Murder in the Dark(room)
The scene of the crime, before the crime
The community darkroom I’m a member of is about an hour away from where I live, so I like to save up rolls of film and do them in batches. A car service offered a guilt free opportunity to develop three rolls I’d been saving up, shot using my Leica R8.
Now, maybe it was the fact that I was up for an hour and a half between 3 and 5am with one of the kids, maybe it was that I left before 7am to get the car in without breakfast, or perhaps it was the massive Starbucks coffee I drank*.
Whatever the reason, I was slightly shaky and frazzled as I cut and spooled my rolls in the dark. The first two were easy and went on no problem, but the third was clearly cursed as I dropped it, in the dark, and then it popped off the spool mid roll because I was rushing. I must have too triumphantly popped it in the tank on the second attempt, because half an hour later when I was removing it from the tank, my heart sank to see it all stuck together. 90% of the roll is grey blobs, an artistic analogue choice I didn’t know I was making.
Blobby
It might yet scan and make an interesting desktop wallpaper, but the images I thought I was making are lost to time. Still, it was a positive experience. I met another member of the darkroom I hadn’t spoken to before and the feel of cutting and feeding the rolls onto a spool in the dark is a sensory pleasure, not to mention a challenge, which tied in nicely with the conversation I had with Ian Bogost about the things we’re letting go of as our world becomes ever more digital and electronic in nature.
Add to this that the images being made were on film and developed around a month later, I also have some distance from the process which will probably help me to more clearly assess what I have. This is something I discuss with Rachel Talibart who will be on the show this coming Sunday. She’s a wonderful landscape photographer who makes incredible, other worldly images that truly freeze a moment in time. You can subscribe to the show and for updates here so you don’t miss it.
Having it large
So what’s next in my film adventures? Well, I have broken my one camera rule in the name of research and possibly content. I have had a Leica R8 as my film camera for a while, one main camera (Leica M11) and one for film seemed reasonable, but listeners to my conversation with Philipp Reinhard will know that I have been curious about the digital back that was made for the R8 and R9 for a while now. When one came up on eBay and it was only 35 miles from where I live, I jumped on it and since last Friday I have been getting lost in magical 10mpx portraits that this camera can produce. My plan was to buy it, make something and then flip it, but the more time I spend with this hefty piece of camera history, the more I have to admit I’m falling in love with it.
There are a number of videos on YouTube about this thing, but I am interested in making something about the history of this unusual creative tool. Watch this space for that project, coming soon.
And lastly, it was World Photography Day this week on the 19th August. In celebration I have made a 10% discount code for the Prime Lenses merch store, and have also added Canada as a shipping destination – apologies for not including it before, I thought it was covered by the North American option.
You can take advantage until the end of the month by going to the store page and using the promo code WORLDPHOTO26 for a 10% discount on anything, including the bundles.
Have a wonderful weekend when it comes and if you’re developing some film this weekend, whatever you do, make sure you put it on the spool properly!
*I’m not proud of this but I needed the loo and it was near by xD