We begin in the forest

We Begin in the forest

PANE. Window Exhibition | OPENSPACE Gallery

25 FEBRUARY – 25 MARCH, 2026

We begin in the forest, and end in the darkroom.

Pine is my muse, subject and co-conspirator within my photographic practice.

An image coming into being is rarely a shutter click alone. I silently observe, no camera in hand. I gather needles, grazing like a roe.

Using the cyanotype process, sunlight develops silhouettes into luminous blues. Ghostly impressions of f l u t t e r i n g shadows and pine needles flitting to the ground in their cycle of renewal.

The remaining needles are brewed into a tea, and with a little alchemy and soda ash, have the incredible power to develop black and white film. In doing so, the resulting images embrace renewal inherently – an ongoing transformation of existing materials, recycled infinitely.

And the pine? It actively shapes the final imagery through its textures, tannins, and scent. Its vitamin C rich needles collide with silver and an image is born. I am left with an imprint and a continuation of the pine needles that brought me to a place of creativity, perhaps weeks before.

An image coming into being is rarely a shutter click alone.

A recipe for pine needle developer:

Take a pan full of needles, or approximately 50 grams if you like to be precise.

Cover with water – 500ml or so.

Boil for 10 minutes.

Strain and decant.

Top up to 500ml with water if too much evaporation has occurred.

When ready to develop:

Gradually add in 40g of Soda Ash

Add 10g of Vitamin C powder

Ensure everything has fully dissolved

Warm the liquid to approximately 28ºC

Do a drop test* to determine development time

Develop as usual, 1 minute of agitation followed by 10 seconds every minute.

Stop using a citric acid and water mix

Fix as usual, or use salt water (requires 24+ hours)

*The drop test

This can be used to determine the development time of any developer, homemade or otherwise.

When reeling your film into the development tank in total darkness, cut a 1 inch section either from the tail end (not including the external fogged section) or, as I like to do, take it from the inner most section where the film is attached to the reel.

The same applies to 120 film, just be confident you’re not taking a piece of an image.

In the light: Drop your developer, prepped and at the development temperature, onto the piece of recently fogged film and start a timer.

Where dropped, the film will change colour first lighter, then returning to the same colour as the emulsion. You’re looking for the moment the film returns to a steady colour and starts to get darker than the untouched emulsion. Then stop your timer.

This can be tricky to spot and takes some practice, so do it 3 or four times (having cut your piece of film into multiple pieces).

With an average time (in seconds) of your most confident tests, divide it into 4, and this will be your development time in minutes.

i.e. 60 second drop test = 15 min development.

This is specific to that particular developer at that exact temperature.

Plant developers generally take longer to develop, but films do vary. I’ve found that Fomapan films are relatively quick compared to Ilford.