The month has rolled over again and we are now in stormy November, the autumn colours are rapidly fading now but there are still browns and golds hanging on still. The weather is changing now though and becoming more active with Atlantic lows rolling in.

You may think that was it for photography now… but you would be wrong! My season starts in late September as the shadows lengthen and the greens start to fade and runs right through until June when the summer foliage is fresh and vibrant. Right now I am looking forward to some dramatic storm light and the first frosts… the snow on the hills (it arrived a week or so ago, but I haven’t had a moment to get any photographs of the snowy peaks as yet) and those late autumn scenes.

Last month was crazy, with a trip down south to visit Jen’s family and for me to attend my first qualifications panel, then back home for a few days (with a lot of work) before back south for my aunty Margaret’s funeral on Friday (Halloween). There has been a lot of driving, 16 hours in the last 2 days for me! As a result my October film stock, which I admit was a little excessive, has barely been touched. I think I have run through 2 rolls (almost) of Delta 100 and 1 roll of Formapan 200 35mm with another almost done. So this month I am going to continue working through my FPP, Ilford Delta 100 and Ilford PanF 50 (plus a roll of Kentmere 200 and another Formapan 200 in 35mm). I am not sure if I will get onto the Ektar 100 colour film or not as yet! Either way that gives me enough black and white for a film through each of the 120 cameras per week through this month which should be more than enough! I may even see through December on this lot depending on how busy I am and what the weather provides!

I have a workshop on this week to get a little more confident with the enlargers in the darkroom to look forward to. I am pretty happy with my processing now so have booked a series of tutorial sessions on getting my printing back up to scratch, one a month for the next three. This is all in an effort to build my next panel as an entirely analogue affair which I, and the judges I spoke to, are all rather excited by. I have a couple of nearby scenes that I want to start off with in the coming weeks as I start to build towards the next 20 that will be printed, mounted and kept safe until I have a body of work that I am really proud of! Then I just need to decide if I am going to embark on a degree this year or push it back another 12 months to give me time to work on this panel first….

Hopefully this will all work to put my insecurities to bed.

This is the remains of the October Stock which is going to run through November. I had hoped to get some Orthopan in to try, both the Ilford and Formapan varieties, as they look to offer some dramatic contrast that looks like it would fit my work nicely!