Someone has been living in Dyrham Park since the Bronze Age! In 577 there was a battle here and the West Saxons drove the Britons back into Wales and Cornwall. The Estate is mentioned in the Doomsday book, but most of the house that stands today date from 1691, the creation of William Blathwayt. It’s a facinating history, but outside the scope of this blog – if you are interested, the National Trust has a good concise history here. The history of Dyrham Park.
It’s a pleasant enough walk down to the house and gardens through the Deer Park. The car park and welcome centre is on top of the hill behind. Both of the photo’s above actually show the back of the house! Visitors are usually taken through a courtyard, out into what I guess would have been the stable courtyard, past the stable block and out around the garden, then the first sight of the front of the house is from the end of “The Avenue” gardens.
On this visit I was using my Canon EOS 30D with the 40mm STM. Its a favourite combination when I’m out and about these days for various reasons I’ve mentioned before. Already loaded was a roll of Ilford Delta 100. I developed this roll in my freshly made FX21. 15mins at 20°c, Ilford agitation. Then I stopped with three changes of water stop, and fixed in the usual way. Compared to my normal results, I would say that the negs were a tiny bit thin. I would however acknowledge that I tend toward heavier negs than I should! The slightly lighter negs will help to reduce the grain.
Speaking of grain, at this point I’m pretty sure that FX21 is showing me more grain than FX55, but that gives it a certain sharpness. I’m liking the single solution dilution at the point of use. I’m liking the results I’m getting, although I’ve only really used Delta at this point, I’m interested to see how good old FP4 turns out. I think ultimately that FX55 is the better developer, is a little kinder to the environment, and gives less grain. John Finch over at Pictorial Planet has published an improved formula for FX55 suggested by Marek Karczewski. So I’ll progress with my litre of FX21, trying out a few combinations as I go – then I’m going to try the “new” version of FX55.
S.H.O.U.T. 