{"id":11091,"date":"2026-09-27T10:04:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bobgriffithsphoto.uk\/?p=11091"},"modified":"2026-09-27T10:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:05:00","slug":"uni-year-6-semester-1-wk-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobgriffithsphoto.uk\/?p=11091","title":{"rendered":"Uni Year 6 – Semester 1 Wk 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Got into the Uni at 9am and hit up the scanner in the corner immediately. The monitors now have some nice new hoods to prevent the light hitting the screen so readily and ruining the colours and the image on the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a challenge getting the Mac Mini started as it wouldn’t wake up so I hit the power switch on the wall sockets before pressing the power button on the Mini to power it up. Up it came and allowed me to log in eventually, after remembering that I had to log in without the @wlv.ac.uk after my username.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it was onto the Epson Perfection V850 Pro scanner to begin the process of digitising my negatives on films #128 through #135 that I made whilst on the US Road Trip in July and August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#128<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First up was 128 which was the first of 5 rolls of 35mm Portra 400 that I shot in my Leica M6, this one would contain images of San Francisco from the first three days of the adventure. Including images of the Cathedral Of St Mary Of The Assumption, designed by Pier Luigi Nervi and Pietro Belluschi,  which was a wonderful concrete cathedral in the same style as the Tokyo Stock Mary’s Cathedral designed by Kenz\u014d Tange<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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San Francisco – St Mary Of The Assumption<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tokyo – St Mary’s Cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first film was scanned in and ready to import into Lightroom Classic and I’d started at 9600ppi then changing to 6400ppi to speed it up a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film #128<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The favourite from this contact sheet, although it needs scanning more cleanly and tidying up is the following one of a parking garage near Union Square in the city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Downtown San Francisco Parking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

#129<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On next then to Film #129, another Portra 400. This time I was scanning on 4800 to speed it up a little, I’m not worried about the quality so much as I am building up a contact sheet really. If I was going to scan it to use the individual image I’d up the ppi and then focus a bit more on the dust removal etc…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole film took a good while to scan in too, but it was joined by Sam and Dan explaining to the Level 5 squad about the Centrala Exhibition, The BIMM musician project and also some more projects that they will be needing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film #129<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My fave shot from this film was the below door and windows in a workshop in the world famous island prison. Alcatraz provided som entice pictures that I enjoyed especially on the digital camera but in film this one came out nicely. Many of the other photos on this film are just Tourist Holiday Snap type photos, such as the baseball park and the Las Vegas Caesars Palace images. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Workshop In Alcatraz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

#130<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Film #130 was next, it is now 11:30 and it’s taking an extraordinary amount of time to scan all of these negatives. My session this afternoon starts at 2pm so I’ll hopefully get some more of this done before heading up to the lecture theatre. This film contains images from the start of the road trip such as wide open roads, mailboxes on the roadside, images of the expansive Grand Canyon, and whilst some of them are Holiday Snaps, some of them are pleasing to see for me. The mailboxes with the open space behind them is one of my faves from this film, along with a photo of Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scan of Portra 400 image of Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then, just as I’m previewing the second half of this film, the Mac Mini decides it is time to tell me that it’s shutting down in restarting in 20 seconds. An update later and some waiting around means I can now begin the preview of the second half of the negative sleeve for this roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film #130<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

#131<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Film #131 Ready in the film holders and this is Chicago for the whole roll. One of the images came from the inside of the motorhome when I was looking out through the windscreen and it was very dark, but the scanner in Thumbnail mode decided that the bottom half of the photo wasn’t worth keeping also I decided to scan it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film #131<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of my favourite picks from this roll is the “Corn Cobs” in Chicago , otherwise known as the Marina Towers Condominium Association.<\/a> A set of apartments with the parking in the lower layers that are cylindrical in appearance and thus why they get their nickname.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Marina Bay Condominium Association “Corn Cobs”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

#132<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The next film is #132 and this contains images made at Niagara Falls, Philadelphia and New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halfway through the scanning of the film the time had run out and I needed to get up to the lecture theatre for this afternoon’s lecture on the 6FP012 module and what we will be doing this academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecture Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Taking my seat on one of the middle rows of the room I whipped out my MacBook and prepped for the next three hours of typing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Euripides shared with the group who the tutors for each us would be, and I was surprised to see only 14 students in total. I thought there were more of us, but I’m pleased that this is the case. The fewer the people in my group, the more time I’ll have with my tutor and other lecturers as well as less of a struggle to get space in the exhibition. My tutor is Euripides too so I’m pleased with that as I find him easy to talk to and think he will be able to offer me support and advice.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Into it now and Weeks Four and Nine will be reviews where we stand up in front of the rest of the group and share our project work so far to elicit feedback. Week Nine in Semester 2 is the “Mother Of All Reviews” (according to Euripides) so all of the images have to be submitted into the portal after being captured. It might still need to be printed and framed etc but it would be important to have them uploaded in their final dimensions..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the degree show we must also consider how we practice curation, preparation of the work and exhibition, learning the correct systems to hang the works and overall familiarise ourselves with the methods and systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Euripides was asking us to consider the projects we were planning and to ensure it had a place in an exhibition we should think about the four questions, Euripides call the the last one “The Bastard Question” <\/p>\n\n\n\n