wheels

I have been seized by a need to organise my film today and spent quite a bit of time looking over old rolls, adding some basic information to the negative sleeves with sticky labels. For every film I already note which camera it was taken with and how it was developed, so that I can improve my development methods even when I take breaks between experiments. It’s time to add some information on content as well though! Quite likely noting the place where the roll was taken is not enough yet and I will need to think of a way to organise this even better, since I now have just too many negatives to roughly know where a specific shot might be hiding. However, adding at least this information is a start to have a better chance of finding shots in the future, which is especially important because I want to print some of them soon.

At the moment I usually print from scans, partly because I don’t have an enlarger. Even if I had one I would probably still go the hybrid way for the best quality without dust or scratches and the darkroom prints would be just a form of meditation over my pictures. For those very best prints it probably wouldn’t be enough because of the usual menace of dust and scratches. Of course, there is nothing quite like a proper print on photographic paper, so for the very best results I actually order analog prints on baryta paper from scans. This is actually less crazy than it sounds and becoming more common now. Even the dye transfer prints that blew me away in the Joel Meyerowitz exhibition were printed from special contact negatives that were made from drum scans from the original negative. Most common enlargers lose quite badly when compared to a drum scanner, so hybrid printing is also the way to go when maximum resolution is needed. And of course digital post-processing is much easier and more powerful than all the dodging and burning in the darkroom.

By the way, I myself don’t usually feel the need to make big prints from 35mm negatives – somehow it seems weird to use a small negative for large prints, especially considering that I normally use fast film and sometimes even push further. The problem is not the size of the negative but the size of the enlarged grain! And with smaller sizes up to 20×30 I can definitely use my own scanner without any problems. Although I keep complaining about scanning it’s more of a question of ease of use rather than a quality problem. My scanner can definitely keep up with most enlargers, that’s for sure! From medium format scans I could also easily make larger prints than I could even afford, so for now I haven’t yet seen any need for drum scans. One day when I want to fill a wall, I might consider it though!

And why do I use fast film and push it further? Well, street photography involves moving subjects! If I can keep at speeds of 1/250 or 1/500 with apertures of f/5.6 and smaller I don’t even have to slow down to shoot and know that my subject is going to be in focus. In sunlight, ISO 400 film is quite alright, but when it’s rather gloomy or even rainy outside, especially in those narrow streets around here pushing is the only way. Anything else would mean drawing attention to myself by taking the camera to the eye for focussing or sometimes just by stopping to take a picture. And of course I need to push at night with an f/2.8 lens! Luckily I don’t mind grain at all and even prefer a bit of grit. No love for fine grain films around here!

All pictures taken with: Olympus XA, F.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8.
Rollei RPX 400 stand-developed in Caffenol-CL, 60 min.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

A lot of wheels in one picture!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

I love the synchronised girls on the right!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Of course I had to take a black and white picture of that black and white dog!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Aww!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

And more wheels!

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Not sure why, but this picture totally does it for me!

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