Today was a little different for me. I was on my way home and I drove passed a local camera and film supply chain, known as Henrys. (www.henrys.com).
I'm always a weakling when it comes to film and camera stores. Well I decided to pop in and see what they had, and sure enough there was some Ilford MGIV 16x20 paper. I thought I grabbed the Fibre based, but instead I grabbed RC. Ah well, that's okay, I'll be able to work with it that way no problem, especially since I have a couple of photos I am dying to turn into 16x20 prints!
Now to find some 16x20 trays... Yes I bought paper I cannot develop yet, shaddup! It's a smart idea, because now I have no excuse but to find some!
maybe I'll pop into a hardware store and improvise somehow...
ABS tubing perhaps??
Anyway, onto the main part of this post. Although I am not shooting quite as much film this year as others, I am making up for it by getting caught up on printing. I do not believe for a moment that a photo should live as a negative or a scan, or even on a computer, but should be finalized as a print. If you want to feel something for that photo you love, make a print...
Well, my eldest (almost 7) he saw the big pack of paper and thought it was neat... Since he's learning to read and wanted to know what it was I had him sound it all out.
"ILFORD PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER"...
Took about 5 minutes of work and sounding it out syllable by syllable, but he felt very very proud of himself to be able to do it.
Sure enough they wanted to know what I do with this paper, so I told them. BUT that wasn't enough.. Looking at the time I realized, yeah I have enough time before dinner... So I said, "alright, come with me, but it'll be really dark down there!"
Didn't phase them at all, especially the youngest who has no problem with the dark. Eldest, well, he's a little scared of the dark.
Well they came down with their little flashlights to light the way, and waltzed over to my darkroom. Sitting down on the milk-crates I gave them a dry walkthrough of how it works.
I showed them picking the negative and loading it into the holder, to how it looks projected down onto the paper.
They even looked through my grain focuser to see the image and how it is focused.
After a dry run with the lights off, they asked if they could see me make a print.
I took my youngest's flashlight (he doesn't quite understand) and let him pull the chain to turn off the light.
Flipping the switch on my Besseler 45MXT to turn on the safelight so they could see (and myself included) I filled the trays with the Developer (which is close to a year old, has been mixed with some Ilfosol-3 and D76, don't ask, and looks like really bad Guiness), Stop and Fix (fix at least is very fresh as I just mixed it less than 24 hours previous).
After that was done I told them to both stand up and see the image as I "stop down" the lens. They thought that was neat, but thought it was even cooler to see the iris of the lens I was holding up (Schneider-Componen 80mm ƒ/5.6 for 645 and 6x6 negatives) to show them why the light was dimming as the iris closed.
After that was set (ƒ/8 on the lens) I set the timer on the enlarger (using my Bogens 69 Special for 35mm) to 30s. I rarely do test strips, as I seem to be able to just look at the light and know the time required to make the print.. Don't ask, but so far I've never been wrong with RC paper (track record isn't quite as good with Fibre).
Under the safelight I showed them the 8x10 paper I was going to use (Ilford MGIV Satin RC) and how it has two sides. The matte rough side, which is the back, and the smooth shiny side that is for printing. They got to feel it and thought it was really cool!
Loading it into my Easel I turned off the safelight and said, okay now we do the print!
I flipped the switch on the timer and told my littlest to stand beside his big brother (who was still sitting) so he could see what was happening.
As the timer silently clicked down to 0 I told them that the next part will be like magic.
The room went black again.... I flipped on the safelight and pulled the paper out of the easel and told them to stand up and stand over beside the developing tray.
Here comes the magic....
I put the paper into the developer and started rocking the tray gently... back.... and forth..
10 seconds... back and forth...
20 seconds... back and forth...
Then the magic happened.... The image started to come to light and the kids expression... "wow! I see it, daddy... I see it!"
I'm always a weakling when it comes to film and camera stores. Well I decided to pop in and see what they had, and sure enough there was some Ilford MGIV 16x20 paper. I thought I grabbed the Fibre based, but instead I grabbed RC. Ah well, that's okay, I'll be able to work with it that way no problem, especially since I have a couple of photos I am dying to turn into 16x20 prints!
Now to find some 16x20 trays... Yes I bought paper I cannot develop yet, shaddup! It's a smart idea, because now I have no excuse but to find some!
maybe I'll pop into a hardware store and improvise somehow...
ABS tubing perhaps??
Anyway, onto the main part of this post. Although I am not shooting quite as much film this year as others, I am making up for it by getting caught up on printing. I do not believe for a moment that a photo should live as a negative or a scan, or even on a computer, but should be finalized as a print. If you want to feel something for that photo you love, make a print...
Well, my eldest (almost 7) he saw the big pack of paper and thought it was neat... Since he's learning to read and wanted to know what it was I had him sound it all out.
"ILFORD PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER"...
Took about 5 minutes of work and sounding it out syllable by syllable, but he felt very very proud of himself to be able to do it.
Sure enough they wanted to know what I do with this paper, so I told them. BUT that wasn't enough.. Looking at the time I realized, yeah I have enough time before dinner... So I said, "alright, come with me, but it'll be really dark down there!"
Didn't phase them at all, especially the youngest who has no problem with the dark. Eldest, well, he's a little scared of the dark.
Well they came down with their little flashlights to light the way, and waltzed over to my darkroom. Sitting down on the milk-crates I gave them a dry walkthrough of how it works.
I showed them picking the negative and loading it into the holder, to how it looks projected down onto the paper.
They even looked through my grain focuser to see the image and how it is focused.
After a dry run with the lights off, they asked if they could see me make a print.
I took my youngest's flashlight (he doesn't quite understand) and let him pull the chain to turn off the light.
Flipping the switch on my Besseler 45MXT to turn on the safelight so they could see (and myself included) I filled the trays with the Developer (which is close to a year old, has been mixed with some Ilfosol-3 and D76, don't ask, and looks like really bad Guiness), Stop and Fix (fix at least is very fresh as I just mixed it less than 24 hours previous).
After that was done I told them to both stand up and see the image as I "stop down" the lens. They thought that was neat, but thought it was even cooler to see the iris of the lens I was holding up (Schneider-Componen 80mm ƒ/5.6 for 645 and 6x6 negatives) to show them why the light was dimming as the iris closed.
After that was set (ƒ/8 on the lens) I set the timer on the enlarger (using my Bogens 69 Special for 35mm) to 30s. I rarely do test strips, as I seem to be able to just look at the light and know the time required to make the print.. Don't ask, but so far I've never been wrong with RC paper (track record isn't quite as good with Fibre).
Under the safelight I showed them the 8x10 paper I was going to use (Ilford MGIV Satin RC) and how it has two sides. The matte rough side, which is the back, and the smooth shiny side that is for printing. They got to feel it and thought it was really cool!
Loading it into my Easel I turned off the safelight and said, okay now we do the print!
I flipped the switch on the timer and told my littlest to stand beside his big brother (who was still sitting) so he could see what was happening.
As the timer silently clicked down to 0 I told them that the next part will be like magic.
The room went black again.... I flipped on the safelight and pulled the paper out of the easel and told them to stand up and stand over beside the developing tray.
Here comes the magic....
I put the paper into the developer and started rocking the tray gently... back.... and forth..
10 seconds... back and forth...
20 seconds... back and forth...
Then the magic happened.... The image started to come to light and the kids expression... "wow! I see it, daddy... I see it!"
30 seconds...
And for almost 2 minutes in the developer the image was finally done...
Into the stop for 10 seconds and finally the fix for 5 minutes...
The lights came on and the kids were amazed at the magic of the print.. After explaining to them how it all works and explaining to my eldest how two negatives create the positive image and why you get a negative when you shoot film (not that I really expect him to remember it) I dumped the chemicals back into their respective bottles and up to the bathroom to wash the print...
So I showed my kids the process that is more than a century and a half old, and still holds the magic for me today as it did the first time I ever saw a print appear in the developing tray....
And for almost 2 minutes in the developer the image was finally done...
Into the stop for 10 seconds and finally the fix for 5 minutes...
The lights came on and the kids were amazed at the magic of the print.. After explaining to them how it all works and explaining to my eldest how two negatives create the positive image and why you get a negative when you shoot film (not that I really expect him to remember it) I dumped the chemicals back into their respective bottles and up to the bathroom to wash the print...
So I showed my kids the process that is more than a century and a half old, and still holds the magic for me today as it did the first time I ever saw a print appear in the developing tray....
This print will be a little special for me, as it is the first print I made with my two boys...Made on Ilford MGIV RC Satin from a negative originally taken on Svema Blue Sensitive film shot on a Canon T90 with a Osawa 24mm ƒ/2.8 lens. Film developed in Ilfosol-3 1+14 for 6 minutes...
Until next time, keep those shutters firing!
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