Digital Negs

In class, we're doing cyanotypes, van dyke, and lith printing. Even after three semesters of photo classes, I don't really have a lot of negatives (that are printable at least), so I can't do contact prints from them. In class we were introduced to digital negatives. We were recommended to use Pictorico. I think I'm gonna try to use overhead transparencies to save money instead of paying 30 bucks for 20 sheets of film.
I was apprehensive of actually converting my negs on photoshop, but thankfully my classmates helped me make my digital negatives. We had to adjust curves and levels. And that is my extent of my knowledge of photoshop!

Infrared!

I labored in the hot, hot heat of San Elijo and Palomar mountain only to discover that only four of my images were exposed. I shot Efke IR820 through a Hoya r72 filter. Of the four shots that came out, I would say they are fairly successful. I'm pretty sure I somehow screwed up the film when I was loading it because I hardly use 35mm, so there is a high possibility I did it wrong (even though it is hard to screw up). When I went to wind the film, it wound fairly quickly, leading me to believe the film was caught somehow.

Big Prints!

34x40-ish

I didn't know exactly to enlarge, so I used some old negatives.


The image should be rotated counter-clockwise. It's of the window in my living room and the enlargement is about the actual size of the window!

I don't have a picture of my other one, yet!

Confusion-&Lots of Choices

I haven't made much progress with my enlarger since I don't have a dedicated darkroom space. Plus, I've been pretty busy with school. I've only turned it on and off a couple of times, the enlarger seems fine, just dusty. Well, except for one thing; it makes a loud humming noise when I turn on the enlarging light. Apparently the enlarger is in condenser mode (thankfully), but the loud noise is a bit disconcerting. I hope maybe once I blow out the dust, this problem will go away. Otherwise, I don't know what I'll do. But who knows if I'll ever get a darkroom here. I may be setting it up in my apartment when I move out to Portland.


Now on to developing film. I know that different developers have different effects on the film. I just don't know which do what. I guess I'll look into those Darkroom Cookbook books, I haven't yet because I thought they were outdated. But the knowledge would be beneficial. I really want to understand everything that I can in every aspect of photography so I can be a knowledgeable teacher in the future.

Enlarger!

I had pretty much given up on the idea of having my own darkroom. I don't want to spend much money on one and that's pretty much the only option there is. The one given to me by my dad's friend is a Vivitar. But I couldn't find much info on it and the info I did find was dismal. The other day, my dad came home and said, "look what I brought home for you." I looked around the house and couldn't find anything, I was thinking it might be a changing bag, since I was talking about needing one. I went outside and saw this big black thing sticking out of the back of my dad's truck bed. It was a Beseler 23cII Dual Dichro XL enlarger. So I was immediately stoked because I recognized Beseler from school, but I was sorta intimidated because I realized it was a color enlarger.

I then went online trying to find a manual. The only stuff I could find cost 10 bucks and off of ebay. I was willing to order them, but I decided to scour google and try Flickr. It's really amazing how easy it is to obtain stuff off the internet. I went to a film group on flickr and found a discussion about Beseler manuals, so I emailed the guy and he gave me access to a ftp (whatever that is). The manuals were good, but I couldn't download them, and the PDF's I made of the images were small and cut off words. Whatever, I thought, it's better than nothing.

Today I was searching stuff on the enlarger and I actually stumbled upon PDFs of the Beseler enlarger manuals at darkroompro.com

The enlarger itself is pretty dusty, but in good condition. I plan on thoroughly dusting it and keeping it under a trash bag while not in use. One problem is, that my house is pretty dusty in itself. I live right next to railroad tracks.

The enlarger came with a timer, color analyzer and some other box thing. And a 50mm lens, I think...the one you use for 35mm film.

New Pinhole

Well, school has just started. Today is Labor Day and I'm unfortunately missing my photo class due to the holiday. I'm taking Creative Photography at Palomar. We're going to be doing so much cool stuff. Right now we're working on pinholes, hand coloring, and toning.

This is the fourth pinhole camera I've made. It's a Christmas box from the dollar store. The first time I tested it, the whole image came out black so I had to pretty much cover the whole box with black tape.

I wanted to do something different with this camera, though. I remembered Peggy Jones (my photo teacher at MiraCosta) talking about using the whole box as a camera. So I used that idea and made a paper negative template to fit inside the whole box.

It may be hard to tell by the pictures I've posted, but the one on the bottom has a designed sketched into it. I thought the original template I made (on the top) was too boring and simple, so I drew inspiration from all the crosses in my house and made a more elaborate cross on the backside of the template.

But then I thought that the template was too small, so I made a bigger one that I intend to use for the remainder of the photos I am going to take.



I'll be posting scans of the final images once they're done!

Polaroid Possibilities

I am so excited for new polaroid film. I never doubted the Impossible Project. I bought three sx-70's and a slr 680! I cut ND filters for the sx-70's and have been searching for accessories for them.

Books

Some books I would like, to help expand my knowledge on photography. I want to understand it all!

• The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. Christopher James
• Silver Gelatin: A User's Guide to Liquid Photographic Emulsions. Martin Reed & Sara Jones
• The Elements of Black and White Printing. Carson Graves
• The Camera, The Negative, The Print. Ansel Adams
• The Photographer's Toning Book: The Definitive Guide. Tim Rudman
• The Master Photographer's Lith Printing Course: A Definitive Guide to Creative Lith Printing. Tim Rudman
  

MY OWN DARKROOM

Not having a job severely debilitates the quest of obtaining photographic equipment. I could spend my savings on odds and ends off of craigslist and try to piece together a darkroom. Which I planned on doing. But I decided to put my money towards a bike because I've been drooling over them for about three years and have had lots of encouragement from my girlfriend.

Serendipitously, my dad's friend has offered to give me his full darkroom that has been in storage. He says there's a Beseler enlarger, but is unsure of which one it is. I think it's a 67 because he said you can project on to the wall. I researched Beseler enlargers and that's the only one I could find information on that said it could project on the wall.

Now for the darkroom space! Luckily my brother's getting married in twenty-one days! Supposedly that's gonna be my darkroom...I hope...(his room's such a disaster). I'd rather have it set up in the garage, but that would take more time to get ready.

I can't believe this! I'm so spoiled. I'm so ready to grow into the artist I've imagined myself to be.

Summer Endeavor

With the beginning of summer soon approaching, I will soon have a whole lotta time on my hands. Last summer I pinholed my Holga. This summer I plan to make my own Polaroid Back for my Holgas. If I am successful, I will be able to use it with my converted pinhole Holga and my regular Holga. I'll also be saving a whole bunch of money!

Integral Film

...an integral constituent (is that redundant?) in my joy of photography. Soon I'll buy myself a sx-70 with the ability to focus. SLR 680! As much as I want one, I would settle for a sonar, in which I would "modify" by cutting out filters to fit the pack film. No biggie, no biggie! I'd like to buy one soon, seeing that the prices are so low. And once production begins again, I'll be set! Yay for Bargain Camera Show!

Cheap ass developing/darkroom lust

I've been researching all that I can so I can reduce the costs of developing my own photos. I don't have room for an enlarger, unless I convert the bathroom at the times I would like to use it...but I don't know how I would light proof that...I should research that some more. But at the time being, I wouldn't mind only developing my film, seeing that I already have a film scanner. Which will suffice for my summer holiday, until I can get back into the school darkroom.

I'm looking to reduce the costs by shopping for the items I need at the Bargain Camera Show in Pasadena, such as a developing tank, reels, changing bag, thermometer, measuring cups, etc. And what I can't find there, I'll look around for cheap substitutes.

One concern I have is about how to keep my negatives dust free while drying. I googled "DIY drying cabinet" and found some ideas on using garment bags. I'll have to further research that because I see stuff about a fan/ humidifier/ light bulb/ hair dryer and I'm not quite sure what is used for what quite yet. And I do have a locker in my garage, maybe I can use that somehow.

I cannot wait for the day I have my own darkroom, where I can work at my own discretion. Printing is such a delight. And I'd love to have the ability to experiment on my own. At school, I don't feel quite comfortable to be as expressive as I'd like myself to be.

Things are Queer-Duane Michals



I'd really like to try a photo sequence. Like something of this "queer" nature.

Wet plate collodion

when I have my own studio and darkroom, the first thing I will explore is this: