Not that long ago a part of an analog therapy run went sideways on me. A combination of a less than ideal film for me, unexpected ground conditions, and human error combined to provide a different type of experience. An opportunity to build my coping skills for when things do not go to plan.
Pursuing some riverside (creekside?) pics, I managed to muddy my Chucks to near ruination. On the positive side, I did not hit the ground yard sale style when I encountered the unexpected thick mud under a thin layer of grass. Later in my haste to develop a roll of B&W and color film back to back, I managed to forget to put the central dowel in place in the light proof tank. Which removed the lightproof part. Only realized my error when I unexpectedly encountered the dowel while loading the next tank with color film in the lightproof bag. Great. After development, I confirmed that this blanked 8 exposures. The 7 remaining exposures? Not the pics I took while muddying my Chucks. The very photos I was looking most forward to. So, I potentially ruined my Chucks for naught. Yay. But I chose to look at things a different way.
- The pics that did come out were grainier than I liked. I knew this was likely based on prior experience. So I would have likely been disappointed with the river pics if they had come out. In other words, no great loss.
- Reminded me that I need to slow down.
- This is my last roll of Foma Fomapan 400 so this will no longer be an issue.
- The site in question is near me. I can go back when conditions are less sloppy and retake these photos any time I want to.
This here post is about that last bullet.
The occasion? With a pivot to a prime lens having point and shoot camera as my compact medium format film solution I decided to even swap (Thank you Chris at SE Camera.) my Pentax FA 75mm f/2.8 for the FA 45-85mm f/4.5…
…for a bit more focal length flexibility. The 75mm f/2.8 is a fantastic lens, but one could argue that the larger 45-85mm is a good size and form factor fit for the 645N.
As far as image quality goes and depth of field I had no concerns at all. This zoom lens is a match for any prime I have had in both regards based on my past experience.
So… that previous mud slick by the riverside. My Chucks survived the last mud assault courtesy my wonderful wife’s post-intervention. All was well on this visit. The ground was mostly solid.
As for film, I took no chances this time and went with an all-time favorite of mine.
As usual developed it with Cinestill CS41 and I was really happy with the results. The lens and camera performed as expected and the red of the bench is so much better suited to color film than black and white so I could not ask for better. Here are all 16 exposures from the roll.
Having run my course at the park I milled about looking for scenes to capture.
That was most definitely a successful analog therapy session. It more than made up for the previous experience.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 