New Etsy site

 I enjoy shooting with antique cameras, and also have a variety of cameras that I have in my office to inspire me in my creative endeavors. I also like to find obscure cameras and photographic items and second hand stores, antique stores and in unexpected places. I end up with a lot of different models, and figured it was time to thin out the collection and start selling some of my antique cameras and accessories.

I started an Etsy site to sell some of my cameras, and also begin to showcase some of my handcrafted photographic images. I started working on this a few years ago, but other things prevented me from completing my task.

I will be listing different cameras, camera accessories and ephemera. New items will be added each week so stop by to see what I have to post and sell. Soon I will be adding some of my handcrafted photographic images.

If you stop by, thanks for looking!

Hello old friend

Many years ago I started my photography career at The Vidette, the student run newspaper at Illinois State University. It all began in the darkroom which at the time was housed in the Edwards Hall Annex. Sadly Edwards Hall Annex is gone and has been replaced by a parking lot and a power transfer station. The newspaper moved into a new building a few blocks away in 1994.

This "shotgun" darkroom was a narrow space, running the length of the newsroom on the north side of the building. It was my home away from home and I enjoyed many hours developing black and white film and making prints and halftones. 

I took a few photos of the darkroom with a fish eye lens:

The Vidette darkroom circa 1991. Light table and radio near left. Copy stand and rapid print processing machine near right. In the back is the sink, photo gear cabinet and enlargers.

It was a fantastic place to work. With the door shut, red safelights on and a radio playing in the background, it was easy to get lost in time and enjoy making images.

The workhorse of our darkroom was an Omega D2V enlarger. It could print anything from 35mm to 4x5 negatives. The operator simply needed to move a set of condensers in the head of the enlarger and change negative carriers. I made many prints on this enlarger, both for the newspaper and for my various photography classes.

The back of the darkroom. On the left is a small sink for developing film, timer and fridge. On the right is the Omega D2V with stat camera adapter (to make halftone screens) and behind it a wobbly old Beseler CII that never printed worth a damn.

When I first started at the paper, we made prints to size on the enlarger. The prints were turned into halftones on a stat camera in the newsroom. When the newsroom stat camera crapped out, we made our own halftones in the darkroom with a vacuum easel and half tone adapter. Later the whole paste up printing system died in a blaze of glory (on deadline, no less) and we went from cut and paste to digital pre-press literally overnight. We didn't have a negative scanner yet, so we went back to making prints again on the Omega D2V and used a bed scanner to transfer images to a new image making program called Photoshop.

Here I am making a halftone of what looks like a soccer photo under red safelights.

The Omega D2 was a workhorse of an enlarger. We had one at the Pantagraph where I completed my photojournalism internship. I printed my entire senior project on Rt. 66 shot with a Crown Graphic on 4x5 film on this enlarger.

The demands of photography in newspapers moved rapidly from the darkroom to the newsroom. Gone are the days of printing under the safelights with the radio playing in the background. Digital imaging stations are located in the newsroom, and most darkroom spaces have been mothballed, turned into closets or computer rooms for scanning negatives.

Over the years I have owned and worked with several enlargers. In the back of my head I often thought that it would be great to own an Omega D2 at some point. With the needs of the family, home repairs, groceries etc. I put it on my "wish" list for something to get in the future.

On Thursday I was checking my email. I belong to an exchange group called Freecycle, where members put items up for free so that others can have them. We have freecycled a few things, and I have been able to acquire a few things as well. In my Freecycle messages was the message: "Omega D2 cold-light enlarger. Includes easel, Ilford contrast filters, 4x5 negative holder, 6x7 negative holder and 35mm negative holder."

I couldn't believe it. I haven't recently been looking for a D2, and here was one for free. I was excited.  I contacted Nick and Sarah Jungels of Champaign. It was still available, so I picked it up on Sunday afternoon. 

Here is the Omega D2 from the Jungels'  home. It has the "flying saucer" cold light on top instead of the regular condenser head.

The Omega D2 was produced from 1954 to 1979. It is a solidly built enlarger,  many parts and accessories remain available today.

Included were two enlarging lenses (50 and 80 mm) as well as 3 negative carriers, filters and a nice four blade easel.

I cannot wait to make some prints with this enlarger! I have a counter that I put inside my downstairs bathroom, converting it into a darkroom. The D2 is four feet tall, and will JUST be short enough to make it without rubbing on the ceiling.

The only item I will need to purchase for this enlarger is a 4" cone to mount my 150 mm 4x5 enlarging lens. The cold light head does not have an adjustment like the variable condenser head to allow for different lenses to be mounted on flat lens boards. No big deal, they are still plenty of lens cones floating around on the internet. I should have one without an issue.

When I look back on my photography career, and realize that almost 25 years have gone by since I started printing, it will be nice to have an "old friend"  in the darkroom to print with. I am thankful for Nick and Sarah Jungles, and their generosity in allowing me to make some prints again with an enlarger that I truly enjoy.

Caffenol, developing negatives with the power of coffee!

Over the last 25 years, I have used a lot of different cameras, developers and film.

With all the digital technology available, I am still most comfortable shooting with a film camera.  I enjoy shooting with the most basic of manual operating cameras, over the sophisticated and mulch-dialed cameras of today.The process of loading a limited amount of frames or holders, going out into the environment, using a light meter and your gut to determine a good exposure is pretty fantastic. I find the slower I work, the better my photos are. In digital you may cull the best image from a group of 20. Heck 4 more frames and you've shot an entire roll of film!

One thing that I have been more conscious about is what happens to all the chemicals that are used in developing film. I have always been an environmentalist, and it is nice to know what you are putting down the drain.

Photo developers are all mostly pretty nasty, they contain harmful chemicals that can effect fish and wildlife. I started using Eco-Pro developer about two years ago. It is a lot more environmentally friendly developer.  I haven't had the time to shoot multiple rolls of film lately, so the mixed developer would go bad before I had a chance to use it up.

I was looking for a one shot environmentally safe photographic developer. After searching the internet, I finally found what I was looking for: Caffenol!

 According to Reinhold G, author of "The Caffenol Cookbook Bible," coffee based developers have been around since WWII. In 1995 Caffenol developer became an alternative means to traditional photo chemistry. The addition of vitamin C and washing soda has made it a better and more stable developer. For more history on Caffenol check out this link.

So what exactly is Caffenol developer? There are many different recipes, but the basic formula is four ingredients:

Washing Soda
Instant Coffee
Vitamin C
Water

That's it!

Here are the ingredients for making a batch of Caffenol C-M all weighed out and ready to be mixed together.

Since I mix a lot of chemistry for different process (wet plate, cyanotype etc.) this was a breeze. Add the three ingredients one at a time, let it sit for a few minutes and then use it as a developer.

Caffenol developer all mixed and ready to use.

 The only drawback is the pungent odor that comes from mixing coffee, washing soda and vitamin C together. It is, well, a strong fishy smell to describe it best.

I took a test roll of 35mm Ilford FP4-Plus (125 ISO), put it in a beater of 35mm camera a Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL, and shot away.

The results were very surprising. The Caffenol developed the 125 ISO film to look more like Tri-X 400 ISO film. There was a little more grain than I expected, but overall the film came out great. The old Mamiya camera has seen better days, and the shutter curtains do not sync anymore. So I had 3/4 frame developed negatives rather than the full 24x36 mm frame that usually comes from a 35mm SLR. Accidents are sometimes nice, and because of the shutter problem the images have a Holga-esque look to them.

Snow, trees and the Salt Fork river behind my house. I love the way film renders all the different gradations of lights and darks, and does not blow out the highlights or block in the shadows.

A close up of one of my prairie plants.

I am very happy with Caffenol, and will be using it to develop film from now on. I need to tweak the developing times, or possibly try one of the many formulas available, to find the right film and developer combination. Other than that, I am glad that I found an environmentally friendly developer that can do the job of other more expensive commercial (and more harmful) developers on the market.