Schoolhouse

4x5 for 365 project (347/365)

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Moselem one-room Schoolhouse built around 1905 and closed in 1955. It sits across the street from the Zion Moselem Lutheran Church in Richmond Township, Berks County Pennsylvania. It's in great shape and features intricate gable detail on all four sides and the front porch area, something I've found on most of the historic one-room schools in the immediate area.  Day # 1 of this 365 project also featured this schoolhouse taken from a different angle and shot in B&W.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in Copal B shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/8th second at F32.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.
Cropped in post.

4x5 for 365 project (343/365)

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The Freyberger one-room schoolhouse was built by Jacob Stein for $300 in the 1830's, though some reports list its build date as circa 1870. It was originally called both the Center School and the Stein School. Classes ceased at the school in 1955 when school district consolidation took over in Pennsylvania. The school was moved to the Kutztown University campus on October 30th-31st 1991 and is now part of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Center which includes examples of a German Bank Barn, Farm House, Cabins and this one room brick schoolhouse.  The original location of the school was on Klinesville Road in Greenwich township about 3 1/2 miles from its present location. It was gifted to the college by Archie Follweiler Jr. of Kutztown. Kutztown University Alumnus and retired school teacher Dr. Ruth Freyberger paid for the move, renovations and maintenance of the schoolhouse as a tribute to her Sister Grace Arline Freyberger, also a Kutztown University graduate and a retired schoolteacher who attended a one-room schoolhouse in her youth. Present day school children sometimes take field trips to the school to learn about what it was like to be educated in one during the 1800s/early 1900s.

Technical details:
Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail film camera.
Fujinon-W 210 F5.6 lens in a Copal B shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/15th second at F22.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (338/365)

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Neff's one-room schoolhouse on the outskirts of Kutztown.  It was built in the 1880s and used up until 1955 when the Kutztown School District consolidated their fifteen one-room schoolhouses into a larger school that could house all students.  It remained dormant until Bill and Doll Fox purchased the property in 1972 and spent several years renovating it as a second home.  Since then, they have also purchased another one-room schoolhouse, the Eagle Point school, on the other side of Kutztown.   The Fox's have decorated the interior of the Neff School with antiques and symbols commemorating life in Kutztown.   Mr. Fox is known for his intricate topiary gardens he curates outside both schoolhouses.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/8th second at F32.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.
Cropped to desired size in post.

4x5 for 365 project (285/365)

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A well preserved one room schoolhouse, circa 1880, stands alone on a beautifully manicured lawn along PA Route 322 in Annville, Pennsylvania.  These schools were the primary source of education in rural Pennsylvania for grades Kindergarten through eighth grade up until the early 1950s when Pennsylvania instituted a program of school consolidation and built larger, centrally located primary schools in each community.  At one time there were over 10,000 one-room school houses in the commonwealth.  

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in Copal B shutter.
Yellow-Green filter on lens.
Ilford FP4+ B&W film, shot at ISO 125.
Exposure was 1/15 second at F32.
Developed in Rodinal/Adox Adonal 1:50 dilution for 15 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius in Mod54 daylight developing tank.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (260/365)

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The Church Hill Schoolhouse located on Landis Store Road outside of Boyertown, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  I'm not entirely sure when this particular one-room schoolhouse was built.  According to St. John-Hill United Church of Christ records, a log schoolhouse was first built by the congregation on this location in 1750 and later torn down and replaced with a stone one in 1786.  I don't think this is that stone schoolhouse from 1786 though since the construction and architecture is probably from around the mid to late 1800s.  There is no mention of another school being built in the church records however.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7 large format metal field camera with 4x5 film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Yellow # 8 filter on lens to help with contrast.
Ilford Delta 100 B&W Negative Film, shot at ISO 100.
1/8th second at F32.
Developed in Rodinal/Adox Adonal 1:50 dilution for 13 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius in Mod54 daylight developing tank.  
Negative scanned with Epson V600. 

4x5 for 365 project (216/365)

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This building was once a schoolhouse and later home to "Bowen's Schoolhouse Crafts".  It is located along Route 6 in Galeton, Potter County Pennsylvania.  I wasn't able to find much about the building's history other than the First Methodist Episcopal Society of Galeton having used the building for services until 1887.  The attached first floor extension doesn't seem to have been original to the schoolhouse building.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7 large format metal field camera with 4x5 film back.
Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in Copal B shutter.
Ilford FP4+ B&W Negative Film, shot at ISO 125.
1/15 at F32.
Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Mod54 daylight development tank. 11 1/2 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius.
Negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (156/365)

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The old one-room schoolhouse at Wallpack Center, New Jersey.

Technical details:
Busch Pressman Model D 4x5 LF press camera.
Graflex Optar 135mm F4.7 lens in a Graphex shutter.
Wratten 8 (yellow) filter on lens using a Kodak series VI slip-on filter adapter.  
Arista EDU 200 Ultra B&W Negative Film, shot at ISO 160.
1/30th second @ F32.
Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Mod54 daylight tank. 6 1/2 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius.
Negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (148/365)

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The Lutz-Franklin School was built in 1880 and is the third schoolhouse to be located on this same parcel of land.  The first one was built around 1768 and the second in 1826.  It has a basement area, unusual for a one-room schoolhouse.  It is owned and maintained and was restored by the Lower Saucon Township Historical Society, who gives tours of the building. For more information on the school, visit LutzFranklin.com.

Technical details:
Busch Pressman Model D 4x5 large format press camera.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter. 
Kodak Ektascan BR/A single-sided X-Ray film. 
Exposure was 1/2 second @ F45.
Semi-stand development in Rodinal 1:100 for 15 minutes in Mod54 daylight tank. 
Negative scanned with Epson V600. 

I want to re-shoot this at some point with the aim of trying development by inspection using hangers and tanks and try and control the highlights and contrast in the sky a little better.

4x5 for 365 project (96/365)

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This is the renovated school house in the tiny village of Stillwater Pennsylvania located along route 487 in Columbia County.  The school is located right next to the Stillwater Covered Bridge.  According to the year 2000 census, the population of Stillwater was 194 people in 85 households.  The building was extensively renovated during the last decade and a photo exists showing its deteriorated prior condition in 2005 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Church_in_Stillwater.jpg

Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera.

Lens: Rodenstock Geronar 150mm F6.3 lens in a Copal 0 shutter.

Film: Kodak Ektascan BR/A single-sided X-Ray film.  Purchased from zzmedical.com as 8x10" sheets and cut down to 4x5".  Film rated at 80 ISO.

Exposure: 1/8 @ F45.

Development: Self Developed film in Rodinal (Adox Adonol) 1:100 in three reel Paterson Universal Tank using Mod54 six sheet 4x5 insert.  Semi-Stand for 15 minutes with initial minute of inversions then 10 seconds of inversion on minutes one and two then let it sit until minute 14 when I do a final ten seconds of inversions. Kodak indicator stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo. Hung to dry.

Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass. Cropped to square in Lightroom.

4x5 for 365 project (90/365)

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The Freyberger one-room schoolhouse was built by Jacob Stein for $300 in the 1830's, though some reports list its build date as circa 1870. It was originally called both the Center School and the Stein School. Classes ceased at the school in 1955 when school district consolidation took over in Pennsylvania. The school was moved to the Kutztown University campus on October 30th-31st 1991 and is now part of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Center which includes examples of a German Bank Barn, Farm House, Cabins and this one room brick schoolhouse.  The original location of the school was on Klinesville Road in Greenwich township about 3 1/2 miles from its present location. It was gifted to the college by Archie Follweiler Jr. of Kutztown. Kutztown University Alumnus and retired school teacher Dr. Ruth Freyberger paid for the move, renovations and maintenance of the schoolhouse as a tribute to her Sister Grace Arline Freyberger, also a Kutztown University graduate and a retired schoolteacher who attended a one-room schoolhouse in her youth. Present day school children sometimes take field trips to the school to learn about what it was like to be educated in one during the 1800s/early 1900s.

This was shot on a completely overcast day bordering on rain so we had a featureless sky. That's pretty much how my March went on this project.

Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera.

Lens: Rodenstock Geronar 150mm F6.3 lens in a Copal 0 shutter.  

Film: Arista EDU 200 Ultra B&W Negative Film, shot at box speed.

Exposure: 1/4 second @ F45.

Development: Self Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 12 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Kodak indicator stop bath.  Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo rinse.

Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.

4x5 for 365 project (19/365)

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This one-room schoolhouse is located on Allemaengel Road in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. It sits in a farm field and was converted, at some point, from a school into a storage building for the farmer who's land the building sits on. The sliding door that the farmer installed on the front is now missing but the rest of the structure seems to be in pretty sound condition. I couldn't find any information at all about the name of the school or years of operation though the architecture and building materials are consistent with other one-room schools in the area that were built in the 1880-1910 time frame. The birdhouse on the tree makes it easy to imagine the school kids gathering under the tree for shade during warm June days and looking up to watch the birds.

Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera. 

Lens: Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in a Copal B shutter.  Tiffen # 29 Red filter on the lens to darken sky and improve contrast.  

Film: Ilford Delta 100 ISO Negative Film, shot at box speed. 

Exposure: With adjustments for film reciprocity and filter factor the exposure was 20 seconds @ F32.  

Development: Self Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 13 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Tap water stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo rinse.

Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.

4x5 for 365 project (1/365)

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Moselem one-room Schoolhouse built around 1905 and closed in 1955. It sits across the street from the Zion Moselem Lutheran Church in Richmond Township. It's in great shape and features intricate gable detail on all four sides and the front porch area, something I've found on most of the historic one-room schools in the immediate area. There's a neat article on a recent school reunion held for pupils of this school available here: http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=248886

Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera. 

Lens: Rodenstock Geronar 150mm F6.3 lens in a Copal 0 shutter.  Tiffen Yellow Filter on lens to improve contrast. 

Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Negative Film, shot at box speed. 

Exposure: 1/8th second @ F45. Metered with Pentax 1 degree spot meter.

Development: Self Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 15 1/2 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Tap water stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo rinse.

Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.