Scene’s from Kougie’s palace of wonder using very old expired polaroid film. The same expired film pack I took to The Zimmerman House.

I took Matt on a pyschogeographic excursion/photograph lesson in the park behind Kmart. The park is located behind an ill planned but prosperous collection of shopping plazas that comprise some of the most beautiful and maligned spaces in the Upper Valley. I often see middle class vehicles with athletic signifiers in the vicinity and I wonder how many of their owners choose to drive long distances to perform the activities related to their signifiers rather than go for a walk behind a strip mall.

We managed to walk from the Kmart parking lot all the way to the abandoned Home Depot nature walk without ever really touching 12a.

Fun was had by all and I enjoyed a mild sunburn.

In typical Gordon fashion, we ran into the owners of the Kmart plaza and I knew a member of their entourage.

Test shot from non-fuctional ebay polaroid disaster. Expired film that should have been done in my armpit/cold clip. More at 11.

What a wonderful pool house.

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has done a nice job managing The Rocks Estate, in Bethlehem NH. I used to run an afterschool program in high school called called The Room which was a student run coffee house that promoted local art and music. When we were kicked out of our space in Littleton, The Rocks Estate was kind enough to let us use their space. There is another estate in Bethlehem that was built by relatives of the Glessner family that remains in a semi-abandoned, horribly renovated state.

From one of the first rolls shot in my Voigtlander Bessa with the 50 Heliar Classic that came with it. I’ve shot this site a lot and for good reason.

This winter has been really awful. Today, it rained and snowed and so I shoveled and shoveled. My whole body is sore from removing a layer of very heavy snow from the driveway. I spent most of the time day dreaming about a photographic trip to Iceland. I’d bring bessa my rangefinder, piles of ektar and maybe some slide film like velvia. I’d use my amazing little tripod and my heliar 15 super wide to take in the great Icelandic landscape. Many moons ago on photoblogs.org there was a website devoted to abandoned farmhouses of Iceland. I lost the link but I would enjoy finding it again.

Every year, I hike into the flume in winter at least once. It is one of those traditions that is hard to break.

I ordered a bunch of Fomapan from freeystyle to re-teach myself how to develop black+white film. I took it with me on a visit to my friend Kougie’s house and to visit my favorite paper mill. Except for this roll, I think I ruined them all but I had fun.

Fomapan Update!

I thought that I had ruined my fomapan but it turns out that fomapan 400 is notoriously slow and needs to be shot at 200. After rescanning the fomapan I got better results and from now I shoot it at 200.

I developed my Fomapan in Kodak HC110 with constant agitation and I believe it helps fix some of the issue with the film being rated lower than 400 speed.

Franconia Paper

I’ve spent most of my life watching this building fall down. It started on the edges first, the newer parts made of cheaper material collapsed onto slightly more expensive and sturdier materials. Steel feel onto bricks. Then vandals set it on fire.

The first time I visited here was when I was 8 years and my parents took a trip to New Hampshire in the winter. The idea of a mill was completely foreign to me. A place where things were made.

The current destruction has nothing to do with dead loads, corrosion or rot but brown fields and a revolving loan fund. The building which used to employ many, is now considered an “eye sore,” and a danger to the community. In its place a hotel, looking like it was built in an era that the community never saw, will rise and employe 100 people. Fewer employees at a lower hourly rate.

I shot this using my Voigtlander Bessa on cheap fomapan from freestyle. Developed in HC 110 on thanksgiving.

From my first roll of true black and white in over 5 years. Ilford Delta Pro 100 processed in Kodak HC-110.