The 52 Project, Week 3
Wow, so the past week has been quite a bear. I've spent most of my time: hunting down a "lost" package of 120 film, gearing up for a big wedding, and scrambling to finish a photobook for the Hancock Historical Society. Luckily for me, shooting film was just the prescription for a stressful week. The scans below represent some fun experiments with Kodak Tri-x 400 B&W, hand developed in D-76, scanned on an Epson V700.
Ruby giving a big "dumb guy" smile. ^_
Scan 1: Ruby the American Bulldog
If it's not already becoming apparent, I have an affinity for pets. I like them, they stay still, I take their picture, simple as that. Though I don't normally like medium/large sized dogs, the two you can see in this blogpost are dosile, happy young dogs. This particular pup is Ruby. She's just under two years old, and an American Bulldog mix. She reminds me a lot of Chance from "Homeward Bound".
Twiggy barely ever sits still, especially hard w/ manual focus.
Scan 2: Twiggy, the Mutt
Oh Twiggy, such an innocent little wire-haird dog. She's just over a year old, and I have no idea what combinations of dog are in her, but they sure give her a distinct look. She lives with Ruby, seen above, and they couldn't get along better.
Beehive or not, this is some BIG hair!
Scan 3: Big Sexy Hair
Having set the "great hair" bar a little high with last week's bearded beast, I had to find someone/thing with equally impressive hair. Then, while dining at the Panera Bread in Westlake, OH, I came past this lady with some truly original hair. Certainly if you lived during the '60's and earlier you've probably seen a "do" like this, but to me, this was a new thing that was truly awesome to behold in person.
Something good: I particularly like the "look" that Tri-X film gives when processed. There appears to be deeper blacks and more blown whites, especially so in higher contrast, outdoor areas.
Something bad: Hand processing the film is going well, but my film is just curving way too much during drying to make for good scans. Note the horrid light "falloff" on the edges of scan 3. The negative does NOT look like this; if only I could get the hang of the Epson V700.
Something learned: Even though I'm working with significantly less data, 16 bit B&W vs. 48 big RGB, each film does really have its own unique look. And from what I've been reading thus far, each developer leaves its own unique "mark". I intend to exploit as many combinations as I can throughout this project, starting with all films in D-76, then working my way to other developers.
Next week: The more I play with B&W films, the more I like them. There's just something about not having to sit in Lightroom for hours playing with the file to get it to look like it does out of the darkroom. Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights, simple as that. I'm going to keep shooting different B&W films and post their results.