Photography by David Ondrik

I’ve been playing with Nelson Gold Toner. All the prints are on Ilford warm tone fiber paper. First is untoned, then toned for 6 minutes, then for 12.

Imbrication, Gold, originally uploaded by davidondrik.

I have a batch of Nelson Gold Toner from the Photographer’s Formulary. I’ve never used it before, so I decided to go all out and tone this print for 15 minutes. I’m not sure what I think. It was really nice around 5-6 minutes. There was a much more subtle warming of the blacks, rather than a total transition to…whatever color this is. Brown? I’m not sure if I’ve opened a new chapter in my black & white printing or not.

Flash Flood Issue 4 will be published soon. Look for an article on “Trinity,” the book by Charles Bowden and Michael P. Berman, a review of last month’s Slideluck Potshow, Eric Keller in Lishui, China, and more!
See it all at flash-flood.org.

White Mesa, Dragon’s Back, originally uploaded by davidondrik.

I was given some very old Rodinal. So I decided to try stand development. That’s when you really dilute the developer, in this case 1:200, agitate the tank for a minute (or some variation on this) and then let it stand for (in this case) 2 hours.

The idea is that slower development causes the tonal range to increase. Also, Rodinal is a compensating developer, so it exhausts in the highlights while the developer in the shadows is still active. Because of the weak developer, this makes it very difficult to block up the highlights.

It’s also easy to get the film going and then do other things that require your attention for 2 hours.

Coyotes, originally uploaded by davidondrik.

This is one of my most popular images on Flickr. I haven’t yet made a print I’m happy with yet. I guess Death, excuse me Thanatos, really is one of the best subjects for a photographer. If only I’d thought to have a naked female model lie down with the coyotes I could have Sex, excuse me Eros, as well. Then it would be the best photograph ever made ever. Oh well, live and learn.