danwilly
Established
I have been into rangefinders and processing and printing my own BW but when the recession hit we lost our house along with my well-appointed darkroom. I packed everything up into plastic totes, including my cameras, but telling myself I would probably never again get back into my hobby. I left behind my enlarger and we moved into a rental.
Recently I hauled out my cameras to show my grandkids and my grandson completely lit up when he saw my black body Bessa. Apparently he knows beauty when he sees it. Showing him how it works only increased his interest so I made him the promise that he can have it when I die. Of course this led to several questions about when I am going to die. Bless his heart.
So I figured what the hell. I took my Bessa along on our recent vacation to New Orleans and the Mississippi Valley and I shot up two rolls. I went into the basement the other day and cracked open the totes and found my chemistry. I make my developer and fix from scratch so it was a crapshoot mixing chemicals that were at least five years old. So I added an extra gram of metol and a couple extra grams of sodium sulfite to make up for deterioration and hoped for the best. Had to consult the data sheet and I couldn't remember how many ml's a patterson tank holds. Finally, after a couple hours of setup I processed my two rolls. And behold, out came two perfectly crisp sets of negatives. I ordered a film scanner and will load the shots onto my chromebook and work with them there. I am willing to make that concession to the digital world although the most enjoyable moments of the hobby were the hours I spent in the darkroom making prints. However, prints get stored away and there is only such much you can do with them. At least when they are digitized you always have easy access.
I am fixing my grandson up with a fully auto Minolta loaded with a roll of Arista II. His assignment will be to shoot up a roll of film with one rule only. No pictures of people. Should be interesting to see how he thinks it through.
I know our days in this hobby are numbered. I have about 40 rolls of film stockpiled and will probably be ordering more. Checking the freestyle catalog reveals only a couple of manufacturers are left. But we can have fun perhaps for a couple of more years.
So here I am asking forgiveness for my backsliding of the past five years and looking forward to rejoining the RFF.
Dan
Recently I hauled out my cameras to show my grandkids and my grandson completely lit up when he saw my black body Bessa. Apparently he knows beauty when he sees it. Showing him how it works only increased his interest so I made him the promise that he can have it when I die. Of course this led to several questions about when I am going to die. Bless his heart.
So I figured what the hell. I took my Bessa along on our recent vacation to New Orleans and the Mississippi Valley and I shot up two rolls. I went into the basement the other day and cracked open the totes and found my chemistry. I make my developer and fix from scratch so it was a crapshoot mixing chemicals that were at least five years old. So I added an extra gram of metol and a couple extra grams of sodium sulfite to make up for deterioration and hoped for the best. Had to consult the data sheet and I couldn't remember how many ml's a patterson tank holds. Finally, after a couple hours of setup I processed my two rolls. And behold, out came two perfectly crisp sets of negatives. I ordered a film scanner and will load the shots onto my chromebook and work with them there. I am willing to make that concession to the digital world although the most enjoyable moments of the hobby were the hours I spent in the darkroom making prints. However, prints get stored away and there is only such much you can do with them. At least when they are digitized you always have easy access.
I am fixing my grandson up with a fully auto Minolta loaded with a roll of Arista II. His assignment will be to shoot up a roll of film with one rule only. No pictures of people. Should be interesting to see how he thinks it through.
I know our days in this hobby are numbered. I have about 40 rolls of film stockpiled and will probably be ordering more. Checking the freestyle catalog reveals only a couple of manufacturers are left. But we can have fun perhaps for a couple of more years.
So here I am asking forgiveness for my backsliding of the past five years and looking forward to rejoining the RFF.
Dan
