I'll say it again, it really has taken me too long!
There're a number of things that have taken me too long to start getting involved with. Picking up the guitar again is right up there. I used to play when I was ten but I've only recently picked it back up. I've a number of R.E.M. tabs I'm now trying to learn which is a great motivator. I'm making up for not having gotten stuck in with car restoration years ago by throwing myself head first into restoring and modifying my dream car, a 1976 Mitsubishi Galant GTO. It's going well but I'm learning quickly, and learning some lessons the hard way too.
Getting back to shooting and then developing film is now officially on that 'it's taken me too long' list!
My first two cameras were film cameras. Back in 1989 I got a Boots 'toy' camera – basically a point and shoot film camera from a high street pharmacy. I shot plenty of rolls of film, got them developed and had a little photo album. There were photographs of Lego cars, my family, and lots and lots of the car shows that I would go to with my Dad and Poppa.
After shooting more digital work professionally I've gotten the urge to pick my film cameras back up. It's pretty much the same reason as I have a record player and still play vinyl, and that I like the older types of cars; I get to feel somehow more involved and connected with the process. Ian Ruhter of the brilliant Silver & Light project sums this up perfectly.
"When I started in photography I was using my hands to create images. It seemed that overnight digital came and all that came to an end. I didn't know it then, but I'd lost something."
Ian Ruhter holding one of his earlier wet plate prints from Yosemite National Park
Clearly, once you realise that you sell everything and make a wet plate camera so large it will only fit inside a truck? Well maybe not. This level of commitment is what make people like Ian unique and incredibly inspiring. Fortunately, 35mm and even some medium format film cameras are very affordable right now, which is good as Ian's plates cost upwards of $500 each!
One of the first things I got done was get all my old negatives together, as I wrote in the Film Negatives blog post a few weeks ago. Some of these date back to 1988 and once they were sorted out, I could choose which I'd send off to get scanned.
The next matter at hand was a roll of black and white Kodak Tri-X I had shot in Iceland and at a car show a year back and with the wet plate process eating in to my consciousness, I had to dive in and develop it myself. I picked up some Ilford developing chemicals, took a deep breath and spent the next 20 minutes with my hands inside the changing bag trying to get the roll of film on the cartridge and in the paterson developing tank.
This was my first venture in to developing film myself and the end result fuelled more goosebumps and enthusiasm for film than before. There're plenty of videos about developing that you can follow, Matt Day and Ted Forbes have some great videos here and I'll look at making my own walk through video in a few months time, too.
Ilford Development Chemicals
Final rinse
The developed film hang drying
Here's the first roll of black and white film I've developed, the first of many as I'm thoroughly addicted.
I used Ilford ID-11 Black & White Developer, Ilfostop and Rapid Fixer with Ilfotol as a wetting agent. There're a few things that have now found their way on to the shopping list. I'd like to try Ilfosol 3 developer as I can see the powder ID-11 developer being difficult to store when not used regularly. It'll be interesting to develop a handful of films using each developer under the same developing conditions to compare the grain and contrast, anyway; see which process I prefer for my negatives.
The second is to get myself a film scanner. I dropped these rolls and a pile of my old negatives in to Photographique in Bristol to get scanned in and although it was a lot of rolls of film, I can see the cost quickly mounting up! I've seen a lot of photographers are using Epson scanners, the Epson V600 and V700 looking like very strong contenders, particularly as you can pick up both very reasonable on the second hand market.
Rest assured I'll keep you all up to date with my shootings and discoveries but I'd like to share some of the scans from Iceland and the Retro Rides Gathering and also heading back to the early 1990's when I'd frequent Vintage Sports Car Club meetings.
My initial attempt at scanning on an old scanner. Terrible quality, but great to see the positives on screen
The little Yashica Electro 35 GT that took the black and white photographs you see here has recently been moved on as I'm pining for a little Nikon S2 Rangefinder. I've got a little Nikon FM2 that needs a little attention and tlc and I'm planning a couple more film camera bodies for some personal projects that are in the works. I'm excited to get those off the ground over winter. Until the next time, I'd love to see some of your favourite film shots, and your experiences using, shooting and developing film. I can safely say that film isn't going anywhere in my life and I'm thoroughly looking forward to expanding my portfolio to include some film, a medium that we mustn't let drift into obscurity.
I'll see you all anon, thank you for reading!