my 35mm paradox

with my want for slow photography i go for the usual suspects – exceedingly large camera, alternative usually iron based processes and the hope for sun. it works. there is slowing down at every part of the process which implies time to think and with the degree of difficulty a better chance of editing – is this neg really worth the time i will have to devote to it.

oddly though the slowest time for me is 35mm. while wandering the streets and note taking everything works smoothly, i experiment, don’t fear the blur, almost question nothing. development is also more straight forward as i don’t go for the overly toxic versions – choosing hc-110 to pmk pyro.

things screech to a halt when i head to the darkroom. with images from the hernia inducing cameras as well as the medium formats i head down and blissfully print with little problems. it is slow – tests, develop – repeat until satisfied – but steady.

the 35mm hand camera slowness is due not to the above but to dust, water spots etc. when working in the large formats it seems i that can drop and trample on the film and still print with little problems – admittedly with the hernia inducing cameras it is more due to the iron based processes than the cleanliness of the film but even they are more defect free.

with 35mm i get as close to a clean room mentality as is possible when i am processing – good wash – precise photoflo measurements , squeegee with webril pads – and still they look as if they were developed using water from the late lamented bubble of st. john’s harbour.

it has nothing to do with the relative size of the formats as looking at the films there is more gunk on the base of the 35mm film.

i am guessing that this is yet another reason why i have trouble with 35mm. not only are there too many images for me to edit at one time – i have the same problem with digital files thus the reason for the lack of images from this past summer’s version of clarke’s beach, i cannot break them down into manageable sections – but once chosen the amount of time needed to prepare them for enlarging. it causes an extreme version of editing – choosing nothing. the 15 week experiment with 35 is coming to an end i wonder if i’ll actually do anything with them or will they be archived until some date in the future which will turn into never.