Title:Mineral Mystique

(Code:kb11)

Location:Kellert Baths,
Budapest

This photograph is the end result of two weeks perserverence to bring to fruition ! The Location is the Famous Kellert Baths, one of Europe's largest and oldest. After a week of negotiations with the local Council with regard to hiring the venue, I eventually was given permission for a small fee to use it for 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon while they emptied and changed the water ! This was shot in Feburary with an outside temperature of -10°C and inside a water temp. of +38° C ! Not to mention a 100% humidity.This gives an overview on what it took to get it in place.

The models were girls I was currently working with, so they kindly agreed to participate in the project.The council would only permit us entry to the MENS side ! ! ! Which was funny under the circumtances. So with very little time,one assistant and no auxiliary lighting and very little natural light I set about to create the series Mineral Mystique.This is one of the images from that series.

For this project I used Ilford HP5 film and rated it at 800 asa.Due to the variation in temperature I kept it to only +1 stop as it would reticulate too much (Go too grainy).The humidity was at a 100% so I needed to keep the camera in a towel the whole time and only exposed it at the last second when taking the shot.Having to clear the lens after each frame as it misted up immediately.

The film was then stored as much as possible at room temperature until I was back home in Paris where it was developed.Which happened to be about 3 weeks later,not that that makes too much difference !

I used Ilford Microphen ,which is a good developer for push processing and gives the film a good contrast.This was important as there was little or no light and all the exposures were of fairly long duration and I NEEDED detail in the shadow areas which was achieved.The film was "over" processed by about 1/2 stop which is a good little technique to ensure bringing up the detail.Keeping all the chemicals as close as possible to a constant 20° C,this kept the "Extra" graininess down to a minimum but due to all the excesses on the film knowing it would still have a good "EFFECT" !

You can always add grain but you cannot take it out. So now we have the negative it was time to start printing...

With printing it is always a question of what type of paper is best and what grade do you use ? I experimented for a couple of days to find the right "Style".

Then set about to make the final images.

As I have a preference for Ilford I chose the fibre based paper in grade 4 !!! Yes very high but I was after a "Dark and Moody" picture which would capture and sum up the feeling of the Baths.

I exposed the whole image first for a normal time which was based on the columns.Dodging (holding the light from) the girls ever so slightly (-15%) and the inner dome(-35%)Yes with both hands working at once.(It took a few goes by the way to get the final image ! ! ! )

Then the whole top half was dodged as I set to work on the floor.The whole floor was exposed for another minute , then the front rim was exposed for about the same time again.This added to the feel.As the light source came from a dome over head then of course this area was considerably overexposed in relation to the inside where the models were and if it was left looked too "Flat". So I "Built" the atmosphere by adding "Weight" to the floor surface and bring out the beautiful tile work.

The original exposure was about 45 secs. @ F5.6 , and the total duration of the print was somewhere around the 3 min. mark.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have any further enquiries then contact me ...

Enjoy the rest of the site.

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