Double exposure surprise

Last weekend, I developed four rolls of film. While loading two of them, I noticed that they didn't feel right...one loads roll film for development completely in the dark so you can't visually inspect what you're doing. I thought it was odd that there was tape attaching the front of the roll to the paper backing. I chalked it up to it being slightly odd film (Adox 50). While I was in the development process (18 minutes of developer time gives you a lot of time to ponder things), I realized that I probably was developing two rolls of unexposed film. Although this possibility was extremely annoying and seemed more likely as I continue to think about it while processing, I didn't scrap the process because there was a chance that I hadn't screwed up (a very, very slim chance).

Well, one roll was completely blank. However, one of the rolls had been sent through two different cameras on two different occasions. The results were surprisingly good. One set of shots had been taken on the streets of Paris with my Lubitel square format while the other set had been taken at Burroughs Mountain at Mount Rainier with my Fujica 6x4.5.

The mannequins had been abandoned in the street along with some garbage. Notice how there are two shots overlapping the Paris shot in picture one. There is a slight overlap of two shots in the second picture.

Although I was bummed that I screwed up with one roll (especially since Adox 50 is a soon-to-be disappeared film), I am really happy with my error. I don't know that I'll do that deliberately in the future, but I might consider it.

Bad film and a dark night

I had some expired Kodak film (I think it was from 2003) lying around that I decided to abuse before actually using it. I stuck it on the deck to bake in the sun for a couple days and then put it in the Ansco cheapie camera and left it there for at least a month before finishing the roll. Well, most of the shots were crap...though the grain of the film turned into what looked like astro turf. Here is an example of the astro turf look. This is a photo of my friend, Carla in the woods. Rather than look like her usual lovely self, she appears to be being eaten alive by grass.

Anyhow, I did get one shot that I kind of like. It's a shot of the ferris wheel at the Puyallup Fair with a smear of lightness across it. With a little tweaking in Lightroom, it looks a little better.

Ghost house Eastern Washington

We found this really beautiful abandoned house in Adams County, Washington last weekend. I call these houses "ghost houses" since they are similar to ghost towns except there's no town surrounding them. Just sad, empty houses whose owners are long gone and probably forgotten. It was ideal since I was able to walk right up to it and get some closer shots.

Autumn colors along route 20

Drove back from eastern Washington yesterday in heavy rains. Taking photos was pretty difficult since it was so wet and I didn't have an umbrella. Fortunately, there were some turn-offs that allowed for shooting from the safety of the car. Here's an example of the color that can be seen in the mountains at the moment. So beautiful. If you get a chance to go right now, I encourage that type of reckless behavior.

Beauty in the everyday

I like to keep my camera close by: even when I'm doing something as ordinary as cleaning dishes or making dinner, something often catches my attention. In this case it was the sink with the colander and a shadow and the counter with light reflections through a glass pot.

Colander, sink, and cast shadow

Orange counter with light, glass and tomatillo sauce

Jawbone

This jawbone was found in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Unsure what it is. A ruminant of some sort...maybe a goat or a sheep.

Stumps of Alder Lake

This photo was taken with a Fujica 6x4.5 using Efke 100 at Alder Lake in Elbe, WA during last Thanksgiving.