Pushing Tri-X to the Extreme (ASA25600)

Back in July during a photo trip to Kelantan with Eddieputera and Sarip, I've had the chance to shoot a scene that is pitch black. It was a scene at the fishing dock where a fishing vessel stopped by for a rest after being in the sea for about 1 month. That night there was a storm brewing so super dark clouds engulfed the skies. There's no other light source around except a couple light bulbs on the vessel itself. It was raining heavily and that made the shot even tougher. I wanted to capture this shot at a fraction of a second. Putting it on long exposure would've made the vessel blur. Yes, I could probably get away with a 1-2 sec shot at a lower ASA, but I figured, might as well hit the extreme just for the sake of trying and testing out the pushing capabilities of this film.

This shot was metered at ASA25,600. Having a Tri-X on my Hassy back, I've decided to give it a go. After doing some research on the flow to push the Tri-X up 6-stops, I've settled with the following..

Rodinal 1:100, 3 hours semi stand development with 2 swirls to the tank every 30mins. After 1 1/2 hours, I replaced the developer with a fresh batch (to avoid the risk of exhaustion).

What I got was a muddy negs. Putting it onto the scanner, here's what I got. No tweaking on this scan. I kinda like the look.

I did played around in Photoshop, where I set the black for the tones. Here's what I got.

All in all, I think I prefer the original look better. It looks classical and seemed very special, considering the circumstances that I had to go thru to shot this scene, plus the darkroom processes afterwards. I will remember this shot for a very long time.. will be printing it and framed it on my wall.

Away from the bustling city....

....lies a very peaceful fishing village in the state of Kelantan. Kampung Canggung, located in Bachok, Kelantan where the source of income for most of the villagers comes from the sea.

A local walking towards his hut to prepare for the next trip to the sea. This is where they spend most of their day if they're not out in the sea. Repairing the nets, fixing the boat, resting, drying the fish and a whole lot of activities goes here. Here are some photos of their tools of the trade..

Part of the preparation before they go out to sea is inspecting the fishing nets before being put onboard the boat.

Once they have loaded the net and other things on the boat, they're set to go.

In the old days, fishermen use logs to roll their boat from the shore to the sea. In the modern days, they use a carriage to assist them in pushing the boat until the boat floats on its own. These type of fishermen goes out to the sea for several hours. Those in bigger vessels go out for days, weeks or even months.

During my visit there, I realized that the villagers are very helpful. When the boats come back from the sea, they'll queue up and take turns to be landed and pulled back to the shore. Everybody lends a helping hand, regardless of who owns what boat. It's good to see how they worked together in a group.. sincerely helping out each other in their community, a vanishing trait especially in the city, where a lot of people just care about themselves and don't even know their neighbors, let alone lending a helping hand!

It was a very memorable trip for me. Thanks to Eddieputera who brought us here, I have learned so many things, witnessed in some places, people trust and help each other without any prejudice. I have also learned to be thankful to Allah for what I have, as there are people out there who are struggling just to make ends meet. I hope to be able to visit them again next time..

KL Sentral Urbanscape

I frequently go to or pass by KL Sentral for meetings or hanging out with buddies, but I haven't really brought my camera to shoot those awesome architectures there. One fine day, I took my Hassy together with me, and with a fellow photographer, Sarip @ Guillotineman, we went for a quick scout with our cameras.

I love this shot with the train passing by in between the high rise buildings. Very modern look.

A shot looking up the tall buildings. I love the lines and the curves in the shot. Some gave feedback that they prefer some details of the skies as in this one the skies are blown. I personally think that the skies details does not carry any significant meaning to the shot as the key elements are the two buildings, colored in shades of grey. IMO, the blown skies contributed to a simple yet elegant look to the shot. Skies with details would've distracted viewers' eyes from concentrating on the lines and curves of the buildings. That's what I think. Others might have a different opinion. Either way, I appreciate the view.

This is another shot on the other side of KL Sentral. The building where the train came out from is the city's main transportation hub, linking up 5 train lines and services, including an express rail service to the airport in Sepang, city bus service as well as taxi services. I also like this shot because as you can see on the background to the right, there's massive building construction going on. In a couple years, this shot will be appreciated even more because another shot from this angle will have buildings (which will probably be taller than the KL Sentral itself) surrounding it, not like what can be seen today..

All shots were shot with a Hasselblad 553ELX with CZ 50mm Distagon on Kodak Tri-X400, developed with Rodinal 1:60, 14mins @ 20C.

Temple in the Clouds

I went up to the Chin Swee Temple in Genting Highlands to capture something special there, if there is any. It was around 10-11am if I'm not mistaken, a sudden rush of fog started to engulf the temple, creating a sense of mystical atmosphere to the environment. This is what I was looking for! Went up one of the trails to get a higher point of view of the temple, and make my shot. This shot was actually untitled (as you can see on flickr), but when I was about to write about this shot, it finally struck me! "Temple in the Clouds" .. yea, that's it, "Temple in the Clouds".

Temple in the Clouds, Genting Highlands, December 2009
Yashica MAT 124G, Kodak Tri-X 400
Ilford LC29 1+29, 7mins @24C, agitation continuous first 30sec, 10 sec every subsequent minute
Ilfostop 1 min
Ilford Rapid Fixer 4 mins