Three days ago, I developed my first roll of film.
And it was amazing.
I have wanted to develop my own film for some time. The issues that stopped me from doing so:
Thankfully, I got the supplies as a gift, and I quickly set up a not-so-dark darkroom. The next thing on the list was to take some pictures for me to develop.
I had also received five rolls of HP5+, alongside some ID-11 developer, Rapid Fixer, and a wetting agent. I loaded a roll in the Leica IIIf, and I made my way to Old Dubai
That day, I was acting as a tour guide for some family friends visiting Dubai, which meant I got to see some sights to photograph. We went to the textile, spice, and gold souqs in the Al Bastakiya area, providing me with interesting subjects.
When I returned home, I spent the next three hours preparing the chemicals, the darkroom, and finally developing the roll.
It was messy. Timing, as well as temperature, is supposedly essential to proper development. I now think that this is not necessarily the case. During the process, I was not accurate with either, (not by choice), and the results are amazing.
I still want to work on my process, since I was not as well-organised as I thought I was. I now have a funnel, which I was missing the first time and I feel like it will make transferring chemicals easier and safer. In addition, I will have to play with the timings in order to see what results I prefer.
Scanning is the only way for you to see your images after developing (printing aside). To get it scanned from a store at a good quality tends to be pretty expensive. Thankfully, I have a personal scanner. Sadly, it's pretty bad. The images on this blog are from that scanner, so excuse the poor quality.
All in all, it was a fun experience that I am sure to repeat (and perfect) in the near future.
Simón.
