Kodak High Speed Infrared Film

I processed a batch of Kodak High Speed Infrared film earlier this week.  This batch consisted of 20 sheets in 4" x 5" format.  It is one of my favorite films, but unfortunately it was discontinued by Kodak in 2000.  I stock-piled several hundred sheets of the stuff... all that I could afford.  Over the years, some friends that have given up on film and gone digital, have given me their remaining supply.  I think I still have a couple hundred sheets left in my freezer.  The expiry date on this film is 2001, but 13 years later, it still seems to work fine.

This film is sensitive to infrared wavelengths, beyond what is visible to the human eye.  I typically expose it through a dark red filter, or sometimes an infrared filter.  The filtration blocks most of the visible light, exposing the film mostly with infrared wavelengths.  It has a look very unique and different from all panchromatic films, and also very different from other, less sensitive infrared films.  I must ration the stock that I have left and use it for important subject matter as once I run out I will never be able to get more.

I believe that many years ago Kodak used to produce this film in 8" x 10" format as well.  This size was discontinued long before I started shooting with large format cameras.  The film was never made in 120 size medium format rolls as the paper backing of this type of film would not have been opaque enough to the infrared wavelengths.  It was made for many years in 35mm format, which required some special handling.  However, this format was more recently discontinued as well.

I process the film in Kodak T-Max developer, diluted about 50% more than the typical standard recommendation.  This developer is prone to uneven development so I give little to no agitation during development, to minimize this problem.  This has been my tried and true routine for many years and it has yielded some spectacular results.  I seem to get a little less of the halos and infrared effect that other artists do when working with this film.  I think I give less exposure than most other shooters do, and my processing routine probably has something to do with it as well.  At this point I will stick with what has worked for me and not waste any of my remaining stock on any further experimentation.

These first two images were taken earlier this spring when I went on a day trip with my girls out to an abandoned Russian monastery north of Edmonton...

These next few were taken back in April of this year, when the girls and I spent a week down in southern Utah and Northern Arizona...

Finally, these last few were also taken down in southern Utah and northern Arizona.  However, these were taken in October of 2013, when I was down there with my friends Rob and Brad...