Let's All Print (or Maybe Scan) One Negative 2025

tezzasmall · Sep 18, 2025

Don_ih said:
That's good enthusiasm!

I aim to please Don!

bedrof said:
Hi, Terry
Glad to see you back in the exchange related activities.

Yes, it's been a while Bedrof. But the cost of sending many bits around the world from the UK has become a bit too expensive. Also, I was lucky if I received one reply from the Postcard exchange, with the majority not even acknowledging receipt of my work...

The 1 to 1 swaps were fine though, so I may return to those. I'll have to investigate.

snusmumriken said:
Why am I not surprised that the UK is behind here?

LOL. Like posted earlier, I can get something to Europe in just a few days, but sending something local, in the same town, and it takes a week or more...?

Oh, and before I forget, which is the main reason for signing in, was to acknowledge receipt of the negative. Many thanks again! I hope to have a spare period early next week. I'm looking forward to printing it, as doing something with someone else's negative, is always fun. And the wait to see what others are doing will probably give me a couple of sleepless nights!

Can you all tell how excited I am by this challenge?

Terry S
UK

Don_ih · Sep 18, 2025

tezzasmall said:
Can you all tell how excited I am by this challenge?

I'm glad you're excited and I look forward to seeing what you do.

As for the postcard exchange, it currently seems to be pretty close to a 100% sending and received rate. Or I haven't had any complaints. Most people seem to reporting when they receive a card.

The expense, though, is pretty significant.

snusmumriken · Sep 18, 2025

My negative has arrived at last! It doesn’t seem so very dense. I’m going to the dentist tomorrow, and I had expected I would have to ask them to x-ray it. But I think I can cope with my normal wattage enlarger bulb. Hoping to have a go next week.

Don_ih · Sep 18, 2025

snusmumriken said:
It doesn’t seem so very dense.

It's not impenetrable but it is on the overcooked side.

Kenny Harrelson · Sep 18, 2025

NedL said:
There have been a few traveling cameras....

Does anyone remember back in 2010 when a group was created on Flickr called "One Rokkor Around The World?" A 50mm Minolta Rokkor lens travelled around the world, one user at a time. Each participant received the lens from the previous partricipant, documented his area with it, on 35mm film, then sent it along to the next one on the list. It was great fun! It was tried again a couple years later with a 35mm prime Minolta Rokkor lens, but I don't think that one finished it's journey and arrived back home.

gbroadbridge · Sep 18, 2025

Kenny Harrelson said:
Does anyone remember back in 2010 when a group was created on Flickr called "One Rokkor Around The World?" A 50mm Minolta Rokkor lens travelled around the world, one user at a time. Each participant received the lens from the previous partricipant, documented his area with it, on 35mm film, then sent it along to the next one on the list. It was great fun! It was tried again a couple years later with a 35mm prime Minolta Rokkor lens, but I don't think that one finished it's journey and arrived back home.

We had a few travelling cameras years ago, but the logistics of shipping cameras and lenses internationally became too difficult.
And of course the longer the chain, the less likelihood of a device ever arriving at its destination.

It would be almost impossible these days, unless limited to a single geographic area.

koraks · Sep 19, 2025

In a small group that also included @gary mulder, we did an exchange of negatives a few years ago. Everyone shot one roll of 35mm film, and then every participant got to print one negative (of their choice) from each roll. This means that the negatives traveled in a circle past every participant. This worked only because @gary mulder diligently monitored where every set was and pushed people to adhere to the agreed-upon planning. Our group was 6-7 people as I recall, and the process took a few months to complete. It was a fun exercise, but the logistics involved would just not scale up to an international forum and a larger number of participants - negatives would get 'stuck' somewhere and ultimately lost. Btw, we did this exercise during the Covid restrictions; we came together to view the resulting prints when the restrictions had lifted.

rduraoc · Sep 19, 2025

Yesterday the letter with the precious content arrived (in good nick). I might be able to get some printing time this weekend, as I already have some ideas on how to tackle the challenge. Thanks again to @Don_ih for this initiative!

BHuij · Sep 19, 2025

koraks said:
In a small group that also included @gary mulder, we did an exchange of negatives a few years ago. Everyone shot one roll of 35mm film, and then every participant got to print one negative (of their choice) from each roll. This means that the negatives traveled in a circle past every participant. This worked only because @gary mulder diligently monitored where every set was and pushed people to adhere to the agreed-upon planning. Our group was 6-7 people as I recall, and the process took a few months to complete. It was a fun exercise, but the logistics involved would just not scale up to an international forum and a larger number of participants - negatives would get 'stuck' somewhere and ultimately lost. Btw, we did this exercise during the Covid restrictions; we came together to view the resulting prints when the restrictions had lifted.

This sounds like fun.

koraks · Sep 20, 2025

BHuij said:
This sounds like fun.

It was! Definitely recommended if you have/can form a small group of like-minded photographers.

Btw, this is also to signal that I think I'm done with the negative, in the sense that I've produced two versions that I'm more or less happy with. Maybe I'll polish a little, but I'm ready to pass on 'my' negative to @bedrof. I hope to put it in an envelope this weekend and send it on its way.

I'll not yet upload the results so as not to influence others.

Don_ih · Sep 20, 2025

Incidentally, Koraks is sending his to Bedrof, because the Canada Post website still claims it can't send mail to Russia - and I didn't want to test the veracity of that claim by sending the negative.

koraks · Sep 20, 2025

Thanks for clarifying; yes, this was not to suggest that people are supposed to forward their negatives in general. If they choose to do so on private title, I suppose that would be A-OK. This particular forward was pre-arranged for the reason indicated by @Don_ih.

jeffreyg · Sep 20, 2025

When and how should we post the finished image? Any particular size and should we include the steps we took?

snusmumriken · Sep 20, 2025

Please give us plenty of time to get darkroom prints done, before anyone posts results.

gary mulder · Sep 20, 2025

snusmumriken said:
Please give us plenty of time to get darkroom prints done, before anyone posts results.

Yes that seems to be civilised. I will wait with my digital inkjet print until some analog prints have been posted.

koraks · Sep 20, 2025

jeffreyg said:
When and how should we post the finished image?

As to the 'how' - in whatever way suits you best. On Photrio, the Gallery or one of its subsidiaries can be used - for instance this one: https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/categories/lets-all-print-one-negative.15/ (which was created for a previous exchange, but we can reuse it).

As to the 'when' - let's wait until a good deal of people have indicated that they have their prints made before starting to publish stuff. In my view, @Don_ih is in the lead for giving us a 'go'.

jeffreyg · Sep 20, 2025

Okay no problem. When ready for them just give the go ahead.

absalom1951 · Sep 20, 2025

Got my negative today, hoping to get in my darkroom tomorrow.

Don_ih · Sep 20, 2025

As for when we start posting images, people should let me know when they are finished/ready and, once we get somewhere over 10 or so people ready, we can start. 10 is a bit less than 50% of those who signed up. But I need to know when we hit that target. It's probably a good idea to wait until 50% of those who received the negative are done, since darkroom time is not the easiest to secure for some people.

The simplest way would be for people to say explicitly in this thread that they're ready.

jeffreyg · Sep 20, 2025

I’m ready

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Sep 21, 2025

Can I suggest something? Nevermind.

Don_ih · Sep 21, 2025

That's an interesting idea, but i don't know if it's necessary. I think it might be interesting enough for the photos to just start appearing in the thread or even in the gallery.

It might be a good idea to compile all the images into a single pdf, though, which everyone could download.

snusmumriken · Sep 21, 2025

Don_ih said:
That's an interesting idea, but i don't know if it's necessary. I think it might be interesting enough for the photos to just start appearing in the thread or even in the gallery.

It might be a good idea to compile all the images into a single pdf, though, which everyone could download.

FWIW, I like the idea myself, but it’s your call of course, Don.

Don_ih · Sep 21, 2025

I don't dislike the idea. If people want to do it, I'm ok with it. But if you post your own print/scan, then you get to say what it was you did.

When everything is done, though, I think a single pdf with the images and whatever comment the image-maker had to say about it is a good idea. It'll be an easy to click-through way of comparing.

gary mulder · Sep 21, 2025

Posting the results anonymous without seeing how the land lies can behold some advantages.

Let's All Print (or Maybe Scan) One Negative 2025

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