The Magic Forest | Kodak Max 400 #AllTheFilm

I've been chipping away at a bag of accumulated film.  I'm not very organized, so some of the rolls are labeled, but the majority are not.  It's kind of like playing the lottery when I drop film off for processing, as I have a multitude of (mostly expired) test rolls from various cameras found at thrift stores, eBay, yard sales, craigslist and hand-me-downs from relatives who think that film is a relic of the past.

Some rolls are a bust, and some are magic.

This one is magic.

My face lit up like a kid at Christmas when I opened the envelope and revealed the contact sheet of preview images. They instantly transported me back to the day they were shot, which was a particularly good day.  My dear friend Amie and I took our chances in between late Autumn rain showers, and headed into the woods.  I spent a majority of the day in front of the camera instead of behind it, which is rare for me. It was so much fun playing dress-up, dancing under the bare trees and above the limestone and fallen leaves.  Seeing these images brought back memories of that long afternoon spent with one of my favorite people, playing in the magic forest, like children.  I could hardly wait to get home and load these into the laptop.  The first half of the roll was shot in what Amie lovingly refers to as "The Magic Forest", which is in a top-secret location (in order to protect it's magical powers, of course), and the second half of the roll was shot in the woods across from my house, where an amazing, abandoned home from God-knows-when rests, full of all sorts of relics and decay.  I would say that there's something magical about it, too, so we will just refer to this grainy, warm-toned roll of expired Kodak Max 400 as "the magic roll of the never-ending film bag".

Now do you see why it's called the Magic Forest? 

I plan to go back to the abandoned house and get more of the inside, the shed, and the back of the house, as I didn't have an extra roll with me and it started to rain on my walk home so I couldn't go back.  I'll have to wait until the fall unless I get some pretty good boots or a lot of nerve, since we live in rattlesnake / copperhead / moccasin country and it's so overgrown this time of year that it would be difficult to get to without acquiring poison ivy or an anxiety-induced panic-attack from the potential of killer snakes from hell seeking me out and destroying me.

I like taking risks with expired film, as it's always a mystery, and I hope you've enjoyed the results of this one.

If you want to see more film posts, click here.

Also, follow me on instagram for an eclectic mix of film and digital, as I share a pretty random combination of images, fueled by a serious case of ADD, mood swings, a rad shoe box of various films, and an ever-growing collection of more than 40 cameras.

I'll keep chipping away at that bag of mystery film, so check back soon. I have several waiting to be blogged, and a few waiting for me to pick up (one cross-processed Velvia 100!)

Until next time, 

xoxo-

Leah

Technical Details:

Nikon F100 | Sigma 15 2.8 EX DG

Kodak Max 400 (expired)

Processed by Dury's of Nashville

Scanned on Noritsu

Things aren't always black and white - Kodak BW 400CN - #AllTheFilm

So I'm a little spoiled to being able to drop my film off and pick up my scans and negatives the next day.  I kind of suck at utilizing the postal service, and I have the patience of a wasp, so it just works for me to be able to drive two rolls into town, run some errands, and come back the next day or the next week, and I know they will be waiting for me.  There's only one catch.

They don't offer processing for black and white.

And this makes me sad.

So I decided to shoot a roll of Kodak BW 400CN, which is C-41 (color) process film.

The first thing I noticed: a rather beautiful inconsistency in tone, depending of lighting; as in some were almost a true black and white, some were more sepia, and some were this strangely beautiful cyan-like monochrome.

So without a ton of rambling, I'll just show you the resulting images from my roll, and you can see for yourself.

Is it just me, or do the highlights have an awesome cyan tone to them?

Notice the sepia tones are rather strong in this one.

I promise I have more than one kid, but this is the one that likes the camera.

So the results (for me at least) were fairly inconsistent; in fact, I did a slight desaturation on a few of them because the sepia was rather strong, and I'm not a fan of the brown tones in my black and white images, but I left enough for you to see the variations in the results.  It's an acceptable subsitute for decent black and white film, as long as you know you may need to desaturate if consistency in tones is important in your work.  It will definitely have a place in my bag, at least until I learn to develop my own, or develop enough patience to send some off for processing.

Until next time-

xoxox

Leah J

Technical Details:

Nikon F100

Kodak BW 400CN (rated at box speed)

28mm 2.8D

Lensbaby Composer Pro + Sweet 35 Optic

Processed at Dury's of Nashville and scanned on Noritsu