Food Images

A round of images contributing to my “Food” project.

New York Snaps II

Another round of images contributing to my “Limited Capacity” project.

New York Snaps I

Here are some images contributing to my “Limited Capacity” project.

Irving Penn

I love the portraiture Irving Penn captured during his time on this planet. The black and white use really pulls me back to wanting to shoot black and white film. I’m not a purist and really appreciate color and black and white but I think that black and white can be powerful just by manipulating light in order to get your message across. Manipulating light can also go hand in hand with the personality of a subject. If you’re photographing a figure who’s known for being tough or having a strong, rugged personality, I would emphasize on this characteristic of the person. It’s definitely inspiring going through the amazing photographs he’s created.

Roadmap To Success

I remember being a teenager and blogging on a popular site at time called Tumblr, it was really where all the creative juices started flowing. I spent a lot of time on there, just scrolling endlessly through beautiful images. I always wanted to create photographs but didn’t have the money to afford a fancy DSLR, at the time, I thought I needed one to take great images.

I picked up Photography seriously while working at a corporate job for Uber Technologies. I was part of a startup that launched Uber Eats in New York City. This was back in 2015.  Before I made it to the office, I was out on the field (outside) driving around New York City, meeting all different restaurant owners around the city. It was an awesome time! I was initially studying Computer Technology with the intent to graduate and work as an IT Engineer. After 5 years of being behind a computer screen for work, I figured it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to see the world with the short amount of time we have on this planet. I still love technology, don’t get me wrong but I feel in love with image making. 

I forgot when exactly I started studying Commercial Photography but I switched my major and just went for it. I understand it’s a challenging field to be in but, I’m going to try my hardest to make it work. I’m confident that my great work ethic and passion will guide me where I need to go. I am confident that if I keep up with what I need to do, I’ll be able to make Photography my career. My immediate goal is to finish my degree so that I may pass through that door which will give me a clearer vision on where and what I need to do to become a Photojournalist. 

I plan on retiring at an old age, I don’t ever think I’ll stop creating photographs, even after I do retire. Sifting through images is therapeutic, as is being in the darkroom. I believe image making is a form of documentation for yourself, your loved ones and for whomever is interested in seeing your work. Life is fragile, and it passes us by faster than we are aware of. I'm going to try to make images that will last me forever so that I am able to cherish moments that have passed.

Still Life Selects

Architecture and Nature Selects

Self Portraiture Selects

My DIY Darkroom.

As we all know, 2020 has been a pretty rough year. I’ve accumulated a couple of things during this pandemic, one being a beautiful, relatively small enlarger. The Omega B-600 is definitely the staple of my “darkroom.” I missed printing in the darkroom at school and stumbled upon this enlarger via Craigslist one night. I drove all the way out to the city from Queens to pick it up. The enlarger came with a couple of accessories including safelights, a changing bag and a couple of stainless steel developing tanks.

Now that I’ve acquired the enlarger, it was only the beginning of my quest for a proper analog printing set up. I did a bunch of research and from previous experience, I brainstormed what else I needed to create proper prints. I converted the other side of my room, which was a Photography section already (editing, scanning shooting) into what is now my “darkroom” I cannot wait to test out 11x14 on this thing - more to come on that soon!

A lovely experience with the Stearman Press 4x5 developing tank.

This is by far my favorite tank used for developing film. I might even like it more than my Paterson! I’m a big fan of the size of this processing tank. The total solution it holds is 500 mL, this is great as Rodinal is a cheap developer. It takes about 20 mL of Rodinal and the rest is just water. I’m saving a good amount of money processing film at home, black and white film processing at a lab usually has pretty slow turnaround times and they often charge you additional since it’s not C41. I’ll be using this thing until it breaks, that’s for sure. The downside, which isn’t much of a downside at all is that it can only process 4 sheets of 4x5 film at once. Processing shouldn’t be rushed, so, I think 4 is enough to salvage any other sheets of film is need be. The tank will run you about $100 which is a good amount upfront but you’ll be able to save down the line if you continue to shoot and process film yourself. You can purchase the tank straight from Stearman, here.

Thoughts on developing 4x5 using a Yankee Tank.

I developed my first shots on 4x5, it was indeed an exciting experience. The process was fun, but prior to developing my negatives I did some research.

According to multiple blogs on the internet, the Yankee Tank seems to be a last resort. I’d have to use it a bit more to give my honest opinion on the tank but unfortunately, my first development did not go as planned.

I don’t think the reason my first batch of negatives came out weird was due to the Yankee Tank. I think it was due to user error. I always take mistakes as a learning experience on what not to do in the future so no hard feelings whatsoever!

I gave my hand at stand developing with Rodinal, reason being was due to a lot of Yankee Tank users having weird streaks on their negatives. I definitely did not want this to happen. Stand would’ve given me the least amount of agitation possible with the tank and the least amount of a mess happening. I tried executing stand developing with Rodinal diluted at 1:100 for an hour.

The image above is the winner of the batch. Luckily, it came out as intended! The other images seem to have some issues with the edges, I strongly believe the reason being was because of the spillage of solution when doing the agitation. I tried to make sure there was enough liquid in the tank so I went ahead and poured some additional water to compensate, big mistake! This diluted the developer, causing the issue below.

lesson learned.

A quick guide on how I develop film at home

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• ADOX ADONAL - Rodinal @ 1:25, total of 6 minutes develop time.
  
  These are instructions for a small 2 reel Paterson developing tank. Only one reel if you’re developing 120 film.

• 
  For one reel of 120 film, I’m using 600 mL of solution. In order for me to obtain a total of 600 mL, mix in 23-24 mL of Rodinal + 577 mL of water. (rodinal)

• 
  Once the developer is in, agitate for the first 30 seconds, after that, agitate 10 seconds at every minute for a total of 6 minutes.

• 
  Wash with stop bath for 30 seconds, pour stop bath in, agitate for the 30 second duration. (stop bath)

• 
  Fix for 5 minutes. Agitate for 15 seconds every minute for a total of 5 minutes. (fixer)

• 
  Fill tank with water, agitate 5 times, empty, agitate 10 times, empty, agitate 20 times once emptied add a bit of ilfotol (ilfotol ) and agitate 5 times.

• 
  Hang up to dry somewhere that’s not prone to dust, you can do this with clothes pins in your closet.

  And just like that, you’ve developed black and white film at home!