Phone and Blossoms, Central Park
4/23/2006
Man With Poles
The Bridle Path, Central Park - Yesterday
They call them 'trekking poles; and I don't really understand why someone would need them on flat land. (or anywhere else?) - JeffK
2 Rolls
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...
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...
Infrared
In the quest for dreamier photographs I'm going to pick up some Kodak HIE tomorrow. I've read through most of the fact sheets; what filters are useful; keep the stuff in the dark etc. I haven't been able to find dev. times for HIE and Ilfotex dd-x. I hate using two developers (contamination, confusion etc.). So I think I'm just going to do take a wild stab at the first roll with dd-x and see what happens. Probably just do it as I would tri-x. What the hell. I did a search for the recipe on Ilford and Kodaks' sites but you know how it goes.
One of the handiest developer / film databases I've ever found is at DigitalTruth.com
I was sort of wondering what happens if you put some portable heat source into something - like the telephone I've been using and do it in infrared. I'm sure there's some glove warmer, or liquid heat pack, that you could do this with.
Anyway - the holidays are fini - so the quest to spend money in the Chelsea or Western Midtown? What is that area around B&H called. Did it used to be Hell's Kitchen? It does seem sort of hellish.
One of the handiest developer / film databases I've ever found is at DigitalTruth.com
I was sort of wondering what happens if you put some portable heat source into something - like the telephone I've been using and do it in infrared. I'm sure there's some glove warmer, or liquid heat pack, that you could do this with.
Anyway - the holidays are fini - so the quest to spend money in the Chelsea or Western Midtown? What is that area around B&H called. Did it used to be Hell's Kitchen? It does seem sort of hellish.
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