No Info Here, Just Ranting

[sanking]

Boy, I am having a very bad hair day.

This morning I planned several tests for a current project. Planned for the day was a film development test of TMY in PMK, and TXP in both D76 1:1 and Xtol.

OK, got through exposing and developing the TMY in PMK strips and immediately realized they were much too low in contrast for the time of development to be right. So I mused a bit and eventually figured out that I mixed a 1:2:300 dilution rather than 3:6:300 as would have been correct. So I congratulated myself for problem solving and did the test again. The time the negatives came out just so, I continued with Plan A.

Next up was TXP in D76 1:1. Exposed the negatives, mixed the D76 1:1 with water (or so I thought), and proceeded to develop the tests. When the first one came out of the stop bath I looked at it and thought, wow, this is a lot of contrast for 6 minutes of development in D76 1:1. At about the same instant I looked at the bottle of stock D76 and the label read Xtol. Not good.

Things are not going well at all, I say to myself, but continue with Plan A. I still need to test TXP in D76, so I exposed another set of negatives, mixed up another batch of D76 1:1 (or so I thought) and proceeded to development. When the first negative came out of the stop bath it was even more dense than the one developed in Xtol 1:1. So I scratch my head and try to figure out why the stock solutin of D76 had gained so much energy in the bottle overnight, since it worked great yesterday? Then I glanced over at the stock solution of D76, and the label read D72!!

So I am moving on to Plan B. Big glass of red wine and a movie on cable.

Sandy

 

[Amund]

LOL, but read the label on your wine bottle very carefully

 

[Ole]

LOL, but read the label on your wine bottle very carefully

Even better, have someone else check it.

My "best" move so far was mixing water with water instead of developer. I had no idea FP4+ could be that clear...

 

[bill schwab]

Ahhh.... I know days like that well. Like you, I have learned to fight on again... another day. Enjoy the flick.

B.

 

[Steve Smith]

Last night I took a sheet of paper out of the box, put it down on the easel whilst I closed the box then put the paper straight into the developer and wondered why no image appeared on it after a couple of minutes!

Steve.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

When I do things like this, I just figure that a certain degree of absent mindedness comes with the profession.

 

[Gerald Koch]

As Grimm, the dog in the Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip, once commented, "Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the straps."

 

[jim appleyard]

For your choice of films I would recommend "Platoon", "Sophie's Choice", or "Old Yeller". After one of these flicks, you'll realize your day wasn't so bad after all.

 

[eclarke]

Don't feel bad.. I spent last week working in Baltimore and only took a 645 roll film camera, I use a view camera 99% of the time. I almost always use 100 speed film and was sure that was what I was using there. I found the gravesite of Edgar Allen Poe among a fair group of other 18th century graves and crypts and was lucky enough to come up with a foggy morning to expose some film. I developed three rolls last night and the developer was looking funny when I dumped it from the Jobo..Short story...the 400 speed is just fine...the 100 speed is thinner than window glass..dumb...dumb...dumb. Have to work out a strong push for the last three rolls!!!..Evan Clarke

 

[Photo Engineer]

Sandy;

Just to make you feel worse, my wife's picture of you and me at the Formulary, taken with her little disposable camera, came out just fine!

PE

 

[Monophoto]

I kinda like plan B.

 

[Daniel Grenier]

Maybe Plan B should have been Plan A all along ?

 

[blaze-on]

OK, who are you really and what did you do with Sandy?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Or maybe run the film through the wine.... You probably don't even need the darkroom for that.

 

[Jerevan]

I'd take any plan as long as it isn't Plan 9 from Outer Space...

 

[sanking]

OK, who are you really and what did you do with Sandy?

I sure hope you are not talking about the one that dropped my favorite digial thermometer into the toilet from his shirt pocket this morning while leaning over to flush.

Sandy

 

[Bruce Watson]

Been there, done that. You've got the right approach. Some days just aren't right for photography. Some wine and a movie sounds about right... tomorrow is another day.

 

[Robert Hall]

Merely testing boundry conditions.

 

[John McCallum]

I keep telling myself it's fine to have an absent mind.

Just as long as it presents itself again, occasionally.

 

[sanking]

I keep telling myself it's fine to have an absent mind.

Just as long as it presents itself again, occasionally.

I saw an angel in this land - McCahon.

The following story is true.

Many years ago my mother told me that she had seen an giant albino angel in Wal-Mart. I asked her how she could be sure that what she saw was an angel. She answered, "Son, I was the only one who could see it."

Case closed about angels.

Sandy

 

[John McCallum]

Ha ha - might use that one some time if I may.

McCahon's passion for the land and his approach to 'seeing' it strikes a chord with me. There are still places you can go and feel you are the only one who has ever been there. ahh don't get me started ....

Best, John.

 

[ron mcelroy]

I sure hope you are not talking about the one that dropped my favorite digial thermometer into the toilet from his shirt pocket this morning while leaning over to flush.

Sandy

Were you able to get a reading before it was swallowed?

Good to here the gurus of this business are human like the rest of us.

 

[Gay Larson]

boy do I feel good, if someone as experienced as you can have these days then perhaps there's hope for me!

 

[Alex Hawley]

Sandy;

Just to make you feel worse, my wife's picture of you and me at the Formulary, taken with her little disposable camera, came out just fine!

PE

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

 

[gainer]

Take my word for it. If you grab it soon enough and rinse it out with 91% alcohol, they'll probably survive.