A screwup and the consequences.

Getting back to developing film again after not doing it for 5 months during the end stages of my pregnancy and the beginning stages of new mommyhood was an interesting thing. I made a few mistakes. None so great as putting the fixer in before the developer, but I had my moments. Accidently leaving the core out of the tank. Opening the film in a not-so-light-tight room.

Then I made a real mistake.

I shot some Tri-X at 3200 previously with the intention of developing it in Rodinal. Then, stupidly, thinking I'd switched the film, I changed the dial to 1250 and proceeded to shoot away.

This left me with a rather large problem. How should I develop this? I decided, with the help of Scott (TheFlyingCamera) and papagene in the chatroom I came up with a solution: semi-stand development in Rodinal.

So I did this:

70F
Rodinal 1+100 (500ml water and 5ml Rodinal)
1 hour
agitation every 15 minutes

Interestingly enough, all the images are...well...images. Whether or not they're good is another thing entirely. I'm not expecting shadow detail at all.

I can't print them at the moment since I don't have a darkroom and I don't have access to a scanner here so I'm going to have to have them scanned this weekend.

The moral? Don't be an idiot and change the film speed dial before you do a check of your notes to see what film you had!

We could all probably speak of many morals that we have learned from. I bet you don't make that mistake again, at least not in the near future anyway.
Chuck

Stephanie Brim said:

The moral? Don't be an idiot and change the film speed dial before you do a check of your notes to see what film you had!

Click to expand...

But...it sounds like it worked out ok...no?

Probably won't make that mistake accidently, no.

Depending on whether or not the shots look okay, I may earmark this as something to try when I want to do an inside shot on a roll with outside shots or something.

Really, to see if it worked all right or not, I need to get them printed.

I can relate Stephanie. I burned through 12 rolls of TechPan (blasphemy) last semester trying to get portraits to come out a certain way. I made all sorts of ridiculous mistakes and forgot to take things into consideration, everything from lighting pre-exposure to development. I was so angry with myself especially since the TP was a gift...

Look at it this way, if we did everything right all the time, it would be pretty boring and from what I've found is the more you try to do in photography, there is always more to learn and consider. Don't sweat it. Chances are you won't make the same mistake again

Then I made a real mistake

Yup... it's a symptom of the post pregnancy mommy brain drain. You're probably a real wiz at changing diapers now, but since all the newborn first time baby stuff takes up a big portion of your brain, you'll find keeping track of ISO's and films taxing!

Don't worry... you may never recover from the mommy brain drain, but you'll adjust!! Hope you'll share your results!!

Yeah, I absolutely HATE the ISO dial on my sr-T101. Because I either forget to change it when I put a new roll of film in until about half way through or else I too pull a Brim.

I have the same problem .... funny .... don't remember giving birth though ---- oh yeah - I have TEENAGERS! that would explain a lot. When I started doing photography, I used every kind of film and asa and developer and made those mistakes a lot. I have now settled down on two films with 3 asa speeds and don't have as many wrong choices to make - It also makes shopping easier. For roll film it is only one kind - TRI-X. I shoot it at ASA200 and I shoot it at ASA1600. This meets all my needs. I use one brew on them - XTOL 1:1 (equivalent - I always roll my own). I also keep each film in a different camera and immediately mark on the roll after it leaves the camera. When I am in the darkroom I keep like rolls clustered together. For sheet film it is FP4 only anymore. A different discussion. The reason for tri-x is that it is so forgiving and it pushes so well. The reason for XTOL is that it makes tri-x fine and smooth even when pushed. The reason 2 cameras (different) is so I always know what I am shooting and the cameras have an advantage for that application. (120 film) So this is how I keep my film straight and prevent disaster. And ... happy mommyhood.

This isn't as "weird" as it might seem, Stephanie.

I think it's a bit of "winter doldrums shooting syndrome" which particularly arises when we shoot older gear. The ones that don't have that nice window to remind us that there's already film in the camera and its ISO is....

We shoot a few frames and then the weather and subjects get so crappy that we don't finish the roll. Well you know...IT'S WINTERTIME (i.e. life and everything else just sucks anyway).

So we put the camera aside for the day/week and then we get a bit confused: "Did I shoot out that last roll or not? If I did, then did I put a new roll in? And, either way, I can't open the back now because there's film in the camera"!

Yep, been there, done that. Oh, well I never have opened the back. But I sure as have had times when I just was :confused: as you were.

Welcome back to shooting!

I stand dev in rodinal all the time. I do 1.5 hours, without agitation 1-100. If I have 2 different films, I just put them in there and they turn out well.

It's great to see some women on the forums.

SuzanneR said:

Then I made a real mistake

Yup... it's a symptom of the post pregnancy mommy brain drain. You're probably a real wiz at changing diapers now, but since all the newborn first time baby stuff takes up a big portion of your brain, you'll find keeping track of ISO's and films taxing!

Don't worry... you may never recover from the mommy brain drain, but you'll adjust!! Hope you'll share your results!!

Click to expand...

Around 1994 I had the opportunity to be a darkroom monitor in Denver. The guy had a lease on this old warehouse and he had a public darkroom in the back.

I've never forgotten Kathy. She started as an absolute beginner, but in not too many months, oh my, I was getting jealous. She was a great photographer.

Dorothea Lange, Immogene Cunningham, Diane Arbus, I could go on.

And Kathy.