Happy New Year!

I am sitting here at my computer writing this with a cat on my lap. Johan, my furry buddy, seems to think that is the best place to be. It makes typing a bit awkward, but he's not been feeling well the past few days, so I'll put up with it. Eventually, he moves around behind me on the seat, which probably helps my sitting posture.

Last year seems like only yesterday, and it was quite a year. My first year of retirement was filled with lots of travel, lots of photography, and personally, was quite good. I still think about my friend Marc, and wish I could share some of my adventures with him. I think my film photography was extremely prolific, with at least 120 rolls shot. Between testing new films, old cameras, and travel, I was also doing a lot of film developing. Of course, I scan my negatives, and while I have my darkroom and enlarger, I rarely print just for the sake of printing. I only make prints if I have a project in mind. Film photography is gaining more press and more traction, and I think most of would agree that the variety of film stocks (especially in b&w) keeps increasing. I hope that 2019 sees some great new products on the market.

Speaking of darkrooms… my most important acquisition has been the sous vide heater for doing C-41, ECN-2, and E-6 developing. It's been an incredible water and time saver, not to mention, giving me great uniformity in my developing process. While I bought mine on Amazon for about $70, The FPP is selling one for about $50. Of course, if you are doing stand development in regular b&w chemistry, the unit is even more desirable, especially if your workspace is chilly.

This year will see some big changes in my life, as we are preparing to sell our home and move to the Asheville, NC area. As we look at houses, it will be important for me to have darkroom and studio space. Analog photography processes will be an important aspect of my life, and I will continue to be advocating for traditional processes. We will have lived in Michigan for 38 years this May, and while we have greatly enjoyed Michigan, Adrienne and I are looking forward to new adventures elsewhere. She retired from her job yesterday, and now both of us are “pensioners.” We both grew up in New York State, and miss the terrain, but not the long winters, so the Appalachians are calling to us, and Asheville is a good fit. We probably won't be moving until mid-year, and in the interim, I have lots to do. 

Due to the impending move I'll probably be selling some of my camera gear on eBay that I am not using. Just look for argusmaniac on eBay, and you can see my auctions. Moving a household is filled with making decisions on what to move. In addition, we are having some home renovations done, which of course means moving things around within the house. That's a great motivator to reduce the “clutter.” No, I am NOT selling my big Seal dry-mount press!

I have plenty of camera reviews lined up for 2019, and hopefully, more travelogues and photos to accompany them.

Here's to a good year! 

How to cook your film

I know that it is the end of what seems to be the longest month of the year...January. It seems like January has 40 days, doesn't it?   The calendar assures that it is only 31, but I swear there is an extra week hidden in there.  Perhaps it is because we are so damn busy in December with holidays, parties, birthdays, etc. that January seems so long.  In any case, it's also one of those months that I find myself catching up with things that got put on the back burner, like developing film.  I have been working through developing and scanning a lot of rolls of C-41 film that I shot in the second half of 2017.  One new thing that has made my work go so much easier has been one of those immersion heaters for Sous Vide cooking.  I had seen them being used for C-41 and E-6 processing as heaters for water baths to bring the chems up to the proper temperature, and keep it there.  So, I ordered one online from Amazon for $68.00. It's a Sous Vide Immersion Stick Pod by Primo Eats, and it's an amazing device. Although designed for slow-cooking food, it makes a perfect water heater with thermostat control and a rotor that circulates the water.  The temperature range is 5-100° C, so having the water bath at 38.5°C is not a problem.  In fact, I could set it for 20°C for b&w processing, too.  This has saved me a lot of water -- I had been using hot water from the tap to heat up the chemistry; and has saved me lots of time, as well.  I can set everything up in the water bath, turn on the stick pod, and go off and do other things until the chemistry is up to the right temp.  The device heats up the water quite quickly, but of course, the chemistry in the bottles also has to be heated by the water circulating around them.  Once it's at the proper temperature, you can be sure that it will stay there while it is in the water bath. This will give you more control over your processing, for sure.

Set the temp and let it heat up.

I label my tanks with numbers that correspond to how
many rolls I have processed in a batch of chemistry. I usually
stop at 20 rolls.

So far, so good.  The film has come out great, and I no longer worry about whether the temperature has changed. I also put the developing tank in the water bath in between rotations, just to make sure it is staying where it should be.

And here are a few shots from my Pentax K1000 and Lomo 400 color film, from last May-June.