The quintessential photographic experience

 Photographer: me
Yesterday I had my first tutorial in developing b/w 120 film. Until now my photography has been with colour film, both 120 and 35 mm. I have access to a Colenta processor, I learnt how to use it and this has helped me to get started. But yesterday I was taught how to develop b/w film.  It was awesome! Thank you Ismar!
 I managed to mess it up a little, though my tutor was with me all the time. We have not done yet the bit when you  use the enlarger and all that, I will be attending a workshop next week if the tutor can fit me in, that will be fun - fingers crossed I will join the group.
I guess that making mistakes is inevitable when you do something for the first time, there is so much to remember, so much to take in. To begin with I am using film that has expired and which I was given as the owner of the camera had no use for it (thanks again Solus, you have added to the quality of my life through that gift) - excellent for practice, but expired film can get a bit faded. Then I had an accident with my 6x6 camera back, it suddenly opened when the film was still in use, oh s***! - the hooks had a problem.  That did not help, though hopefully the problem is now fixed.
Of course I had to go and make a mistake when I loaded the film into the tank, I put the cylinder the wrong way up!  I did manage to develop the film, however,  but some frames turned out to be  unusable.
Self portrait at Martin's studio (with Martin's help)
The whole process was quite an experience. I got a little flustered when I could not load the film into the tank that easily, it just seemed to be getting stuck.  I was of course working in complete darkness and for that bit I was on my own, my tutor waited outside. There is an element of pleasure, the French would say jouissance, in having to rely on touch to feel things getting into place, rather than seeing, but it can be disconcerting at first.
Then my tutor joined me in the processing room  and we used the developer and all the other chemicals and went through the whole routine. It took nearly 60 minutes, my iPhone timed it all.  Next time I will have to do this  entirely on my own, without the tutor, I have had my induction, so I am a bit apprehensive.  But he said that after some time it becomes second nature, so I should keep on shooting and developing.
Film photography these days is a hybrid. You do the shoot, develop the film then you scan the negative and use Photoshop to add the finishing touches. Everyone does it like that.
I will do the workshop to learn how to do dark room work but I will do it just to learn about it, I am most unlikely to take it up as a regular practice - for one thing I do not have my own dark room and do not have an enlarger, though I have to say that after announcing that  photography is a pursuit of mine, I got the most generous offers the moment people found out I used film, rather than digital. My optician has offered me enlargers, again for free, he used to be a keen photographer back in Ireland but gave it up ages ago. He still has the equipment though.

Photographer: Solus
Why use film rather than digital if  you end up scanning and treating your film shots like digital ones?  I can only speak for myself. Digital is fantastic but a little too clinical for my taste. It does not give you the same sensual pleasure in handling it, as film does. All your senses are involved in developing a film, when you download the images from your camera's memory card to the computer the process is entirely visual. Yes, I did insert the cylinder the wrong way when using the tank, that was because I was not used to "seeing" with my fingers. But I loved every moment of it.
I remember watching the film The Photograph (2007) by Indonesian director Nan Achnas and I was mesmerised by those images of a large format camera, which appeared in the film (the film is set in a small Indonesian town with an ageing photographer making a living out of taking people's portraits) .
In a few years time colleges will stop teaching photography students how to use film, it will become a very esoteric practice. Fewer and fewer people handle large format now, it has become prohibitively expensive. It is a shame because film, in my view, offers you the quintessential photographic experience.

Comments

  1. Well done Alex,

    There is nothing quite like film. And yes I think film or at least Black and White film will continue to be with us for a long time... it has a grain structure that yields images that are just different to film.

    Keep it up it, and it will will get easier, its a knack and once learned will never be lost,, are you using stainless spirals?

    Simon Norfolk who has been photographing in Afghanistan uses a 5x4 field camera, and although it is an expensive beast, the locals who use plate cameras too, see it as 'just another of those' and so he hasn't had the bother of it being the subject of avaricious eyes.

    Best to you Alex


    Hughx

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  2. Thanks Hugh, encouragement is what I need right now. I shot with a model today and I loved doing the whole thing. My own modelling experience helped me to make her comfortable and I knew what to ask for. It was good to pace myself knowing I only had a limited number of frames. Only last week I modelled and I realised that in the space of two hours hundreds of shots had been taken of me! With film I really have to think about what I want.
    I will eventually learn how to develop B+W and use the enlargers and everything else, I just need practice.
    You are right, film will never go out of fashion. You just can't beat it.

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  3. Hello Alex

    It's a great picture - high contrast B&W of two motorbikes will always be very cool, but I really like the texture of the road surface at the bottom of the image. I doubt whether a digital camera could do that as effectively as your film camera.

    You probably already know, but perhaps some of your readers don't, that you don't need a darkroom to process B&W film. You can do it perfectly well with a changing bag bought from ebay for a lot less than £50 and a daylight tank ("tank" here can mean something less than 12 inches high and 8 inches in diameter). You put the film, the spiral and the tank into the bag; the bag has holes for your arms, so you put your arms in, thread the film onto the spiral, put it in the tank, put the lid on, and then you can work in a room with normal lighting (although, to be safe, I tend to work in the kitchen with the blinds drawn). Personally I prefer to have the light on and work with the bag, because I'm clumsy and less likely to knock something over. And I haven't got enough space for a proper darkroom anyway.

    The other advantage to working in the kitchen is that film doesn't thread onto the spiral very easily if the spiral is wet. So you can put the spiral into the oven at its lowest setting for about 5 minutes to dry it out before you use it.

    Obviously not something to do if there's any likelihood of visitors turning up while you're at it. A kitchen full of chemicals and an oven full of processing stuff makes it less likely that they'll want to stay for dinner.

    There is a huge difference between films in the way in which they go onto the spiral. I've found that Ilford FP4 and HP5 go on very easily, and Delta 100 is quite easy as well. Pan F 50 is harder to use, and the wonderful Rollei IR is a bit of a nightmare.

    I do hope you'll keep at it. For thoughtful, studio based work like yours, film is still so much better than digital.

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  4. I wonder if there's an "analog" to music. The various digital media (CDs and, now, downloadable files) have been much in the ascendance for thirty years or so, yet there's a small but dedicated market for continuing vinyl production with its less-defined yet warmer sound. Old-style vacuum-tube amplifiers sell for astonishing prices. And piano tuners such as myself who tune entirely by ear are more in demand than those who use electronic tuning aids...

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