Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Photo Class Day 2

On Tuesday we had a very rudimentary practice for what we’ll be doing during the rest of the course. First, we were issued our analog (film) SLR cameras. Immediately, I realized that I hadn’t used a film camera at all in the last 3 years, and I hadn’t used one where I actually had to load the film in even longer. So, I felt a bit sheepish when I had to ask for help loading the film. Then we talked about film speed, aperture, shutter speed, and exposure. All of these things are more complicated than on a video camera to be sure. Then we were set loose to take pictures around the campus.

When we came back we developed our film (which sounds so easy, but this is no 1 hour photo operation). My first mistake was that I rewound the film too far (a manual process), which made it harder. I had to pop off the ends of the film canister with a bottle opener, cut the ends of the film, and feed it onto a developing spool—all in 100% darkness. And I mean no light. There was no difference in having my eyes open or shut. I was hopeless with this sensory deprivation so I needed a lot of help. Once my film was wound onto the spool, we put it into a light proof container. Then we could turn the lights back on. The next step was to actually develop the film, which involved pouring developer into the container (in for 20 minutes), stop bath (1 minute), and fixer (5 minutes). Then our film was put into the dryer while we ate lunch.

After lunch we got to work making our print. First we made contact sheets, or one sheet of photo paper that has a copy of all our negatives on it. We made these by the same developing process as the photograms, except that we put negatives on the photo paper instead of random objects. Then, by looking at the contact sheet, we picked which negative to print. To make a print, you put the negative into a projector-like image by moving the projector up and down, and then you expose the photo paper with the projection shining on it. Finally, you develop the print (developer, stop bath, fixer, rinse), and you have a picture!

I learned that the photographic process is very long and tedious. But I know that, just like everything else, practice will make it come so much easier.