Alternative Processing

UPDATE: You can now find my favorite pieces from this entire series in the Print Shop as a digital download.

2020 has been a strange year, but I don’t need to tell you that. During the first few months of quarantine I worked extra long hours from home at my day job sitting at a computer and then spent even MORE hours in front of a computer during my downtime to play catch up on editing + other computer tasks related to a creative business. My eyes were tired and my brain felt fried. I needed a break from the computer but the itch to create is ever present in my daily life and I knew I needed to do SOMETHING. I fell down 2 rabbit holes during this time and today I want to talk about about one of those rabbit holes and a new found love - alternative processing /camera-less photography.

My googling led me to ALL KINDS of camera-less photography: cyanotypes (which one day I WILL try), lumen printing, chemigrams, anthotypes, etc. And then there was all this additional information on making your own film developer and fixer. My mind was blown which is usually a good sign! My first try was with lumen and chemigrams. I ordered expired photograph paper on ebay and played with the plants in my garden. I made at least 1 print a day, usually more, for a few weeks. I had limited success (or success in my eyes) with this and I assume it’s due to the paper. Different papers give different results.

This experimentation led me to experiment with the film rolls I had on hand. If the process worked on photographic paper, why wouldn’t it work on a film strip? Remember me talking about following the breadcrumbs in a recent post? Yep- this is my brain in action people. Always asking “what if?” or “what else?”.

So I set to work. I first souped the film (soaking in a liquid before or after shooting) in the waterfall on the creek during the June eclipse for 3 days hoping to capture all the magical woo woo vibes I could get. Next, I started to pull the film out of the canister in the hot afternoon sun a little at a time. I then soaked the whole strip in a DIY developer that used plant material instead of instant coffee or beer. I pulled the roll out of this concoction, let it dry, and then dabbled fresh lemon juice and hydrogen peroxide throughout the strip. There was no rhyme or reason, I didn’t think too much during this process. I just flowed with it. The last step I took was to soak the exposed film in coffee with the grounds.

I started an art journal to document all of my processes to learn + grow in this medium as I go.

During my research I discovered caffenol; which is film developer made from instant coffee + vitamin C + washing soda. I don’t drink instant coffee and read somewhere about making developer from beer or wine- now you are speaking my language! So I got to work making a film developer out of, wait for it - alcoholic kombucha! I used Flying Embers Hard Kombucha because it was what I had in my fridge, and got to work!

In case you’d like to try this my formula was:

1 can of Flying Embers Kombucha

50g Washing Soda

12g Vitamin C (ground with a mortal and pestle)

Because the film has already been exposed to light, there was no need to work in a darkroom to develop the film. I tossed everything in a mason jar and agitated it for 15min off and on.

After I washed it I used a homemade fixer to fix the film:

150g Salt

1/2 L Water

Then it was off to digitize the negatives and turn them into positives.

I’m sorry to say I didn’t take any process pictures because I honestly wasn’t sure what I was doing or if it would even turn into anything. I was just experimenting, following my intuition and going with the flow.

I have fallen in love with this process. I have missed working with my hands and I love the fact that I can create and not think too much while doing it. It’s all about the process, asking myself ‘what if I did this or that?’ It’s a slow process, there is no instant gratification that comes with shooting DSLR. It has been refreshing to work in this way.

I have 3 other experiments to share with you in the coming weeks and this time I took process pictures to share!

If you try this process please let me know! Leave a comment or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear about your process, see your results + compare notes!