Realized today I was behind in blog posting, so in catching up I’m going to post one of the more interesting film experiments I have done lately.
This photo set was taken on an overcast day in Duluth, MN, through the trails that wind past St. Scholastica and practically terminate at my partners parents back yard. I had this Kodak Gold 24-exposure film that I wanted to use up, in this cheap plastic camera that I wasn’t certain worked, and decided to attempt processing the color film using black and white chemicals. The truth is I wanted to see if the camera even worked but didn’t want to pay for processing if it was broken.
Well, the camera itself didn’t work and when I tried to wind it back the film snapped off the spool and the back popped open, immediately exposing the whole roll to light. Boo. Fortunately I had a spare roll and my Olympus XA with me because by this point I was determined to see if I even could cross-process my film at all.
Pleased with the outcome. The images are a deep sepia-tone, moody, and maybe even a little spooky. Thank you to the St. Scholastica nun cemetery for existing, I love the creepiness that seeps in to the edges of these shots. I tentatively call this set Deep Woods And Pietà.
For the curious, note on my process. To develop the color film in black and white chemicals, I bumped up the developing time for the color 400 ISO film as if I were developing 3200 ISO black and white film. I used Ilford DD-X for developer, at room temp. On the surface, the film itself looks a little cloudy after drying, but they scan and color just fine. I kept the sickly yellow-orange tint to this set, but converted to black-and white they look just a touch softer and under-exposed than regular black-and white film.
Enjoy!
Camera: Olympus XA
Lens: Standard Olympus F-Zuiko 35mm 1:2.8
Film: Kodak Gold 400
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