Stubborn reels, darkness and irritability

Today I had another lesson of photography, in which we processed our rolls of film and printed a contact sheet. The film roll I had was from a photoshoot from yesterday. As part of our task we had to create photographs of a person, an object and a place. Because of how individually oriented this task is, especially in terms of expression, we had to choose things that meant a lot to us. For the person, I chose James, so yesterday he helped me out and picked me up from home so we could go to a park and I could take photos. He was a good sport! :) Most people are awkward when knowing they are the subject of a photo. I like having a film SLR though, because I know with a DSLR, because it’s digital, I would just use the machinegun method when taking photos because I wouldn’t be wasting film and I could just delete the crap shots. With an SLR I can more appropriate plan out each shot… I don’t know, there’s something really nice about it that makes me appreciate this idea of capturing the moment a lot more.

We dragged my guitar along, because at home there isn’t really an appropriate place to shoot photos. My room might look nice in black-and-white, but I wanted a more natural setting. My guitar was indeed the object I chose to shoot.

I ran out of film before I could shoot any landscape for my ‘place’, but I’m heading to the beach on Friday with James to finish that off, and to work on my final assignment too.

Today I had the worst trouble getting my film onto the reel to process. It was annoying, to say the least. Our tutor told us to remember to breathe, and knowing me, I took his advice. :P I thought I had it alright in the darkroom as we pulled our film out… okay, I’m scared of the dark, and trying to wind film onto a reel in pitch blackness is not my idea of fun.

I think it is a good thing that my night light died a few weeks ago, because I have actually – drum roll – been sleeping in the dark. I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier. The dark does still scare me; last night I fell flat on my face on the carpet because I missed my bed when I tried to leap in it. I’m still scared of monsters under the bed… /bash

I had a lot of trouble getting my film on the reel, and it must have taken at least twenty minutes. I was with Kay, since we were sharing a processing tank. She had hers done so much faster than mine, and tried to help me with mine but my film was being stubborn and dumb. I even dropped it on the floor. Urgh. I was saying out loud, “it’ll be okay, don’t give up”, and Kay was just being so patient with me. In the end I called my tutor and he did it for me. Stupid ass reel. Next time I have to do this let’s just hope I won’t be in the same predicament. I will not be pleased. :O

Processing the film took so long – a lot of chemicals were involved, a lot of waiting, washing, inside the little processing tank. It was enjoyable though. :) And when we were done and pulled out the film, oooooh. The negatives were lovely, I was glad mine turned out alright despite all that hassle inside the darkroom.

In the afternoon we printed our negatives onto a contact sheet – just a single sheet that contains a copy of all the photos. This was probably a lot quicker and easier than processing the film itself, just a fair bit of waiting time waiting for the photo paper as it sat in the solutions. We did that in the dark too, but it wasn’t pitch black as we had special dim lights on for exposing the films. Our tutor suggested we put our film away as soon as we took out what we needed.

“Always assume that some idiot is going to turn on the lights…” (This would ruin the photo paper.)

Even though it’s tedious, it’s all very fun. Even though developing my own photos would be fun too, it’s a time consuming process. Here are a few shots of my contact sheet. I was too lazy to scan so I just took a photo. :P

contact sheet
contact sheet

More photos and things on my photoblog. ♥️

James joked that he looks better in Delta 400 (the film type). XD

Comments on this post

/love ! yesterday was Huggs ngege

You’ll get better at processing your photos :B
and we’ll take more photos when we get Bagels on the rocks /awb

I do look good in sepia ::
ho ho, rustic wuggs

Ngaww, you still jomp into bed! :) thazocute :P :P
I have trouble sleeping unless it’s pretty much pitch black /um. apparently so does keex /bash

(Y)

Those pictures look fantastic! :) Sorry you had a hard time in class, but glad your negatives came out nicely despite the fucking around with it.

you’re scared with monsters under your bed,alright. as for me, I’m scared with crawling ghosts under my bed ==” I guess being a half Japanese, who loves watching horror Japanese movies, I’ve grown by being told “watch out with ghosts under your bed like those in The Grudge blablabla” /ehh
I wish I can get my own camera now /ho I want a DSLR but let just see if my mind will change. you sure have knowledge for cameras,huh? maybe I can ask you if I wanna buy my own ;) it’s a pity that I know IT-related stuff but not tech like cameras /bash

anyways, I’m sure you’ll get better at taking pictures :D

I’ve always wanted to take a photography class like that, where you actually learn how to develop your film and everything. I think it would be so much fun! I took a class at my library once, but it was just like learning how to shoot better pictures and stuff. It was really dumb, and I only went to like two classes. :P

That’s great that the class is so much fun for you! Those are the best kinds of classes, the ones that don’t seem like classes at all! The pictures look great, too!

Aw, thank you for the well wishes on my trip! It really was great, and I think I am going to do posts about each day of my trip. It might take a while, but so much happened that I wouldn’t even know where to begin fitting it in just a couple posts! I’ll make sure to include pictures. :)

You explained the process very well. I thought through the whole thing there was a dim light.
When I watch a horror movie, I can’t sleep with the lights on. /hehe
Your pictures came out great, your boyfriend/model did a great job.
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It’s so bloody hot, I wish we had winter. For some reason I thought Australia had similar weather as the Caribbean islands.

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at photography. I don’t think I have the patience for it though. Like, I would probably expect to get the perfect shot on my first try. :P

I used to not be able to sleep without a light too, but I had to get over it when I attended my school camp. /faw Mainly I was just scared of what people would think, but that doesn’t matter much to me now.

I’m still scared of monsters though. /eee Though I still have a faint hope that they’re like the monsters in Monster Inc. 👏

I’m not an expert, but those photos look great.

Thanks :D Don’t fly when a volcano erupts…that’s all I’m saying! haha!
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Wow, a photography class? That sounds amazing! I’ve always wanted to go to one :D I love those old vintage cameras, namely Holgas and Dianes. They produce beautiful photos :D

I really want to learn how to develop photos, it must’ve been annoying in the dark room though :(

I’m afraid of the dark in unfamiliar places, but usually I’m okay. I hate the streets at night because I’m scared some creep is going to leap on me…aah, my parents planted this seed of paranoia in my head from an early age…

Have fun at the beach! Can’t wait to see the photos you come up with :)

ive always found photography interesting but as an outsider (not studying it, just observing other people do it). i love negatives hehe they look so cool, i would love to know how you guys develop your photos from the negatives, i recall a number of my classmates spending so much time in the dark room but i never went in lol. im scared of the dark if my parents are away because then i feel like somethings going to happen and no one will hear me, thats why i sleep with my door open now

I wish I could take a photography class. 😢 My uni has literally NO practical classes, except in the music school. It’s all theory shit. Even in communications, we don’t learn how to actually DO anything. We just learn communication theories and shit. Oh and when I come study there, I’m only allowed to take classes that have equivalents offered at my home university. So no photography. :(

I went to a free concert yesterday, and I saw this girl taking pictures of the band with an SLR rather than a DSLR. I thought that was really cool.

I ♥ my little point and shoot, you know.

Sepia James!

*go, haha

Oh wait, in the art school there’s a class on digital photography for non-majors. There’s also fundamentals for drawing for non-majors, printmaking for non-majors (I’m not really sure what that is…), painting for non-majors, and watercolor for non-majors.

As if I have the time in my schedule. :P

hey there georgie! :) i really wanna learn photography. i even thought of taking that as my course in college but dad didn’t allow me. he said… it’ll be a waste of time when in fact i could learn that just by reading books or watching tutorials. i kinda agree. :D

i like your shots of james. i also visited your photoblog and they’re quite good. i also love your guitar with all those handwritings on it. are they yours? /love

Wow. I guess what I learnt in Photography last semester was different. We used DSLR and it would have been much more interesting if we learnt what you learnt: to process films and all that rather than just shoot things randomly, lol. It would have been harder for me, though, because I had a hard time in Photography class this year.

Anyways, the shots looked really nice! Keep up the good work! :)

What you;ve done sounded fun!! I also consider using SLR in photography as the more intimate one. I mean, there’s no way you can cheat in SLRs unlike in digital, if you don’t like how your photo turned out, you could always just edit it. It feels rewarding when youhave your roll of film developed and see good shots. :)

I wanna try working with film one day! It just seems so interesting!

I’m a little bit afraid of the dark, but, then again, aren’t all of us? As soon as I turn off the lights, I just run straight to the bed on my tiptoes, with as few steps as possible, afraid that something might grab my leg or that I might step on something if I keep my feet in contact with the ground too long.

I’m sure you’ll get to process the film properly by yourself next time!

A lot of things look better in sepia or black and white. :) I love sepia. :) Those pictures look really good!