Its been a busy several days. I went to two Edmonton Oilers hockey games... the first one a boring, stinker of a game against the Minnesota Wild, and the second a much more entertaining one against the Ottawa Senators. Margarit came along with me to both games, and it is nice that Hailey is now old enough to stay with her two younger sisters for a little while, and that we parents are able to have an occasional evening out together.... Then, I was down in Drumheller for some meetings with my business partner Frank, relating to the operation of our company, Palcoprep Inc. I was in the office at my regular job for most of the week, trying to keep everything rolling along. In between all of that I found some time to process a couple of batches of film.
Kodak High Speed Infrared is a film that was originally developed for use in aerial cameras. Its IR sensitivity was ideal for highlighting living vegetation, and cutting through atmospheric haze. It developed a loyal following amongst pictorial photographers and was offered in 35mm roll film, and in 4" x 5" sheet film. I think it may have once been offered in 8" x 10" format as well, but that has long since disappeared. Back in the late 1990's Kodak announced that they would cease production of the 4" x 5" sheet film. I bought up all the stock that I could afford at the time, as it was another of my favorites. Even back at that time it cost nearly $65 for a box of 25 sheets. I invested in about 20 boxes of the last batches, all with an expiry date of 2001. Over the years several friends that have gone out of film based photography have given or sold me the stock that they had left, all with this same "best before" date. I have slowly been rationing it over the years, and continue to shoot probably 30 to 40 sheets per year. More recently Kodak also discontinued the 35mm version of this film, and unfortunately I was not aware of it in time to stock pile any of the roll film version. But I continue to ration my remaining stock of sheet film, and save it for subject matter that I think might be well suited to this emulsion. Despite the fact that it is now over 12 years past its expiry date, it still seems to be producing nice negatives. The base fog of the negative has perhaps increased a little, but otherwise it seems to be working OK. Of course I have kept it frozen since I bought it, and keep my exposed negatives refrigerated until I process them. I think I probably still have at least 10 boxes left.
The first batch that I processed about a week ago is now dry and I have scanned a few of the ones that turned out best. These all date back to 2011 and 2012. I have a second batch currently in my drying cabinet, and a third batch currently in my film washer. Each of these batches consisted of 20 sheets, and I still have at least two more batches to go before I am completely caught up. Here are the first few images...
Wind-Sheared Aspens - Elk Island National Park - 2011
Buick Century - 2012
Wrecked Cars - southern Alberta - 2011
Forgotten Dodge - 2012
Leaning Barn - southern Alberta - 2011
The Mud Buttes - 2011
Mt. Kidd, Reflecting Pond, Kananaskis - Spring Photo Weekend 2012
Panorama, Scotford Refinery - 2012
Windmill, abandoned yard, southern Alberta - 2011
Eisenhower Peak, Castle Mountain, Banff National Park - 2011
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