I thought Id try something different for this assignment.
In my mind, a Portal is an opening into another world. So, in the interest of being a little less literal than I usually am, I thought that this might be fun to do.
Forty years ago, when I was 11, my father gave me a new camera and some equipment and chemistry and, most important, an opening into an important new world (a Portal, if you will). The camera was an old Kodak 616 folder, and it is pictured here. He had had it mechanically refurbished, with a new bellows and leatherette covering. The negative size is big enough to contact print in a satisfactory manner, and a dedicated contact printer was included.
We shot a roll or two of Verichrome Pan, and he showed me how to develop the film - see-sawing the film in total darkness through three 5x7 trays of chemistry, before turning on the light to see the resulting magic. Contact prints on Velox (IIRC) paper were eventually made, using those same 5x7 trays, and more chemistry and a Brownie Darkroom safelight which Im sure I still have, but just couldnt locate.
I think of the camera (which was manufactured in Toronto, Ontario Canada in or about 1934) to be a reminder of an entry into a new world for me, one that Ive enjoyed ever since.
Other than the camera, most of the other chemistry and equipment shown here, although of something close to mid 1960s vintage, was probably acquired later, although I have a strong hunch that the photo-flo is my original bottle (it is almost gone).
For those interested, this was shot on Kodak Gold 200 using an Olympus OM2s, 75-150mm f/4.0 Zuiko lens. Exposure was about ½ second at f/5.6 and the light was a mixed melange of existing halogen and fluorescent light and bounced flash. The film was lab developed and scanned.
Matt
