Learning

When did February get to be such a busy month? I thought February was for being homebound. Making soup. Staying in, cuddling with the dog. It’s not really working like that this year. I don’t mind busy, but if you know me in person, you’ll know that I can do busy for only so long and then I need downtime. Like parties, socializing, being around too many people… I dig it, but I need to be in my own headspace for more time than I’m out of it.

But the mild weather has made it easy to have been outside this month. Plenty. With cameras. Lots of cameras. Weird cameras. A tiny little Baby Lomo Fisheye that was secret-santa gifted to me that came all the way from Germany. A medium format camera borrowed from my kid. A Lomo Sprocket Rocket, because it sounded fun. Color film sent off for developing (hoping to get that back next week) and black and white film that I developed last night.

So, developing. It’s not hard… but it’s tricky. I mean, to do it right takes some patience and finesse. And I seem to be prone to doing it wrong. Last night I popped the lid off of the canister during the developing process. I just did it, popped it right off in between the fixer and the stopper phases. Not fatal, but not great. And the printing and enlarging… oh my, I’m not good at this. I didn’t get a single print or contact sheet I was happy with last night.

Disappointment isn’t a deal-breaker, though, it’s an opportunity to learn.

Anyway. Some stuff I developed last night, then brought home and scanned (which although is a pain in the ass in itself is actually easier than enlarging and printing in the darkroom, at least for me, at the moment). Water marks and dusty bits and all. Medium format just below, then 35mm after that.