Leica M3, 21mm Super-Angulon, Neopan 400, developed in Rodinal 1:45
I just works for me. The diagonal of the arm, the pose of my sister-in-law on the left, the depth of the image without excessive `wide angle distortion’.
Well, I unpacked the enlarger, taped a few bin-liners to the windows and experimented a bit.
I used some old paper that was packed in with the enlarger and trays (making it at least 25 years old, probably well past 30), developed in Rodinal (the only suitable developer I had, since 30 year old developer is probably even more of a crapshoot than 30 year old paper), used a water stop and my normal fixer.
Note that this is a bad scan from an office copier. The actual print is much sharper and has no banding.
As you can see, the paper was heavily fogged ((Interesting detail: The paper was probably older than the girl in the picture)), but the image is still recognizable. Considering that I pretty much winged both exposure and development, and this is the second print I made (ever), I’m actually pretty satisfied.
Specs: Neopan 400@320, Rodinal 1:50; Ilford Ilfospeed #3, Rodinal 1:25
I just ordered some fresh paper and a proper paper developer. More to come…
Last januari, I wrote about my goals for the year. Time to look back and see what got of them.
My goals were:
Let’s start with the second one: 50 rolls. I shot 48 rolls during the year, and had two almost complete rolls in my cameras, both of which I completed on New Year’s day. I think that counts as 50. I finished one of the rolls shooting fireworks at midnight (and immediately shot the first full roll of 2011).
The third one, set up a darkroom and learn to use it, was not so successful. The home renovation project took much longer than initially expected, and I only got to the darkroom late in december. The good news is that I spent this weekend moving in my parents’ old darkroom equipment. I still have to light-proof the room, but after that I can get some chemicals and paper and start experimenting. So, not completed, but well underway.
Finally, the first goal. Shoot 3 pictures good enough to enlarge and frame them. This one I simply don’t know yet. I haven’t completely caught up with my scanning after the move, and haven’t looked very deeply into all my negatives, even the ones I did scan.
I do know I shot one of the most important pictures of my life this year, which already got enlarged and framed. So that’s one. (I’ll write more about it in a future post). The other two, time will tell once the darkroom is finished.
Aside from the goals, 2010 was a pretty uneventful year. Most of the pictures I shot were simple shots documenting the rebuilding of our house, and much of the rest was filled with pictures of my family and other snapshots. I also shot my second wedding.
Equipment-wise, I fell in love with the Leica system, completed a nice camera/lens set, and started selling off some Canon equipment that became superfluous. The Leica set is finished now, I plan to write about the different parts in the coming months.