Idea - "unprocessed film" exchange

[bobfowler]

OK, this may sound strange...

Everyone is paired off with someone who is "format compatable".

The participants shoot 2 identical (short) rolls of film (or 2 sheets) of the same subject - all shot at the exact same exposure and composition, subject of shooters choice. The shooter processes one roll or sheet, then sends the other roll or sheet unprocessed to another member. The recipient then soups the film in the chemistry of their own choice. Each person then makes 2 identical prints using their own method of choice, one of which is then sent back to the shooter for comparison.

In the end, each person winds up with 2 different prints of their subject, 2 different prints of their partners subject.

Of course, a couple of other ground rules would have to be set, but I think it might be a lot of fun.

Sound good, or is this just an asinine idea and I'm just crazy?

 

[matt miller]

I think it's a great idea.

 

[L Gebhardt]

Bob, I like the idea but in practice it may not work well given we all have our development tuned for our film and our meters. If I received a sheet of Trix shot at 320 I wouldn't know how to develop it, given your 320 may be my 160. It may be better to have a negative exchange. Of course if you and your partner calibrate your systems and agree to shoot the film at the right speed it would work.

 

[bobfowler]

Bob, I like the idea but in practice it may not work well given we all have our development tuned for our film and our meters. If I received a sheet of Trix shot at 320 I wouldn't know how to develop it, given your 320 may be my 160. It may be better to have a negative exchange. Of course if you and your partner calibrate your systems and agree to shoot the film at the right speed it would work.

I thought about that, but then again, I did say some ground rules would have to be established. An example - shoot at the film makers rated speed (even if that isn't what you'd normally want to do) and stick with B&W materials are two that come to mind.

The beauty of this is that we'd get a chance to see how someone else would interpret our latent image. I know, by sending film out to be processed your also getting someone elses interpretation, but doing this allows us to see how someone who REALLY want to process and print our work would handle it, not someone who is just pushing stuff out the door.

When each member of the exchange gets the film from their partner, they'll know what kind of film it is, it's up to the one doing the developing to determine what developer they're going to use and how it will be printed. It gets even more interesting if the person processing the film has no idea of what the subject matter is, or scene contrast, or.... you get the idea. Kinda like bowling while wearing a blindfold!

 

[L Gebhardt]

If you put shoot at the rated speed on there you would in reality be limiting me to a speed increasing developer such as XTOL as I wouldn't want to loose shadow details. Also without knowing the scene contrast we couldn't develop the film the correct amount for our printing style. We might as well just agree to send our negatives out to a lab for development.

It might work if each person exchange film and shooting instructions and the sent the film back to the other person along with shooting condition notes. As long as the meters were about the same I think this would work well.

 

[Nige]

sounds like fun... I wouldn't let the techy details get too much in the way for the intrigue and surprise of what the pics are of.