A couple posts back … no, by now, it’s a couple of months back … I said I was heading for the darkroom. It took quite a while to get there, life being what it is (!!!).
And, life being what it is, and though I did get into the darkroom momentarily, I still am without any prints.
I got ready … I first had to redo some things to sure my darkroom is (kinda) light tight … sealed/flapped/etc and got it pretty dark, even during daylight hours. Then, once inside and “ready-to-go”, I found several “issues” … tried art first to work around them, but there were so many … and so many that could really effect quality, so I bagged it. So, I’ve put a few days into fixing things (note: “days” to me means an hours or so max each day only – I have other things, life things, that often need to trump art things.
Amounts those “issues” was the fact that I needed a new negative carrier for 35mm film. So, since there was only one on ebay, and it was pretty expensive, I set out to build one myself. Here it is:
I used steel flashing material, it’s in two parts: a base with slightly larger-than-35mm frame size with grooves/guides for the enlarger … and a second layer to actually frame the negative. I filed this piece slightly larger than 35mm image size to add a black frame around the image on the print. I wonder who started that idea (the black frame around an image … ). I wonder if it was a statement: “hey, this isn’t cropped, I am responsible for the whole frame”. Or, maybe it was a design thing. I recall seeing it first in my teens and thinking that looked and felt “Pro”. I like the idea that each and every print has the same “fingerprint” black frame – no two enlarged frames are alike: some are very rough, some a bit lopsided, etc..
Then, it was Thanksgiving (I love Thanksgiving!) – with it’s accompanying time dedications – and now, I think I’m getting close to taking another whack at it … day or so away!! (ha! it was weeks!)
(Photo trivia: negative marked #6 will be the first of series .. God’s Own: corn dogs on a stick 1).
Stay tuned …
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