Modern building, 'ancient' photograph

An opportunity to experiment with old camera - an old 5x7 Seneca, made in Chicago around 1900 - and old glass plates, Ilford HP3 and Ilford R10 from the late 1950s, produced images that feel, in this weather, distinctly Mediterranean. Northampton College out of term time is lacking in crowds certainly. The glass plates are smaller than 5x7, so I had to stick them in the darkslide with masking tape on the back. The camera is challenging too - since its shutter can't be relied upon, I had to stop all the way down, open the lens with black card in front of it, and time the exposure as best I could. The lens stops down to f256, but this is an old American system - f256 is around f64. The plates came out perfectly - as if they were new. I am distinctly impressed with the survival rate of Ilford materials from around fifty years ago. The picture here is the HP3. The Ilford R10 is a slower and slightly less contrasty material with an ISO of 50. The packet reads: 'Soft Gradation Panchromatic'. The camera lens has no coating on it at all, and lends a slightly old fashioned look, despite the modern architecture.

Infrared film captures the English countryside

Another occasion when elements came together was late June 2013, when I decided that infrared film was doing no good in my freezer, and I decided to just take a walk. I used an MPP camera to get this, and with a 'black' R72 filter, and Kodak infrared 5x4 film, I managed to get two shots successfully. I have had low success rates with this film: it either works or it doesn't. I had about 20% success rate on this trip - only a third of the sheets weren't completely black. This is one of them, the long straight between Shutlanger and Heathencote, near Towcester. I have tested this film before and when it comes out it is lovely. Even with a degree of knowledge about this subject, I am at a loss to understand what went wrong with the other sheets. If you have any ideas please let me know.
Of course I won't give up! The English countryside is beautiful, isn't it?

Back to the old days?

Call me old fashioned! I tried some 1960s Ilford 'Chromatic' G.30 glass plates on 5x4, and amazingly the images came out. I have one MPP Darkslide that has an insert for film, which can be taken out to load a glass plate. I processed this in Kodak HC110-B for 10 minutes. The plates are in fact orthochromatic, and are desperately slow at 10iso, but it seems that unlike faster emulsions, the slow ones keep their speed. This is unfiltered, and really quite contrasty. I have not used any orthochromatic before, so perhaps this is a side effect. It does seem odd to have a 'modern' photograph taken on glass!