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. 

My New Project.

For years I've been interested in developing my own film photographs. I remember taking a photography class in high school and it was the worst class I had taken. I developed film one time in that whole semester and I didn't learn a thing. The teacher didn't have any interest in actually teaching, so we copied notes out of the book. No lessons or going over the material. He then let us borrow the cameras and go around the school taking pictures. We got to use the darkroom, but of course it was timed and we had to be quick about it. There wasn't much learning going on and it was a very disappointing experience. 

Since then, I haven't stepped foot in a darkroom or even tried to develop my own film. I didn't think it was even possible because of the chemicals needed. I figured I would just learn film photography and send my films off to a local drug store to be developed. At around $10 for a single roll of film to be developed, I realized I'd be losing a ton of money if this was something I was going to be passionate about. I remember stumbling across a blog about developing your own film with coffee crystals and vitamin c. What? Seriously? I didn't think it was actually possible to use basic household ingredients to develop your own film. Of course it's going to be only black and white, but that's my personal favorite style (but, whose isn't these days?)

Also, you need other items to actually develop these rolls of film, but it's really inexpensive and when it comes down to it, you'll save a ton of money doing it yourself rather than sending the rolls out to be developed. 

I am beyond ecstatic to be developing my own film. I think I'll have more of an appreciation for my work and it'll make me take my time taking photographs and really pay attention to the small details of my work from now on. The process of developing it will be a lot of fun and the finished products will hold an even deeper meaning to me because I did everything myself. 

So, I took the plunge today and I'm not going to look back. I've been spending the past week exploring my options and deciding which route to take. I've been obsessively checking Craigslist, hoping I can find a film scanner but the results came back with no luck. 

So, Amazon was my next option. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a negative scanner, I've seen them at Best Buy for around $150 and I think that's a bit ridiculous. Maybe I'm just super cheap. 

I found a Kodak scanner on Amazon (picture shown above) for $25. There was one left so I quickly put it in my cart along with the fixer (shown above, too) and cashed out. The best part is that I can reuse the fixer, so the 500mL bottle will last me awhile.

The hardest part of this search was finding a tank and reel. For some reason when you look them up on Amazon, a lot of people sell only tanks or only reels, so it's going to be a bit pricey if you buy them separately (seriously.. shipping cost me around $30 itself.. lame.) I even checked Etsy and found a few I was interested in but saw they were coming from other countries so I quickly opted out of that route. 

I finally found one on eBay (picture shown above) and bought it. I'm really sketched out by eBay and have never made a purchase from there, but my parents used to all the time. I'm not a huge believer in the honesty of eBay and I feel like a lot of people might sell their items on there that are broken. My parents have had a few issues years ago with eBay and people selling them faulty items, so I wasn't crazy about the idea. I saw the seller had really positive ratings so we'll see how it goes when it gets shipped to me. 

All that's left is to wait for these items to be at my door (which I will be checking obsessively every day!) and then buy the remaining items at a local grocery store. 

I am so ready to be tackling this new project, one that I think will have such a special meaning to me and one that I can't wait to share with you all. I love the idea of taking your own pictures and then taking the next step and actually developing them yourself, it makes the work all that more powerful. 

I have over 20 rolls of film that I have to use up. That's over 800 images I could possibly develop. 

I am going to be rollin' in the JPEG images, yo.