lesson 10 The Contact Sheet The Contact Sheet Using the Enlarger Lesson 11 The Test Print Test Printing Lesson 12: Printing The Basic Print Making the Grade Burning and Dodging Burning In Dodging Using the Aperture The Final Print Lesson 13 Developing the Print Developing the Print Washing the Print Drying Lesson 14: Toning Introducing Color Toning The Toning procedure Materials Mixing the Chemicals Preparing the Print Toning the Print Split Toning Partial Toning Lesson 15 Hand Coloring Black and White Black and White Retouching Dyes Color retouching Dyes Other Alternatives Projects Practical Theory Summary Lesson 1 Shooting in Black & White Introduction Shooting in Black and White Seeing in Black and White Lesson 1 (cont) Using Lighting Contrast High Key/Low Key Patterns and Textures Lesson 2 Filters Contrast Filters Lesson 3 Part 1 Film Black and White Film Panchromatic Film Chromogenic Film Infrared Film Monochrome Slide Developer Fixer Stop Bath Wetting Agent Precautions with Chemicals Black and white, or monochrome photography is, of course, the oldest form of photographic image making and some feel that it is "old hat". Nothing could be further from the truth. Ask any really seriously artistic photographers their opinion and 99 out of 100 will admit to a soft spot for monochrome photographs. I say monochrome because it encompasses all the variants like sepia, selenium, gold or any of the single colour toners available as well as the "traditional" grey scale. Monochrome image production, no matter how you go about it, seems to allow a freedom of expression for the artist who likes to work with form, lighting, shape and particularly mood without the sometimes distracting colours that make up "the real world". Some purists would even go so far as to say that "Black & white is the only true form of photography". However you choose to represent the world around you, you owe it to yourself to at least try one roll of black & white film and beg, borrow or steal some time in a darkroom to see for yourself the magic that is image creation in monochrome The classic textures to be found around old buildings and historic sites always make for interesting subject matter. The use of a grainy film here accentuates the age and fine texture. The chain just manages to break the symmetry. Nikon F3/MD4, f2.8 55mm Micro-Nikkor, Ilford Delta 400, tripod This course introduces the fundamentals of black and white darkroom procedures including film processing, contact printing, proofing and print enlarging. An excellent foundation for either fine art, expressive or commercial photography. A continuation of Basic Black & White Darkroom or a "refresher course" for those with darkroom experience. Learn more about refined print techniques such as contrast control, selective exposure, fiber-based prints, archival processing and presentation techniques like mounting and matting. Experience required. Instructor discusses goals for each individual student. Refresh your basic darkroom skills while learning new ways to create photographs. Alternative techniques in this class will be used to make your photography stand out. Different types of toning, handcoloring, and experiments will be explored. Techniques include paper negatives, vignetting, sabittier effect, and selective development and others. Some prior experience required. In this handcoloring workshop you will explore using oils, watercolors, pencils, and oil pastels on your photographs. Fiber-based printing, toning, and pigment dyes will be used to create color accents to your black and white photographs. All materials but paper provided. Experiment and explore a wide range of fiber-based and RC photographic papers in this class for people who have had some darkroom experience. Bring in your B&W negatives to see the difference in bromide, cold tone, warm tone, high contrast and monochrome papers. In addition look at the paper's texture, lustre, pearl, glossy and fine-art, and discover which paper works aesthetically for your subject.