Party time.

It’s been a hell of a year.

The last photographic event/outing I participated in was the 2020 FP4+ Party, back around the first week of March, just before the lockdown.

That week I ventured out on my own, but ran into people, talked, and generally did what I always do when I go out shooting.

Since then I’ve stuck pretty close to home. My choice, for a number of reasons.

This year the FP4+ Party be my first event/outing. Fitting, really.

The 2021 Party schedule…

April 5th – 11th, shoot
April 12th – 18th, develop
April 19th – 25th, post

By the time April 5th rolls around, I’ll have had my second Pfizer jab. I’ll still observe CDC protocols, but I think it’ll be okay to get out shooting if I limit my interactions with people.

It’ll be fun to shoot and develop a handful of 120 rolls. It’s been a while, I’ll probably have to mix up a fresh batch of D76.

A little less than a month to go.

Side note: I’m gonna hafta miss the GTX Photo Fest this time around. Bad timing, as my second jab comes a few days after. 2022 for sure.

Necessity…

… is the mother of invention.

I got out with my new-ish ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole camera a coupla’ weeks back for FP4 Plus Party.

Multiformat means it’ll shoot 6×6, 6×9, or 6×12.

I have a really cool 8Banners Mc pinhole that’s set to shoot square, a shiny Zero Image 6×9, so the ONDU will be dedicated to 6×12.

As previously noted, I shot 6 images with the ONDU. Of the 6, 3 had my fat fingers showing in the right side of the frame. Those shots were roughly 1 second exposures. Super-sunny days. There are lines in the top of the camera that tell you what’ll be in view for each, and my fingers fell into that space.

I’ve come up with a nifty way to get my digits out of the picture.

I used Illustrator to draw up a simple extender. Then I used a low-tack spray adhesive to affix the drawing to a piece of repurposed plastic from my 2019 Office Max calendar cover. I keep everything. The perfect-sized hole was made using simple hole punch. I sanded the edges and tied a piece of ribbon in the hole at the other end.

The rubber band was already in place – it keeps the shutter from opening while the box is in my camera case. Now it can hold the extender in place and serve as tension when using the extender. Easy to put on, take off.

Simple. Used stuff I had. Great solution. Free.

I started posting shots for the FP4 Plus Party on Twitter today.

Fingers.

Always learning.

Photography is a continual learning experience. Every camera I use – and especially if it’s a first time use – reaps lessons learned.

I got a nifty pinhole camera last year. It’s an ONDU 6×12 Multiformat. What that boils down to is it can shoot 3 ways… 1×1, 6×9, or 6×12.

6×12 is what I’ll be shooting with this cool walnut wood box.

So, if you’ve been following along, you’re aware that I’m participating in the FP4 Plus Party this month. I loaded the 6×12 with a roll of 120 film.

It made sense to get out to parts of Central Texas that I’ve yet to experience. I drove east of Georgetown past Jonah to CR366, down to Taylor, and then out to Thorndale.

All those miles traveled, I was able to make 6 images using that one roll.

Of those 6, half managed to capture my fingers closing the shutter. Those images were made with roughly 1 second exposures.

I really like my Zero Image 6×9 pinhole. The shutter assembly makes it possible to use a release cable.

I am digging the 6×12 format though, so I’m gonna have to rig up something to keep my fingers out of the frame of the ONDU 6×12.

Stay tuned.

FP4 Plus Party, Dev Week part one.

Smena 8M + 35mm.

This was my first time out with the Smena. It’s a quirky little Russian camera. Plastic. Toy-like, if not for the fact that it has apertures and shutter speeds and a cocking shutter.

I put gaffer tape over the seams on the lid to the film compartment just in case of light leaks. The viewfinder is pretty close to useless.

Results…
– 27 shots out of a 24 shot roll. Cool.
– 1 accidental double exposure.
– A few underexposed, a few overexposed.
– A handful of not perfectly exposed.
– Bunches not quite framed up the way I’d intended.

Can’t really tell about focus, but there are probably a few keepers, and I’ll know which to submit next week once I run them through the scanner.

Tomorrow.

This is an iPhone shot of the negs, cut and slipped into a negative preserver, placed on an LED light pad, inverted in Photoshop.

Today I’ll tackle the 120 film development.

Loaded.

Ready to party.

Three cameras, loaded and ready for FP4 Plus Party. Starting tomorrow.

I may add one more, the tiny Olympus Stylus Epic.

I have a few shots in mind, but mostly I’ll just try to get out as many days as I can and shoot up all these frames… 6 in the Ondu pinhole, 12 in the Hassy, 24 in the Smena 8M.

42 frames over 7 days. Averages out to 6 shots per day.

Should be interesting.

Cool and dark.

Life’s about making adjustments.

My extremely rocky re-entry into developing film last year resulted in one botched and one barely salvageable roll of Ilford Pan F Plus, shot with my Hasselblad 500c/m and Holga 120S.

I was using a new dark bag to load the film onto Paterson reels. Even though it was done in an air conditioned room, the amount of heat my nervous and excited hands and arms generated caused enough steam in the bag to make the film stick to itself, totally ruining the Hassy roll.

The Holga roll wasn’t much better. The edges of the film got pretty crinkled, but I managed to feed the whole roll onto the reel without sticking to itself in the process.

Seems like a lot of trouble, huh?

The hall bathroom in our home has a separate water closet with a door. I can close the hall door, get my film rolls, reels, the tank parts, scissors, and any thing else I might need set up on the lid of the plastic tub where all this dev stuff is stored. I then turn off the light over the sinks. It’s easy to move the tub into the closet and close the second door.

It is absolutely dark in there, but I put a rolled up towel at the base of the door, just in case. I also take off my watch. After everything is situated, I sit on the toilet lid with the tub in front of me and turn off the light.

Seems like a lot of trouble, huh?

I haven’t screwed up a single roll since making this change, so the effort is worth it.

Plus, I’ve ditched the dark bag.

Party on!

Ilford FP4 Plus party.

This’ll be my first FP4 Plus Party, and in more ways than one – I’ve not used the film before.

The plan: 6 shots in the Ondu 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, 12 shots in the Hasselblad 500c/m, 24 shots in the Smena 8M.

I’ll need to mix up a fresh batch of D76.

It seems this is primarily a Twitter thing, but I’ll post a few scans here and eventually post a few faves on @dogbonesoup, too.

March 2-8: shoot week
March 9-15: dev/scan week
March 16-22: post week
March 23-29: lamentation week

Should be fun.