Sunday February 19, 2017 - A Developing Process

A Developing Process

So I ordered my Paterson Universal tank after two visits to our local camera store. The first visit was to buy developer, which was unavailable--"we'll order it by Wednesday and have it for you"--nah, that didn't happen either.  So, after a quick search of the beautiful B and H photo store, I found everything needed for half the price, so a mere $56 dollars later, I ordered my tank with TWO reels, XTOL Developer; Kodak Fixer and some Ilford Stop.  That was all I was told I needed, other than mixing buckets, thermometer to measure water temp for the mix, and a few other things.  The internet can embellish a little bit and people will post the most meaningless shit sometimes.  For my clearing agent, I at least learned that a drop of dishwasher detergent or rinse aid work perfectly.  

I don't like to waste water either, Instead of running 100 gallons of water to clean film, i used 5 600 ml fills, with agitation for at least a minute a piece, the use my rinse with soap. Easy Peasy.  

I followed to the t, a video of some professor showing the way to develop the film. Sparked my interest.  I had to do this.  

Last Wednesday, as I waited for the rest of the chemicals to come from brown santa I practiced loading film on the Paterson reels--for some reason I got them before I got my XTOL.  Anyway, it took a while to learn the process, then, of course I watched yet another youtube video from a guy talking about all the advantages of film and how you can lose all your stored data, and how the files are getting crappier with age that are stored on the cloud, yadda yadda yadda.  I totally agreed with most of his rant, but what I really  liked was the fact that anyone, anyone can shoot digital.  Point. Click. Instant gratification by looking at the image you just made--then go home, process the hell out of it using photoshop and make it 'different'. How different though? Different from everyone else that has access to the same filters and programs?  I get the rant.  Sure do. I still like to shoot digital though, especially for cool events like when Pensacon comes to town.  Always see the coolest folks walking around in cosplay, wearing the coolest costumes, posing for pics--(makes Urban photography much easier, as I think these people actually WANT their pics taken)  Yeah, I want to learn the WHOLE PROCESS.  Everything, from rolling your own film from a bulk loader to developing your own work in Black and White. The process.  How. It. Happens.  

The problem with me right now is that I take multiple cameras.  I take my digital EOS M, my Stylus 80, and my Olympus 35 SP!  I'm on a bike, have a bag, but my wife is always carrying one--a process she's not really into, so I need to get it down to a single digital and a single small film camera--that's really where I like the Stylus. Super small and compact point and shoot.  Whos' afraid of s Stylus?  No one.  I just hope when I develop my first roll, that the pics are nice!

Enough of the off topic ramble. Back to the film. 

So i tried about two hours to get the film on the roll.  I had every problem imaginable, dropped film, dropped canister, dropped reels, fumblin, rumblin, stumblin--luckily I had enough exposed film to not worry about it.  Even though I might not have been the best idea to practice with 70's 80's kodakchrome II.  Oh well, lessons were learned--even after i (eek) turned on the light to see where or how the reels were aligned--I was working the wrong side a couple of times.  Later, after even MORE videos, I was able to get it down using the scissor finger around the reel method--hard to explain but it worked well for me...no more guessing which side the loader side is on when your hand is already set up  before you turn the  lights out!

Thursday February 16, 2017 

All my materials came tonight.  Even got a bonus from a good friend of mine that is a professional photographer that is completely into digital now.  He gave me his two OLDER bulk loaders, loaded with at least a half roll of 100 feet of film on each.  He told me one was high contrast black and white, the other an unknown black and white--unknown ISO's or brands--he also told me they were probably exposed but I told him I didn't have anything to lose by trying them out, so I did.  It was very easy to figure out how to load canisters (which I bought six from the previous day, used from Calagaz).  It was nice knowing I had 6 canisters ranging from 15- 36 exposure rolls sitting in front of me. The high contrast b/w has a purple side, so at least I could tell them apart if one of the rolls was exposed.

Friday February 17, 2017

Getting her hair did in the street-Gallery night

After a rough day at work, I was ready to lock and load and see the folks at gallery night and the costumes, etc.  After eating dinner at home on Friday night, Jen and I took our bikes downtown for Gallery night.  It's always fun at Pensacon with the variety of people, and this year was not different.  Armed with four rolls of 35mm film extra and my three cameras mentioned earlier, we hit the galleries, hung out on the streets, then went to ground Zero--the epicenter of comicon--the Grand Hotel, right next to the bay center. The Pensacola Grand Hotel is built around a 1912 original Pensacola Train station--the Train station has been comletely renovated and is the meeting place, where the hotel is attached to the rear of it. The tallest building in Pensacola at 12 stories, this place is as beautiful inside the lobby as it was in 1912.  

Tiffany chandelier and local high school artwork best of show #1912

It's always fun people-watching in here, but tonight was a huge bonus--got to see 'mini-me' and the one and only Ric Flair--sitting there eating dinner with his wife? and friends.  The mini-me came up and got a pic with him. That dude is TINY. You never realize how tiny until you see him in person.  Crazy how many cool people we saw that night.  I definitely missed my opportunity for a pic with him--chalk one up to shyness with the celebs.  I would have asked him to put me in a headlock anyway!  Take that brother and sister (whom are big fans)--fail. 

I was happy with my street photography though for gallery night, so it wasn't a total loss--after a short stay at the Crown, Jen and I headed home and called it a night.

Saturday February 18, 2017

With the film cameras still loaded and basically ready for action, I got a chance to get downtown to take some pics of the festival goers as they lined up for the Bay center. I dropped off my son for basketball practice before his game and had basically 45 minutes to get to town, grab some urban pics, then get back in time for the game.  I found a good parking spot on Alcaniz, parked the car and inconspicuously took pics of the St Michaels Cemetery.  Striding by were the most beautiful and cool costumes I'd ever seen.  Even saw a dude with the TV on his head.  I worked the Olympus 35 sp and the Argus for the graveyard pics.  Snuck a couple of pics of folks using the 35SP which I felt were going to be great but I'll get to that tomorrow.  

Luckily, my daughter had a modeling photo-shoot downtown and I was able to meet up with wifey after taking sonny-boy home.  More time downtown for people-watching, dinner, and an early night to home.

Sunday February 19, 2017

After a quick trip to the local Dollar tree to buy some funnels and mixing items, and gloves, I was able to mix the chemicals for my makeshift photography lab. Everything came out wonderfully.  I am excited at the fact that I'm actually going to attempt to develop film for the first time tonight. When it's dark. In the sanctity of my bathroom.  The mixing of chemicals was actually very easy.  I did everything outside--my main concern was that the developer and fixer mixing distilled room temp water would be too cold, but 66 degrees falls between the 64 and 84 degree range, so all was good.  I bottled up the chemicals, and stored them in the bathroom closet, waiting for night fall. 

Later that afternoon, the final Day of Pensacon brought Jen and I (and our bikes) downtown one more time for a final look and chance to watch more people and costumes. Although I was more prepared to be in the right place at the right time, I wanted to run the bnw film through the cameras so I'd have film to develop.  We rode about 9 miles that day, ended up at the Grand Hotel again, for a less than climactic ending to the weekend.  We stopped in the park, ate our fruit and returned home.

Then dark rolled around.

The lab is set--it's GO TIME.

Amazingly I was able to load the reels with hardly any problem.  I loaded old expired 2007 Kodak Select 12 exposure roll as my first, then loaded the film from the olympus 35 into the top reel.  Closed the screw lid funnel, and turned on the light.  Success so far.  

I got everything set up, followed the rules exactly, washing at the end with a drop of Dawn dishwasher detergent and got the following result.  Unfortunately, during the first process when I poured the developer down the drain and went to put in the Stop Bath, the friggin LID CAME off and I saw the white reels holding my film. YIKES.  I couldn't remember which film I loaded first.  After a few expletives, I carried on, making it a learning note to put my finger on top of the funnel lid.  The wash was finished--it was time to see if I had anything or if I'd ruined my first try of film. 

The top reel had absolutely nothing, but, it was also my friends roll who said he thought it was exposed anyway.  I was a little bummed, threw it away, along with the whole 50' roll that was in the bulk loader too, then I looked at the second reel.  Got this.

My very first roll of film. a 12 exposure expired Kodak Select BNW roll! YAY ME.

It was like Christmas.  I was so excited to run over and put in the scanner, but I had to wait at least TWO HOURS before it was worthy of a scan.  Lessons learned from the first roll and lid coming off, I knew exactly what would pass 30 minutes of time. DEVELOPING another ROLL!  

Out I went to the living room to grab a quick break, remove the scent of chemicals from my lungs and olfactory, grab a beer, and the ILFORD HP5 that has been sitting patiently, awaiting development since New Years Day.  Your time has come HP5, your time has come. 

I developed the HP5 with absolutely no problems. Reel loaded perfectly, no spills or light leaks from bad dumping habits. Everything worked flawless.  I got the 36 exposure roll out of the bath and hung it to dry overnight, all the while getting excited about how the scanner would like my first roll of well-developed film.  To the scanner I went, armed with updated info on how to scan negatives on the Epson V300 Professional Photo scanner. 

My first few scans were merely thumbnails--then I remembered to set the output to 4x6.  I printed one, of my daughter at 1200 dpi. Eight minutes later the scan was finished.  

I wasn't sure if it was the scanner or the film, but I noticed a LOT of grain.  More reading told me that I should make a couple of configuration changes and scan all at 4x6 with better pics scanning at 1200dpi.  Who needs sleep before a week of work, when you're scanning your first roll of film for results and excitement? Not me.  

Up until around 1130 this night with the scanning (thanks wifey for being a good sport as I sat in the corner of the bedroom scanning, sleeping soundly) I was able to get some good results. The next five pics were my favorite from my Olympus 35SP-keep in mind, I still have a lot to learn with this camera as I'm still learning about the EV meter and the settings on my phone light meter app!

All photos 'auto mode'.  Olympus 35SP 42mm zuiko lens-Kodak Select 400 black and white expired film x-2007.

Spring has sprung--potting table

Kiddo at 1200dpi

Ebbtide and Fog

Risk and reward (Garcon Point Bridge bike ride) 

Light leaks through (Robinson pt rd, work commute stop)

Twin Peaks at sunrise