I shot this picture of downtown Oklahoma City on a rainy afternoon in May. I was at Devon Tower shooting a photograph of a Devon executive for a magazine story. When I got back to my truck I saw the traffic was fairly light and the rain had let up so it was just a light drizzle. Knowing I needed to capture a 4×5 image for my project, I grabbed my Toyo 45a, tripod, and a holder with Ilford HP5 film, set up right quick, and shot this image in just a few seconds in between traffic. I prefocused the camera, loaded film, and set my shutter and aperture so that when during a lull in the traffic I could run out, set up my tripod, and simply trigger the shutter. I thought it would be cool to have an old style black and white picture of downtown Oklahoma City.
Once again, film fogging has reared its ugly head. I still have not figured out what is causing this. You can clearly see the overexposure/fogging on the bottom of the picture. I had been thinking this was from too much shifting on my Toyo 45a but for this picture I didn’t shit the lens at all. Humm. Maybe my batch of Ilford HP5 is fogged or has been exposed? I am going to have to keep shooting to figure this one out.
Hi! Did you ever figure out this fogging issue? I just got a Toyo 45a and I seem to be having the same problem.
Also, thank your for sharing your lovely image!
Yes I did. The problem was in my processing. I use a Jobo 2500 series drum and I process both 4×5 and 120 roll film in the tank. When I switch carriers I didn’t remember to switch the center tube. Hence, light was leaking in through the top of the drum since there was no tube inside. Once I figured that out I have had no more problems with the fogging. Hope that helps.