Film Developing, Louisville

Film & Film-Changing Bag

My friend and film developer, Drew, was away for 5 of the 7 weeks I spent in Boonville, Indiana. Today I arrived in Louisville, KY and dropped off 200+ sheets to him, and we are currently working on developing sheet numbers 23 - 34 from that box. I think I shot 500 sheets of film this time around, about 100 more then NY, and 250 more then Missouri. And I have only seen about 60 of them, so we have a lot of work to do.

It is great to see him at work, to smell the chemicals, and to see the entire process unfold. While loading and unloading film in my changing bag, which I do A LOT, I have nothing to do but think. And normally all I can think about is the wonder that is photography and its development process. When loading each sheet of film, I think about its possibilities and what the future may hold. What stories will it tell? Whose likeness will it capture? And so on. But I also think of the latent image as I download it. What did I do wrong? Did I focus you? Was my exposure correct? Will you be my greatest achievement? It sounds weird, yes. But most of the time I am all alone, and who better to talk to then my film? And as those many latent images are beginning to magically appear, I have been both amazed and disappointed. So continues the normal cycle.