black and white

Had our black and white photography induction today. I've played around with SLRs in my Art Foundation, but never really got the chance to do very much as the cameras were rubbish and there were few of them.

So we walked round Leeds this morning, and I took pictures of things which caught my eye. Mostly experimenting as I'm still trying to find a direction for my project.

Here's the contact sheet:

And the contact sheet we used to decide on the most suitable exposure time:

Got a couple of nice pictures of signs and places in town, but after looking at the negatives I've decided that I definitely like the close-ups best. I really like the softness of the image below, and also how the composition of the background makes the image look a lot older than it really is. 

I also really like this one which Victoria took of me:

I'm going to visit my grandparents in Boston Spa tomorrow, which is just outside of Leeds, and if possible I'm going to borrow an SLR from college and take some nice pictures! On the way back I might stop off at Roundhay and as many little places outside of Leeds as possible on the bus. Really want to get out of the centre and go explore some of the suburbs.

I love the darkroom!!