Black and White Film Developing

Sunday I spent several hours going thru my negatives.  I mean several hours.  I have 8 million negatives too! ; )
Today though I did mix up the last of my developer and the other chemicals to work in the darkroom for a few hours today.  I ended up continuing with my Bodie Ghost Town 2011 series.  I would like to finish up some 8x10's of that last roll and then I will move on to the Blue Moon Series of "Collectively Speaking".  I did gather up some images that were either restaurant scenes and also street performers from my negatives.  Then I moved on to noting some digital images and placing them in a folder so that I will have them in one place and I won't have to peruse my digital files again for that particular upcoming show.

Getting back to Bodie Ghost Town, I worked on five images.  Only two were great in my opinion.  There are still 16 images from that same roll that appeal to me that I want to develop and I plan on continuing with that tomorrow.  First thing in the morning though I will head off to Sacramento to buy more chemicals and paper.

This afternoon when my developer looked like it was totally spent, I cleaned up my mess in the darkroom and continued with cleaning out my closet of cameras.  I have decided to sell two of my cameras that I don't use, and that still leaves me with 10 cameras!!  Two of them are my husband's but I think he gave me his film Minolta camera.  Maybe I can get a credit from the camera store which definitely works for me so I can buy my supplies.

This afternoon I also watched some videos on YouTube pertaining to the Platinum Paladium process and several others hosted by Ted Forbes of 'art of photography'.  I watched one of his on white balance, light meters, books to read, and film.  I love it.  If you haven't tried it you should.  Whatever subject you want to know about, it's there for your pleasure.  We can all use refresher courses and there's always room to learn and keep up-to-date on whatever subject you want.  I told my husband I could stay in my studio all day long and just come out for food! ; )

Darkroom Day

Wednesday I did head back into the darkroom and started developing one of my Venice images! I very rarely make test strips - I know, I know - but even when you do make them, you still can end up making 2 or 3 prints until you get it right anyway, so what's the diff?? ;) The image I printed was one of the Venice gondolas all lined up on the Grand Canal. Since I don't use flash (which in this particular instance I probably could have used it!), it was a slightly contrasty photo, which means some major dodging in the foreground. Then I ended up with an additional 3 second burn in the upper right corner. Unfortunately, I do not have a scanner large enough to scan 11x14's. Yesterday I bought more darkroom supplies so that once I get going I won't have to run down to Sacramento. Sometimes I order online too which has a short turnaround time of about 2 - 3 days.

Here is a digital image from Cephalonia that I actually took in color, but like it better as a black and white. If I were to go to the wine country here in the USA I guess I could probably find a shot similar to this one, but there wouldn't be Vespas out front, they would definitely be Harley Davidsons!!

Darkroom Chemicals

I have finally taken the time to sit down and write out what my next steps are in the whole realm of the photography world. First of all, I do have the large number of photos to put together. I need frames for the NYC ones - 6 ea of 11x14; and then there are the Sacramento ones, which will be mostly 8x10s, maybe one 11x14. I got the impression that the owners of Tantric want some that are abstract in a way - so I've got those. The San Francisco photos are already framed.

Then I need to order the chemicals and I can do that online also. Most of the chemicals are in powder form. I have to admit I was never involved with mixing the chemicals in school for the print developing, so I actually had to study up on that issue. And I'm needing three more 1 gallon containers, and I think I'm going to spring for a separate small timer (in addition to the GraLab timers) and I'll be needing a proof printer. And that should be it!

And lastly, the one item that has nothing to do with photography: the guest bedroom (my old office). I shampooed the carpet in there this morning and it came out great. Ron was surprised. I had glue on the carpet from overspray of photo mount! ; ) Oops! So I need to get that done soon as we're having company. All in all, I'll be busy!