10/13/2007

Even after so many rolls developed in Rodinal I came across technical setbacks recently. A few rolls pushed 2 stops of Tri-x gave me very weak negatives. So I have been stubborn to find some alternatives. I found one recently while surfing the net which is called Stand developing method. Basically the developer is diluted to 1:100 or 1:200 and once the roll is in the can all agitation takes place in the first 30 seconds to 1 minute. The tank then sits for an hour (or two hours based on the dilution). What this supposedly does is develops a fuller negative. Because the amount of developer is so small it does not over develops the negative but simply dies while developing the film. I read somewhere where a guy left a roll in the can overnight and still got some useful negatives.

I do not know how this will work for me. As I am writing this I have a roll I did this morning. A typical suburban life and scenes. In one of the shots I found a very plain house with two cars as the standard for what suburbia is supposed to look like. Then there was a garage sale, then some apartment buildings on the edge of woods (over development of suburbia) and a photograph of a real-estate sight now overgrown in tall grass. All this on a roll of 12 is souping right now in Rodinal at 1:200 dilution for 2 hours. Some 50 minutes still left.

For now a photograph from the old rollei of a different sight but still of New Jersey. A plant (incinerator I think) that I see from a train everyday on my way to the finical area of Jersey City.

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