In May 1607, the days were warm, the nights, cool. Life was stirring in the wilderness and nature had been generous, the colonists thought. There were fruits, abundant timber, deer and other animals for food, and a not too numerous native population. The hot, humid weather of mid summer and the snow, ice, and emptiness of winter were not in evidence. The choice of a site for settlement was both good and bad. The anchorage for ships at Jamestown was good. The island had not then become a true island and had an easily controlled dry land isthmus connection with the mainland. As the river narrows here, it was one of the best control points on the James. It was not used by the Indians; and it was a bit inland, hence somewhat out of range of the Spanish menace. Arable land on the island was limited by inlets and "guts." The swamps were close and bred mosquitoes in abundance and, with contamination so easy, drinking water was a problem. All of these facts became evident to these first English Americans as the months went by.

I like palladium, because I like it warm. The disadvantage of pure palladium coating is its tendecy to solarize. Mixings of palladium and platinum would solve this problem, but the price of platinum seems to grow up from day to day. So I am experimenting with Mike Ware?s ammonium palladate recipe. The resulting colour of this POP is depending on humidity of the paper - best 50-80%( the more the cooler the hue). Below 50% RH there is only partial printout and considerable development, above 80% RH the tonal range tends to weaken. It is possible to dry the coated paper in a drying cabinet and humidify controlled before the exposure. During the last days the climate in my darkroom was so moisty as in a jungle - between 95 and 97% RH. This is far too much! However I tried it. Holga 120N, SFX in eco film developer, enlarged by reversal development onto Arista -II Ortho Lithographic Film in SE6 Blue 1+20 6 mins, printing paper is Arches Platine