AlphaRose Photography

What is this? What is that? What is going on?!

TLDR;

We got to use 35mm FIlm cameras and learned how to develop the film

On the first day of the module, Dan bravely handed over to us 35mm cameras. He showed us how to use them and let us all loose down Preston High Street. We were given a roll of film and left to our own devices.

I’ve only ever worked with DSLR’s or Mobile Phones and I vaguely remember the disposable cameras from when I was a kid but never looked at using film cameras and definitely never considered developing.

Let’s break this down into two parts. We shall call them “The Taking” and “The Developing”.

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The Taking

Here we are, 15 first year students, mooching around Preston with some very expensive cameras around our necks. God knows what we looked like to the general public.

Remembering the wise teachings of Dan, I managed to load the film with no issues. My biggest problem with this type of camera came from my own physical issues.

Requiring glasses and relying heavily on Auto-Focus and this experience being with a very manual “See and Shoot” camera, basically filled me with the fear of God.

Photography 101 – Always carry your glasses!

Having never experienced this before, I was woefully unprepared and only had my prescription sunglasses with me. They solved the focus problem however created a whole new problem as I couldn’t see the light meter.

I juggled between these two issues, trying to find a method that worked. I didn’t have much in the way of an intended subject or target while we were out as our instruction was just to take photographs of the High Street, the people or the buildings. The intention being we got used to the camera.

On a subsequent trip down Preston High Street, I reached the end of the reel and was left with a situation. I needed to now remove the old film. Dan had shown us how to do this but I had yet to master the art. This did not go well.

When unwinding film, you wait for the *click*. I thought I had heard this, I had not. This was evident when opening the back and exposing the film to the bright lights of Café Nero.

This happened twice.

Photography 102 – Don’t unwind your film in a Café when you don’t actually know what you’re doing.

After about 10 minutes of panicking, I managed to wind the film back and, surprisingly, not loose the loader film into the canister. A small victory, I guess.

Now begins the long wait for Thursday to find out the true consequences of my actions.

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The Developing

Jo Garrett is a Darkroom Legend.

She is also our teacher for these Darkroom sessions. She is the Yoda to us mere Jedi.

She explains that we’re going to be developing our film today from beginning to end. After breaking down every step, component and rule for us, two unwilling subjects are selected for development. I, both fortunately and unfortunately was not one of them.

That’s when my sleep-deprived brain decided it was the perfect time to attempt to load the film onto a spiral. I set myself up in the pitch-black cupboard and get ready to pop the top off the film canister and get loading.

That was until I hear something hit the floor. In the pitch black.

Logic tells me I’ll find out when something I’m looking for goes missing but priority was getting the film on the spiral.

First Attempt:

I got it on okay but it kept jamming and sticking. I thought something was wrong with the spiral but realised it was due to the film getting twisted around itself. I decided to rip it off and try again.

Second Attempt:

I managed to get the film on the spiral and after a few spins, it started getting stuck and too tight to twist. I knew it was normal for it to have resistance but something didn’t sit right. At this point though, I’d been in the Darkroom/Cupboard for about 10 minutes and really wanted to get out. I went to put my spiral onto the spool holder but…where was the spool holder?

Shoot, that’s what fell.

A few minutes of blindly sweeping the floor later, I found it and got everything ready. That was until the spool holder was too long and the funnel wouldn’t fit.

Can anything else go wrong today?

Jo came to check on me and after a few seconds of me flailing, we got it all sealed and ready.

Sadly we ran out of time that morning so we’ve agreed to come back on Monday afternoon to get everything developed properly.

On Next Weeks Episode of : Disaster in the Darkroom!

Monday Wednesday Afternoon:

Teaming up with a classmate, we make our way to the darkroom. It’s just gone 9:30am and we’re the only ones around.

We knew what to do in theory and, looking back at the other steps in this journey, I was waiting with baited breath. I knew I’d lost some images but the extent of the damage was unknown. We had no support of the Darkroom Superwoman either, meaning we were stuck following our memories and her wise teachings on the wall (Literally a step-by-step guide). What could go wrong?

It was at this moment I started praying to the Photography Gods.

10:00

Chemicals are all ready to go. Developer mixed and at temperature. Stop Bath and Fixer ready and waiting. Time to begin.

16 minutes and 30 seconds of swirling, banging and waiting.

10:17

Tip everything out. Add in the Stop bath. Wait a minute. Tip it out. Add the fixer.

Do we agitate it? Do we leave it?

Error 404: Instructions Unclear

Hope and Pray. We decided to give it a good swirl and leave it for the next 10 minutes.

10:30

Tip it all out and “Wash”. No further instructions. Using what we learned from Photograms, we ended up leaving the hose in the pot, water running slightly and . 20 minutes to wait…

10:50

Washing agent time then we’re done! Rinse until the soaps all gone and…then remove the lid.

Had my praying paid off? Do we have photos to actually work with?

Oh hell yes, we do!

Unwinding the spool, I’m scanning through these images like a hawk asking “How much have I lost?”. 36 images in total on the roll.

I walked away with 24. Not too shabby if I say so myself…

We dry them off for 20 minutes and head to the finishing room to get them in the Negative Sheets. Looking through the lightbox, one thought keeps going through my head:

I HAVE PICTURES! ❤