i sit on the edge of the bathtub inverting a plastic lightproof canister 4 times every minute. i have two rolls of film in the canister. two plastic containers with liquid - one yellow and smelly, the other clear -- sit on either edge of the bathtub rim. i look across at the lightswitch. it has a stain around it from fingerprints, probably fingerprints with chemicals on them. it's been building up for ten years. i think: not once have i put some fantastic and cleaned that area. is it a memorial of some kind?
and i look at my casio stopwatch which says its time to invert the tank again.
what's on those rolls? i know roughly that its what i shot yesterday in the park. i remember a couple of shots that i'm sure i got. but are they any good? will what i thought at the time was a humorous shot still have that humor on the negative? i never know.
and i'm getting towards the end of 8 minutes and pull the plastic top off the tank. man, if i could do that without getting developer in my lap. i should wear an apron. remember photographs of Ansel in the darkroom with his apron.
but an apron in my bathroom will take up 10% of the space.
i pull up the toilet lid and pour the developer out. the yellow liquid is ready to pour in. i don't feel like putting that damned top on again so instead of inversion i swish it around a while. oh, yeah - 30 seconds. i haven't swished that short stop for 30 seconds in 30 years.
out it goes into the toilet where the water turns purple. flush.
in goes the fixer. plastic top on and give it a good shake. i'm going to really hypo these rolls. i'm giving them full agitation every 30 seconds.
in the meantime, i'm setting up my gravity works washer in the sink. i hate to do anything with chemicals in the sink since the cat drinks from same; but we're just talking about washing. and after the thing is washed, i'll scrub the sink before giving Buddy his water.
i really should clean that light switch.
soon the two strips of film are hanging from the piece of string near my kitchenette over a small pot with a touch of short stop mixture in it. The smell keeps the cat from brushing up against the bottom of the hanging film.
Ah - these negatives look good. Nice and dense the way I like 'em. That shot looks great. I wonder what it will look like...
1 comment:
Buddy hops up on the toilet bowl cover and sits by the sink as I fill it with water. I leave the faucet running and when the gurgle of the water going down the drain kicks in, he pounces, smells various parts of the sink, and eventually drinks. Then he shakes his head like a dog that's just gotten wet.
I once bought him one of those fountains that recycle water. He liked it while the water was new (1/2 hour); after that he refused to drink from it and would often paw at it in disgust.
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