The second batch of Fuji Neopan Acros negatives is now out of the washer and dried. I spent the evening scanning most of them. The third batch was processed at the beginning of the week and is currently in the drying cabinet. I hope to be able to get around to scanning and posting some of them in the coming days. These negatives look great, but I am struggling with scanning them properly. I know they will make great prints in the darkroom, but I don't really have the skill to work with them digitally.
An ex-friend of my argued with me ad-naseum that analog photographers should only use one film and developer combination and that anything else was a waste of time. That might be a valid consideration if the photographer only shoots one style, and mostly under similar lighting conditions. That was the case with this guy. He had no compassion and emotion towards landscapes and the natural world, and focused all of his attention on documentary photography and portraiture. With the diverse subject matter that I shoot... ranging from macro, to landscape, to botanicals, to architectural, to interiors, to portraits, and just about everything else in between... and shooting under all sorts of lightling conditions that vary from bright sun, to overcast, to studio flash to night photography... one film and developer combination simply does not cut it. I need to understand and work with a variety of materials and become familiar with which ones are best suited to the task at hand. My ex-friend just could not comprehend this, and could not accept that someone else's opinion might be right. We have since parted ways and are no longer friends. My point in all of this is that this particular film and developer combination... Neopan Acros in Rodinal... works great for some things, but not everything. I have a pretty clear understanding of when to consider it and for most of these shots, it worked pretty well. I shot duplicate images of some of these compositions on alternative films, and when it comes time to make a fine print, I will select the one that is best.
These last two shots were taken by my middle daughter Anna, in the fall of 2012. I provided a lot of assistance in setting up the camera and metering the scene, but she came up with the general composition. At the time she was 7 years old. It pleases me that my daughters are taking an interest in traditional photography. I have given each of them an older 35mm camera and encourage them to shoot film whenever they feel the desire. Hopefully as they get older, they take an even more serious interest...
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