Now that I am home, now that I am settled in my routine, I have been entrenched in my photography. I was able to develop three of the rolls of film I shot while overseas in a friend’s home the other day, but last weekend I finished up the remaining twelve here at home–pretty simple chemistry, with nuances depending on ambient situations.
I was able to borrow another friend’s Paterson tank and some reels…I had the chemicals that I had ordered from B&H so I mixed them up…Once again, pretty easy. I mixed them for working film ratios, so they will stay the same until I am able to get some other equipment in here to expose and enlarge. Maybe this winter…
I am pleased with the results. The three rolls that I accidentally pulled (as opposed to pushed) came out alright as well, but I won’t be able to tell until I can develop them further. I found some good resources on-line concerning the saving of these images and I followed their instructions. Essentially, for every step pulled, subtract a minute from the developing time. The images will most likely be grainy and the contrast a little dark, but it might result in some interesting pieces. The upshot is that I want to make contact sheets tomorrow over in Catskill and choose 10-12 images to work on for the rest of the summer as a final project.
The digital work is moving along slowly as well. Today it is a bit cloudy out, so I will look at some of those and collate them. Another frined, a pro from Massachusetts, is going to teach me how to make a grey background, a la Irving Penn. My friend Kit had a small company in NYC about 20 years ago that produced and sold them, so I hope to have a similar product eventually.
Here’s a small image fro Belgrade…Although grainy, I like the textures and the subject. The commonality of mobile phones is making these things a dying breed, a dinosaur in the tar pits of modern technology. Juxtaposed with the museum and the seductive lingerie advertisement, it is symbolic of all we love and how we can take that for granted.
John Masters
telephone kiosk, Belgrade, 2009
