Wet Plate Pinhole

Balcony, 2015
Wet Plate Collodion Pinhole, 5 minute exposure

Self Portrait, 2015
Wet Plate Collodion Pinhole, approx. 4 minute exposure

Finally enough light for more wet plate pinhole experiments.  Both of these are tintypes and were shot with a Leonardo 4 x 5 pinhole camera.

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More Caffenol C Experiments

Abandoned Village, 2014

Ruin, 2014

Huge pile of film sitting around in need of processing.... time for more Caffenol C experiments.  The negatives were far too dark this time, but I was able to scan some of them.

These were shot with a Harman Titan 4 x 5 pinhole camera on Kodak TMax 100 film.  Processed in Caffenol C, 12 minutes.

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Believe the Magic

Believe, 2014

Magic, 2014

I've returned from my August absence with plenty of recent photos to post.  Here are two pinhole photos of a lovely yarnbomb in Williamsburg.  Both were shot with a Harman Titan 4x5 pinhole camera on expired Kodak Vericolor III film.  The film expired in 1991, so I'm very please with the results.

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Wineol - Film Developed in Red Wine!

Lately, I've started experimenting with a few alternative processes again.  I  tried caffenol on film a few times (see some results here), and I read that one could also process film in a similar solution made with red wine.  Of course I had to try it!  Here are details of the recipe and my results.

The recipe:

1 bottle (750 ml) red wine.  I used home - made red wine that has (I think) a fairly high alcohol content.  I think any red wine will work, though.

Approx 6 Tbs washing soda (This should be about 75 grams, I think. I don't have a scale so I'll admit to estimating this measurement)

4 grams Vitamin C (You're supposed to use acetic acid powder, but I used crushed tablets and it seems to work okay.)

The ingredients, ready for mixing.

Mix everything well.  The mixture starts to smell like Manischewitz concord grape wine.  Nasty.

Mix Well

Some of the washing soda solidified in the solution.  This should probably be filtered out.  I didn't filter and said f**k it and threw everything in the tank.  Probably not a good idea, but I've never been a stickler for details.

Wineol in the tank, working its magic.

Load the developing tank.  I was processing T-Max 100 4 x 5 sheet film (expired in 2012) and loaded a Paterson tank using the 'taco method'.   Bump the tank to remove air bubbles, and agitate for the first minute.  Develop in the wineol for 45 minutes.  I agitated every three minutes or so.

Dumb the developer

After the time is up, dump the developer from the tank.  As you can sort of see in the photo above, it has gone from a lovely dark purple color to a dark brownish black.  It also smells even nastier at this point, so be sure to do this in a well ventilated space.  Pour water into the tank (I never use stop bath) and agitate a couple of times, drain, add more water and agitate for about one minute.  Dump the water and add fixer.  I use Ilford Rapid fix.  When the fixing time is up, pour out the fixer and wash the negatives for about 12 minutes.  Remove the film from the tank and allow to dry.

That's it.  And now, here are the results:

R and T, 2014

Ghosts, 2014

R and W, 2014

R and J, 2014

As you can see, there is a lot of streaking on each side of each negative.  I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I think it's because I didn't filter my developer.  I'm still fairly pleased with the results.  Tomorrow, I'll shoot more film and try again.

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Ermita in a Vineyard

Ermita in a Vineyard, 2014

Ibiza, 2014

Both photos were shot with an Ilford Obscura 4 x 5 pinhole camera on Ilford Delta 100 film. Almost everything went wrong during processing that could go wrong. Developer too old... check. Water probably too hot... check. Film sheets fell out of the slots in the developing tank... check. Lid fell off of the developing tank during processing... check. Still, I'm not too disappointed with the results.

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Abandoned Monastery

Chapel, 2014

Windows, 2014

Hall, 2014

I finally got to take my new camera out for a spin!  Hooray!  All three of these photos were shot in the abandoned monastery in Albelda de Iregua with an Ilford Obscura 4 x 5 pinhole camera on Ilford Delta 100 film.

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Artichoke Field

Artichoke Field, 2012 

I still haven't processed my 120 film from Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, but I did shoot one instant pinhole one the day.  An artichoke field right after a rainstorm, with a rainbow barely visible in the sky in the background.  Shot on expired Polaroid Type 55 4x5 instant film (expired in 2006, I think), using a Leonardo 4x5 pinhole camera and approximately 4 minutes exposure time.  The results seem a tad solarized, but I'm not sure if it's due to expired film or something else.  I'm down to my last 9 sheets of this film, so I'm hoping for a comparable replacement soon.

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Polaroid Week 2011, Day Four

Sunflowers are the subject, again.  This time, I used a sheet of my dwindling supply of Polaroid Type 55 film.  Twenty second exposure, shot with a Leonardo 4x5 pinhole camera.

Sunflowers, 2011

Polaroid Week 2011. Day Three

Today, I shot my last sheet of Polaroid Type 59... ever.  The sheet was stored with my few remaining sheets of Type 55, and the Type 59 box is long gone, so I'm not sure when it expired.  It probably expired at least three years ago.

Shot with a Leonardo 4 x 5 Pinhole camera on expired Polaroid Type 59 film.  25 second exposure.

Sunflowers, 2011

More Shots From Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2011

All of my WPPD film has been processed and scanned.  Most of my 4 x 5 negatives were damaged, due to my exuberant and curious cat deciding to jump on the film changing bag as I was loading my developing tank.  In my rush to finish loading the tank in order to free my hands and remove the cat from on top of the bag I pushed the top clip down too far, thus squashing some of the sheets of film together.  The resulting damage is visible on the bottom two images.  I think the cat will have to stay in a different room next time.  All three were shot with a Leonardo 4 x 5 pinhole camera on TMax 100 sheet film.  I'll probably submit a photo to the WPPD gallery later today.  I'm leaning towards one of the Zero 2000 shots.   I'll post a link to the gallery once I decide which photo to send.

UPDATE:  Click here to view my submission to this year's WPPD gallery.

Caravan, 2011

Self Portrait with Nessie, 2011  The white spots show where the film got scrunched in the developing tank during loading.

El Campo, 2011  The white spots show where the film was scrunched in the tank during development.