Lost arts, part deux

I finally got the film scanner working, despite the lack of drivers for Windows 7. (The solution was a third-party application called Vuescan.)

In the basement, to my surprise, I found a bottle of Edwal Hypo Eliminator which, based on the date scribbled on the big glass bottle of working solution, dates to 2004. I’m betting this stuff is no good anymore. But I’m surprised, because I can’t remember ever having used any kind of hypo eliminator.

Anyways, I’ve got film, I’ve got chemicals, I’ve got the scanner working … I’ve just about got this thing nailed. All I need now is some kind of, you know, subject.

Self-Portrait, Colorado Springs, 2004 (?)

Messing around with lost arts

It’s not a lost art. Not yet, anyway.

Got back from Montreal and decided the time had come to get down to working on some black-and-white photography. I haven’t shot any B&W in about five years, and having certain plans for this fall, I thought it might be a good idea to blow the dust and cobwebs off my memory of how to process this stuff, and especially of how to get decent scans of B&W negatives, a problem I’ve never really solved to my satisfaction.

The bottle of HC-110 I dug out of the basement had a uniform pink colour, as might be expected, so it was off to find new chemicals. My new bottle of HC-110 has an expiry date of November, 2006, but the colour looks good. (Rest assured, I apply a slightly higher level of care where food is concerned.)

To my surprise, I can’t get Tri-X Pan. The explanation is that the Kodak distributor is imposing minimum order quantities that can’t be met, so it’s Neopan 400 instead. Seems I’ll be switching to Ilford chemicals and Fuji film from here on in. It’s hard to be a creature of habit these days.

Now I just need a subject worth photographing.

Why

I wrote a book; a book, wrote me.

I left said book under yonder tree.

And the world said, fiddle-de-dee.

Consequently, I considered it expedient to do this blog thing. And, since every blog must have its first post, this is mine.