Wow, thank you, that’s a real boost, appreciated.
I’m giving them 6x8 prints on Fuji Crystal archive for colour phone photos and 6x9s on Ilford RC for the B&Ws. This trip was, how can I put it? Unsupported…
I bought the cameras at PhotoCo in the Central Markets in Adelaide. The lenses were bought used from there except the 50mm which came from KEH.
They are old or neglected.
They are old. And despite being greatly revered and loved, they do have a tough life, living in an urban environment and living off hand-outs. But most cattle produced in western societies are over-fed and kept overweight to maximise carcass weight or milk production. Bos indicus cattle like these are also generally thinner than Bos taurus cattle we mostly have in the west.
They are completely tolerated. They have right of way on the road and are greatly revered. Cared for is another thing. They do access rubbish a lot. In most cities there are volunteer veterinarians who treat animals with an impacted gut from eating plastic, and their welfare is improving over time.
As a guide to processing, look here:
www.magnumphotos.com
Dennis Stock’s photo of James Dean would have been a little complex in the darkroom, but the others are mostly quite simple. In general, for 35mm film capture tones with detail wherever you need it - the old expose for the shadows develop for the highlights/contrast works well. For digital, shoot raw and avoid blown highlights anywhere except in small specular bright areas. You’ll have a relatively flat negative or raw file. Think about how you want it to look. For digital, make a mask that covers most of the photo you want to edit - for scenes, Lightroom’s select sky > duplicate and invert works well. You can work on the sky separately later. Work on the main part of the file, then refine the details. Don’t be scared to do as much as is needed - when you see, your eyes accommodate luminosities and create a lot of tonality that isn’t really there, not to a camera with no brain anyway.
