Introduction into medium format photography, Darkroom processing and printing Learning journal

Working With Medium Format 

What we Took with us to shoot 

• Bronica SQ-B
• Sekonic Flashmate l-308b
• Ilford Medium Format Film 
• Tripod  

We were given the task to shoot portraits on a roll of medium format film however the portraits had to be of people who worked or lived in the town Rochester or Medway area.
We were told how to ask and approach potential people we wanted to photograph and what to say, when it came to speak to people in the town the information i was told was very vital and came in completely helpful.

I feel this brief allowed me and other students to have more confidence when asking people we do not know for a photograph.
It has also taught me and others how to use a medium format camera, i had previously used a Diana f+ camera which is medium format but had never worked with a Bronica before.
I found loading film into the camera fairly easy and similar to a Diana f+.
At first i found it hard to focus the camera and my first two test shots on my contact sheet prove this however after this all my images were in focus and it showed my progression through out the contact sheet at focussing the camera properly.
I also had a little trouble with the light meter at first also but however after a while of shooting it became easy. I found i didn't use the tripod we had took with us, i preferred to hold the camera instead.

Dark Room Processing 

After we had shot our film we were then taken into a dark room to process our film, i had experienced developing 35mm film myself in a dark room setting and was surprised that it was completely different and easier. Firstly in the darkroom we found our film and separated it from the paper that had previously kept out the light from exposing our film, punched a hole to add a attachment that then went into a developing black and white film machine.  

Here is a picture of my Negatives 

Printing 

The first thing we did before printing was to produce a contact sheet, this would help us decide what image we would want to print later on.

Contact Sheet 

After i had printed my contact sheet i chose a image i wanted to print and we were taught how to set up and use the enlargers. Once our enlargers were set up we did a few test pieces to get the right exposure times and also what grade we wanted to either add or take away contrast.

Here is a series of prints that i did first.

The left print was my very first full print, we then went on to learn how to add more contrast into the image and then that is how i ended up getting my third final print by adding more contrast.

My Second Prints

I then went on to do my second prints independently from the skills i had learnt earlier. The image also shows the stages i went through to get the final print.

All My Prints and Test Prints 

Test Prints And Negatives