There is a saying in a particular type of music (which is punk) that it isn’t dead. In fact most of the old ways of doing stuff haven’t really gone out of style. They just go underground for a while then a resurgence happens and its popular again. Its happening right now with 90s fashion, hair cuts, records. Whatever it is you’ve seen it. There are still people out there shooting with film. YouTube is flooded with people making videos about it ( I don’t have a youtube channel) . I’m certainly no different. I’ve had my 2 cameras for a while now. While I’ve shot film with my 52 ikoflex using 120 film. I never really knew if my 70s Canon SLR 35mm would produce any let alone work at all. (see vintage cameras on my website)
I decided today that I would try to develop these photographs the only way that I’ve done it with my 120 film. The process I use is called caffinol. Caffinol takes instant coffee, vitamin C and washing soda as a main developer. The time it takes for the process depends on the temperature of the solution. plus how long it takes for the fixer after you stop it. which between loading the film, development and fixing took about 30 mins. I’m still feeling this process out and each time I learn something new. It wasn’t easy though as I tried this 30 mins before and I accidentally exposed a roll of film. This happens by forgetting to shove my arms all the way into the dark bag sleeves so all light is blocked, some got in…bye bye photos. I guess this is why digital is so popular lol. I tried again with this roll at 80 degrees, did some math and the develop process was only 7 mins. plus 6 for fixing. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw images on my roll. I still have a few more rolls to try. My whole experience with going down this rabbit hole with film has been interesting. There are no screens to look at so you don’t know what your photos look like. There are no retakes. Digital cameras have onboard light meters that tell you where your at with your exposure. Film must rely on an external light meter, a phone app or the sunny F16 rule. Iso can’t instantly be switched do to lighting conditions so you have to work with what you have. Black and white film is still cheaper and easy to work with. I only shoot film in black and white. The whole process though has an organic feel to it and slowed down. Its nice to change things up a bit. I hope to get these photos scanned soon. Tonight I close out a 14 year span as a professional photographer. It will be nice to slow down and work on my own time with this and at my own pace.
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