Tumbling Over

My friend T-Rex started using some web page called Tumblr. It's a blog of some sort and it looks interesting. I'm not sure if it's better or worse for what I want from a blogging website, but I'm going to give it a go. I plan on posting the next few posts over here. Check it out, and let me know what you think. It might take a bit for me to figure it all out, so be patient.

It's Been a Long Time, Senor...

I'm sorry, but I completely neglected my blog for far too long. My last post was in December. I've just been unmotivated to blog and there have been more important things going on in my life.
Here's me trying again in
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2....
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I was thinking of making either a new header or perhaps an entirely new design for the page. This is something I came up with quickly. It's a little too goofy for me at this time, but I like it. It was fun and got me back in the mood to play around with this blog. For now, I'm just going to keep the disign the way it is. Perhaps I'll mess with the header for fun.

I've been slacking on my photography as well, it's been slow going. I uploaded a some shots to flickr, but it was only three photos and nothing spectacular. It did feel nice getting back into the dark room, it was comforting. Like being under a car, it just felt like the right place to be at the time. Dim lighting, smelly chemicals, cramped space, and a lot of time on my hands: sounds pretty nice, right? One shot in particular stood out to me and it was one of those shots that I just felt was going to be good as soon as I clicked the shutter.
(Don't forget to click the image!)

So what have I been doing instead of snapping photos?

That's for another post.

Hints: two wheels and it goes in the oven.

Diafine, I like it!

In case you haven't heard me rave about this Diafine before, I'll explain my relationship. Diafine has been my experimental film developer for a few months now. It comes in two parts, a solution A and solution B, each one ships as a powder and is mixed with water to make a gallon. It's a pretty impressive developer, especially for those on a budget.

Here's a quick run down of the high points of Diafine:

The suggested operating temperature range is 70 to 85 degrees. I no longer have to hunch over my faucet adjusting the knobs trying to hit 68 on the nose. To be honest I just use it at room temperature most of the time, unless it's at one extreme or the other, and everything seems to work just fine.

In most cases it adds a stop or two in film speed or gives a range of acceptable exposure values. For example: I can shoot Kodak Tri-X 400 at ISO 800, 1250 and/or 1600 all in the same roll and I don't have to change how I develop the roll. Everything will come out the same. Lovely!

I suppose I should explain the developing process for Diafine at this point. It's so easy! Any film, shot at any speed is developed the same, WHOA! No pre-soak needed. Three minutes in solution A, two inversions and two taps every minute. Don't rinse it! Follow with three minutes in solution B with the same two inversions and two taps every minute. A quick rinse to spare your fixer and then fix as normal.

Next awesome point! After you develop you pour both solution A and solution B back into their respective gallon containers. You save it! Forever! Because the two solutions don't mix in large quantities, they should stay stable and potent for a long time. As in, a year or longer. That's impressive.

Last but not least, the stuff is cheap! I buy mine at freestylephoto.biz and it's only $14.00 for a gallon and both A and B. $14.00 a year for developer? Yes, please!

NEXT TIME! Developing color c-41 film in Diafine?! NO WAI!

A New Rangefinder

Last weekend I went to the VDO (Village Discount Outlet) on State Rd. and found a nice little Yashica MG-1. It looked very clean, had a lens cap, and all of the actions (film advance lever, film rewind, shutter release, rear door etc.) seemed smooth and accurate. The view finder was a bit dim but I figured that could be fixed with a little cleaning here and there which I'm sure the thing needed anyway. The price wasn't bad either, only $20.00 for a, probably, fully functioning 35mm rangefinder camera. The only problem is that I already have a Yashica MG-1. Oh! what to do?

So, I sat on the idea for a while. I looked over the MG-1 that I already owned, played with it a little; subconsciously I really wanted that camera. I started to notice all the little imperfections that my MG-1 had and I even wrote myself a reminder note on my dry erase board to go back to the VDO in a week. A week later I went back and sure enough, it was there with a discount, now it was only $12.00! Not only that but I had forgotten that it had a Yashica CS-12 flash unit on top of it. Sweet deal.

So now I has twin Yashica MG-1 cameras, one in black and the other in Silver/Black. The flash is crusty packed with dried battery acid, so that thing is going to need a lot of love, cleaning and possible rewiring: joy.

Oh, and I should mention that while I was at the VDO for the second time there was a Kodak Brownie type camera (honestly I can't remember the model, they're all so similar.) I'll probably end up going back for that one, too. It takes 620 film, which isn't available, and the film advance lever is missing so I didn't grab it when I was there BUT it was $4.00 with an orange sticker and the girl behind the counter said that orange was going to be one of the colors starting Thursday. I could pay $2.00 for a Brownie.

The girl behind the counter was probably only 18, maybe 20 at the most, and when I asked to see the Brownie she didn't believe that it was a camera. I had to open it up and show her where the film went, where the view finder was, how to hold it and how to snap a shot. I love that about old cameras. To so many people it's either a great source of nostalgia, remembering the old family TLR, or to the younger folks it's a great mystery there there isn't a slot of a memory card, no viewing screen in the back, no auto focus or movie features. It's a great way to start a conversation with strangers but I worry. In ten years, will young people still know about 35mm film? Is film really following LPs and VHS tapes?

p.s.
It snowed again.

A Fine Day for Printing

In most of my recent photographic en devours I've been shooting mostly film, developing in a basement darkroom, and then simply scanning the negatives onto my computer. In a sense I feel I was breaking the chain of traditional photography. I didn't have much to show for all my work besides a computer screen of photos and a few digitally printed images. I needed to make some prints!

I scoured local craigslist listings for a while and finally found a gem: a c760 omega enlarger, in nearby Streetsboro for a steal! It was only $75.oo and that included the enlarger, El-Nikkor 50mm lens, a mint condition GraLab timer (pictured above), and two boxes of printing paper. Amazing! After that all I needed was a 6x6 negative carrier and an 80mm lens and I'd be in business to start printing from medium format negatives. Well the negative carrier came in quick but the 80mm lens took a little longer to find at a good price. Yesterday I had all pieces to the puzzle together and I started making my first prints from my 6x6 negatives!

There is something magical to being isolated with something you love. Whether I'm under my car with a hot, oil dripping engine above me getting my hands caked with grime, or if I'm hunching over an enlarger in a dimly lit room with the smell of chemicals all around me: I'm always at complete peace. Manipulating the developing times and exposure times, mixing and stirring chemicals, measuring and cutting paper, it all comes together to make an image. The best part, by far, is dipping the paper in the developer after exposing it. At about the 15 or 30 second mark, like magic, an image appears from nothing. A blank white piece of paper stirred in what looks like water makes a (hopefully) gorgeous black and white picture. Hey I remember seeing that in my viewfinder!

Besides being fulfilling, productive, and amazingly fun, I really enjoy it because the darkroom is over at my grandmother, Sisa's, house in her basement. Not only is it great to hear her belting out Spanish lyrics to beautiful songs from upstairs but it's great to just see her and spend time with her. I really didn't get to see my grandfather (her late husband) much because I was still pretty young when he died, and I suppose I'm making up for it by spending more time with her. Even though she speaks in broken English and I don't know much Spanish, we manage to make conversations work. Admittedly I'm always surprised at how sharp she still is. I shouldn't be though, but I have this preconceived notion that all elderly people are beginning to falter mentally or have some disability. It just isn't true with her. I just wish I spoke Spanish, as then I could really get the full extent of what she's trying to tell me. And that's my disability.