Caffenol. It actually works.

Remember last week when I talked about ordering the proper items to develop my own film? Well, they were all here Friday and I was so ready to take the next step and develop my own black & white film. I spent countless nights thinking about the possibilities with this new hobby. I could take as many photographs as I wanted, I left 20+ rolls of expired black & white film here when I left for El Paso and didn't have to worry about how expensive it would be. Actually, it would of definitely broke the bank because nowhere here develops black & white, they'd have to send it out and that would take a week.
What I didn't realize is that it would take much more work than I thought. In my head, I watched the same Youtube video countless times, so how couldn't I perfect the first try? I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I did. I didn't realize how difficult it actually would be. Developing your own film is a very sensitive process and it has to be perfected, especially if you're using different types of film.
My first roll was a total disaster. It came out clear and clearly wasn't done right.
The second attempt was from a color roll and it was somewhat developed, but definitely was another failed attempt.
Roll three was another black and white, clear again. (by this time, I'm so upset and angry that I couldn't get it right. I wanted to give up. When it comes down to doing something and I fail, I feel like I let others down and it gets me so down. I want to just give up and forget I ever thought about doing it. I didn't want to do that, though. This whole project is taking a completely new meaning to me and it's making Photography so much more of a passion.)
The fourth, again.. another color roll was a fail. Total and utter fail.
I felt defeated. I cleaned everything up, laid in bed and couldn't stop thinking about what I did wrong. Was it really this difficult? Why couldn't I just get it right? I hated the fact that I was letting something so ridiculous get me down. I hate failing but don't we all?
So, I spend a few hours today looking through online blogs and forums regarding developing your own film. I found a website that gave me so much insight and there was a different formula to follow, so I gave it a shot. I definitely didn't get my hopes up and I just went through the steps hoping something would end up different so I had some idea of what I could improve on.
After I followed the steps and took the reel out of the tank, I saw the film and it looked like all of the other rolls I tried, just a grey negative. As I started taking it out of the reel, I saw some negatives come out. I remember I started yelling "Wait, what? Wait, look!" to myself. (Yeah, to myself.. no big deal.)
I quickly ran in my room and hung the negative up to dry, constantly looking back at it to see how much clearer it became.
So, I took a few negatives and ran them through the scanner. Six or so came out, but they were inverted when they were scanned so I had to invert them back. The other issue, is the rest of the roll doesn't scan for some reason. I'm not sure why, because the six I scanned did fine. It doesn't scan them on the SD card and that's one thing I'm struggling to fix. Another is, although I'm proud of finally getting the developer to work, I have to leave it in longer, hopefully to develop better. I have to learn a few tweaks to the formula to perfect it. Some of the scans were diptych, too. That's something I need to fix. I do love the mistakes that were processed, though.
So, I'm proud of myself. Although it's not perfect and I'm still running into little hiccups along the road, I actually developed my own roll of film. I can't wait to try it again until I can finally perfect it and develop my own film without having to worry about it coming out.
Now, these images aren't perfect. They covered in flaws but I adore them. I love the diptych that happened by mistake. I love the blurs of light and the grain with them. It's what I love about film photography. These flaws are what make the pictures in my opinion.
Here are a few more scans from the developed roll!





probably my favorite picture that came out.