More 8" x 10" Negatives

I processed another batch of 8" x 10" negatives a few days ago.  This time around I repaired the leaky "Fixer" tank that gave me problems last time.  I also made a couple of racks to hold these tanks.  These racks prevent the tanks from being tipped over in the dark, and also keep them spaced apart and organized in proper sequence.  This sure made processing a lot easier.  This time around I processed a batch of Fuji Neopan Acros 8" x 10" in Rodinal.  For the first time ever I managed to process this batch of these large sheets without any issues or problems.  Aside from the fact that there were no compositional, focusing or exposure errors in the original shots, the processing also went very well with no scratches or damage, no light leaks, and no processing errors.  This encourages me to shoot large format 8" x 10" more often.

When I first moved up to this 8" x 10" camera a thought little of it and had no real concerns.  I had a lot of experience by that time with 4" x 5" view cameras and thought that the move up to larger sheet film would be no problem.  But, these negatives are four times the size [in area] of 4" x 5" film and are a lot more cumbersome to handle and to get used to.  The camera equipment is much bigger and heavier and difficult to transport.  The longer focal length lenses required with this format have a lot less depth of field.  And it is a totally different mindset as I need to pay a lot more attention to the composition of the images.  Most of these larger negatives will end up being contact printed, which provides no opportunity for cropping of the image in printing.  This process involves sandwiching the negative [putting it in direct "contact"] with a sheet of paper and exposing it to light.  The resulting print is the exact same size as the original negative [in this case 8" x 10"] and there is no enlargment of the image by projection.  Some day I hope to find time and space to set up the used 8x10 enlarger that I bought a few years ago.  For now it remains in storage and I am temporarily limited to only contact printing these negatvies.  I finally feel as though I am gaining some level of proficiency with this format and feel encouraged to work with it more.

This current batch that I processed include five negatives that I shot up at the Russian Monastery earlier this month.  It also included one negative that I took way back in 2010...