Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
September 21st, 1979. Forty years ago, British rock photographer, Pennie Smith immortalized the destruction of a Fender P-Bass guitar by Paul Simonon of The Clash on the stage of The Palladium in New York City, on gorgeous B&W 35mm film.
Her soft-focus, grainy image with its blown-out highlights and development stains has been dubbed by numerous publications and music fans, “the Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Photograph of All-Time.”
By now most everyone dabbling in analog photography has seen articles on the use of “Caffenol”, “Beerinol”, “Redwineol” where people have developed film in mixtures of coffee, beer, red wine. While these can be fun experiments with show-able results they are somewhat pricey developers. Aside from the coffee-beer-wine you also need fairly consumptive amounts of sodium carbonate (wash soda) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to make it work. We are going to pare that down a bit.
For most of us who own cameras, we’ve at least heard of a darkroom, even if you’ve never been used one or been inside one. It’s been a part of photography for as long as photography has existed, and there are many still around today, despite the world going digital. A lot of people still shoot film, and there are plenty of darkrooms around the world you can hire, even if you don’t have your own.
One appears in Stranger Things quite frequently, and it’s somewhere we often see Jonathan go to develop his photos and make prints. One viewer, though, seems pretty confused as to what the hell this “red room” is. This viewer took to StackExchange to ask the question. Poor Ansel would be turning in his grave.
Clients often ask whether they can have their photos in black & white. My reply is always that I’ll do black and white versions in the gallery if they work.
If they help the image shout “look at me”.
A lot of us analog film photographers love to shoot film but new film stocks can be pricey. A 100ft roll (30meters) of fresh Tmax is about $80 US these days. Deals can be had on “vintage” (expired) film but many purists will disregard this as results are inconsistent and sometimes just awful. I teach on the side and I am always looking to save student monies but give them a positive experience so there is no discouragement.
After the digiFilm Y35 fiasco, one would think that nobody would ever buy anything from Yashica. However, the company doesn’t seem to give up and it recently launched three new cameras and two films on Kickstarter. And it seems that photographers are willing to give Yashica a second chance – the project has already been funded, 18 days before the campaign is over.
Despite the digiFilm Y35 proving to be a major fail, Yashica doesn’t seem to give up. The company has launched another Kickstarter campaign, funding not one, but three new cameras. In addition, it also plans to launch two new 35mm films, one of which has already caused quite a stir.
As if the digiFilm’s epic fail wasn’t enough, Yashica is now launching its own 35mm film. Yes, that Yashica, the company that trashed the iconic Japanese brand’s name by launching a plastic piece of junk version of the Electro 35.
The new 35mm film has been promoted on Yashica’s Facebook page, and it’s bad from the very start. The bad Photoshop job of the promo image shows that it could be just another scam, which has provoked a fierce reaction in the community.
While I’m waiting for the crowdfunding campaign for my darkroom timer project to reach its completion (7 days to go), I’ve been busy with a few other projects. One of them you’ll find here in this article: an LED conversion to my friend‘s Durst Laborator 1200 enlarger.
If you shoot film and want to try something new, there’s an interesting new camera coming up. RETO3D is an affordable 3D camera aimed at film photographers of the modern day. It relies on the already familiar concept of 3D film cameras, but it sells at a way more affordable price.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
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