James Ravilious: Part Three

Irwin Piper leading his sheep. Upcott, Dolton, Devon.

 Guest post by fellow photoblogger Bruce Robbins. https://onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com 

James's widow, Robin, wrote his biography, James Ravilious, A Life - another great read that I'd heartily recommend - and she revealed some more information about his shooting technique and equipment which included an uncoated 73mm Hektor lens. His photographs, she wrote, took on a more subtle, three-dimensional form after he adapted the Zone System to his own needs.

The best reproductions I've seen of his work are in An English Eye by Peter Hamilton. Peter said the photographer's problem was the need to compress a large range of tones caused by his shooting into the light. He wrote, "By giving the negative twice the normal exposure and then reducing its development in a dilute, soft-working compensating developer, he obtained a negative which retained detail in both shadow and highlight areas." This approach meant that skies typically needed a 10-30% burn in time as opposed to the 100-150% extra he was accustomed to before adapting his technique.

Bill Cooke in Colehouse Yard, Riddlecomb, Devon.

He seemed mainly to use 35mm and 50mm Elmars and a 28mm Hektor with his M3. I've not really found confirmation of his choice of film and developer but it doesn't look like Tri X to me so I'd go with HP5. In all probability he used them both. As for the developer, he wanted something soft-working and compensating. Perceptol would be one candidate. However, I've also heard that James did, indeed, use Tri X rated at about 200 ISO and developed in D76 (that's what his photographer friend Chris Chapman said) so who knows. I can't verify anything about his film and developer choices.

Clearly, then, not everything is known about James's working practices but there should be enough information in this post if anyone wants to have a go at duplicating his atmospheric look. Older, uncoated Leica lenses, a lens hood taped up to stop unwanted light striking the front element, contre jour lighting, a light yellow filter, HP5 or Tri X rated at 200 ISO and a soft-working, compensating developer.

Young Bulls eating thistle heads.

Those are the technicalities. The title of this post, How to get the James Ravilious Look, is obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek. Knowing the process is just part of the equation. What you'll have to bring to the party is James's unique eye for a picture and, unfortunately, there's no short cut for that.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text copyright 2026 Bruce Robbins. Photos by James Ravilious copyright The Beaford Trust, 2026.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    film photography   Leica photography     James Ravilious     England    Devon    English country life   documentary photography   southeast England rural culture    The Leica "glow"    Kodachrome 25 film

James Ravilious: Part Two

Margaret Bolt delivering a lamb. Week Farm, Barington, Devon.

 

Guest post by fellow photoblogger Bruce Robbins. https://onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com

In the introduction to A Corner of England, James said,

"On the technical side, I have always used Leica rangefinder cameras and prefer the character and quality of their earlier, uncoated lenses. Most of my photographs were taken with a 35mm wide angle lens, together with a yellow "0" filter for clouds. 

This means rating the film at, say, 200 ISO and under-developing to compensate for this over-exposure. 

This gives a far superior tonal quality to negatives which are, consequently, easier to print. I wish I had discovered this earlier in my career. For colour, I use Kodachrome 25 with an 81A (warm-up) filter."

The result of this approach is an abundance of delicate, silvery greys, soft highlights and shadows you can walk through without needing to take a machete to them. Although I think James printed a lot of his own work, the photographs for the book were printed by photographer, Bryony Harris, and she did a beautiful job. How much of the look of James's photographs is down to his negatives and how much credit should go to Bryony I can't really say. But it's a lovely combination.

 Wilf Pengelly setting up stooks, Wolleigh Barton, Devon.

Certainly, by the time of the book's republication, James had become sensitive to the chemicals used in the darkroom and had given up printing. He had started recording everyday life in North Devon for the Beaford Archive and I believe his own prints are held by that body. Lots of them can be seen - and purchased - at James's Archive on the Beaford website. It would be interesting to see how closely Bryony's prints match James's originals. The reproduction of the black and white photographs in the book is quite good and the few colour shots have that typical Kodachrome look with nice skin tones and reds and quite high contrast.But, returning to James's choice of materials and equipment. I can see - at least I think I can - why he went to such lengths trying various optics before plumping for old Leica lenses. Take a good look at the pics from the book I've posted here. I took some time trying to match the scans as closely as possible to the photos and they're a good facsimile on my computer screen.

What James's choice of equipment and materials seems to achieve is the exaggeration of aerial perspective. Contrasty lenses might take the background in these pics and reveal more planes than are evident in James's photos. His Leica lens, being older, uncoated and of lower contrast, isn't able to achieve this separation of tones but tends, I think, to create more of a misty background which achieves a feeling of depth in a different way.

James Ravilious and his "customized" Leica M3.

This effect is helped by some flare - more accurately, veiling glare -  from the Leica lens. Bright backgrounds, even on sunny days, flare quite badly in some of his photos but this, too, resembles a misty haze more than what we think of as flare. These two effects combine to give many of his pics a special appearance that conjures up a picture of warm, sunny days in the country with a heat haze hanging over the picturesque background. Of course, in some of these photographs, the misty background is caused by exactly that - mist! Some of James's autumnal and wintry scenes have a wonderful atmosphere about them.

Lower in contrast and prone to flare in some circumstances they might be but the old Leica lenses are still very capable when photographing people in the 6-12 ft range. Many Devon characters are captured with great sensitivity and not a little sympathy by James. His interior photographs reveal some slowish shutter speeds with one or two displaying a little bit of camera shake but there can't be too much light bouncing around in a small-windowed country cottage - especially when you've got 200 ISO film in your camera.

To be continued.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text copyright 2026 Bruce Robbins. Photos by James Ravilious copyright The Beaford Trust and/or the Estate of James Ravilious, 2026.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    film photography   Leica photography     James Ravilious     England    Devon    English country life   documentary photography   southeast England rural culture    The Leica "glow"    Kodachrome 25 film