I processed my first roll of film tonight, and I have two things to say:
1. Processing film correctly is challenging. Really.
2. Darkrooms are, indeed, dark. And being locked in one with a long-haired boy is quite a different experience at 34 than it likely would have been at 19.
The good news is that my film came out fine. Of course I shot three rolls before I did it right, and had to go get some supplemental shots this MORNING, because it turns out that I am excessively compulsive about these things as I age. It's sort of disgusting. But I ended up taking some interesting shots of a mural at my local library, and it was a kick to go back to the butterfly garden this morning, and notice the change in the experience from the afternoon I spent there this weekend. The light truly is different in the morning - and it's really cool to be able to tell the difference in how it influences your work. I'm still sort of wacked out by all the aperture and shutter speed business. It can get pretty complicated. But I'm going to take my book on the plane this week and try to store some of it at higher altitudes. ; )
Tonight, after a several-step process of developing that my professor led us through, I had exactly 24 exposures, all in the right order and looking like they were supposed to. I was so happy. One of the girls left because there were NO images on her film, and I was so worried that would happen to me. With a manual you can't even really tell when or if the film has looped all the way through the camera at first. You get a feel for it after a while but it's a little bit of guesswork.
We were paired up to do the processing, and I'm here to tell that darkrooms are DARK. I had this image of them having black lights or something, because I guess when they're shown in movies and whatnot they have to have some kind of illuminating factor. In this case, nope. I was left in the dark with this strange kid who had a nicer ponytail than mine (HATE that.) We were supposed to use a can opener to open up the little film canister, pull the film out, hook it and wind it onto a reel, and then drop it into a plastic canister and put the lid on super tight. All this, in the dark. Mind you, my hand-eye coordination is sucky in broad daylight, and my new friend's vocabulary consisted mostly of "Nah," and nervous giggles.
This is sort of what it was like:
Professor: Okay, you guys go in there.
Me, clutching my canister, film and can opener: Uh, okay.
Professor: Ah, the deer in the headlights look. I love it.
Me: Yeah, thank God I had no medical school aspirations. I would have cracked immediately.
Boy with ponytail: Haha. Yeah.
Me: (Internal sigh)
Professor: Okay, I'm shutting the door.
Me: (Internal GAH!)
The door slams, the lights go out, and there are, like, NO LIGHTS. It is COMPLETELY DARK.
Me, in denial: Jesus, how am I supposed to SEE TO DO THIS????
BWP: I don't think we are.
Me: If I'd known there'd be NO LIGHT I'd have put my finger on the reel in the place the film was supposed to go on.
BWP: Yeah.
Film reels are made of cheap plastic, and have these little ball-bearing things (I am so not a mechanical person, as my loved ones are aware, and those who are laughing reading this can suck it. ; )) that, when they click into place, carry the film magically around the reel. When you take the top off of the little canister IN THE DARK, your film drops off in a blob on your hand IN THE DARK, and you're supposed to find the leader end and get it onto the reel IN THE DARK.
Amazingly, I had my film reeled within two minutes, and had moved onto my friend's, which he couldn't manage. (It's a little tricky, yes...easier perhaps with fingernails.) The rest of the processing process involved mixing enough chemicals to choke a horse, and pouring them on and rinsing them off, occasionally shaking the canister containing said film reel - at one point for seven minutes straight. It's quite a procedure for a little roll of film - and one that I accomplished without dribbling anything on my clothes, which I think may have been my most unlikely achievement.
It was really cool to see the pictures come out on the negatives after they dried. I was like, "Ooh, there's my butterfly! OOH! There's the mural." And according to the man in charge I had done the exposures correctly (including over and under-exposing some, so we could see what the wrong thing looks like) and I don't have to do it over. Next week I learn how to make prints and enlarge, and will likely make more boring observations about that process as well. I'll try to jazz things up in here on other topics...Remember - I'm always open to suggestions.
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