Transformations

Transformation
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

The other night I tried catching up on my backlog of b&w film to be processed. I developed 7 rolls one night, 5 more yesterday. All but one are 35mm, and I still have another 8 rolls to do. The funny thing is that I am finally seeing the images of things that I might have shot a month ago, maybe longer; such as this photo of the Frog Island Brewery, which at the time (late April), was trying to get into operation. It's at the site of the former Ypsilanti Farm Bureau on Huron River Drive, and many of the buildings there are being used by the brewery. I had set up my tripod with my Mamyia 645 across the street, and while shooting some frames, I noticed a shirtless, burly guy with long hair and a beard come walking purposefully across the street from the brewery. He asked if I was from the city assessor's office. I looked at him blankly and asked what he meant. I told him that I was an amatuer photographer, and always had wanted to get a shot of this scene. He explained how much trouble they had with the city while getting this brewery operational. We talked a while about small businesses and how hard it is if you don't have someone in City Hall on your side.

I haven't been by there since then, and I do hope they are successful in getting things going. We need more people like those in the Frog Island Brewery to operate locally-owned small businesses in places like Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. They are willing to take the risk -- our cities should be helping them as much as possible.

I still haven't developed the film from the Mamiya. This shot was taken with a Vivitar plastic 35mm camera that I bought in a junk store for a buck. The film is Lucky 400. I hope those guys are lucky, too.