A contact print from Heritage Park

 I was feeling extraordinarily stressed so my first resort was to go practice some photography. Why was I feeling more stressed than usual? Well, yesterday was the first presidential debate between Biden and the Great White Scoundrel. I didn't watch it, and I do not want to hear about what happened. I know that Fox News will crow that the scoundrel won, they have never been about impartiality, only about supporting Republican scoundrels, but I am so hoping that Biden had a creditable showing. I know it won't convince anyone, there is no middle left in America, everyone has view that are set in stone. The key to this election is turnout, we have to have a big turnout to defeat the scoundrel and remove him. That is why he has been so obsessed with voter suppression. In the meantime, I do not want to hear what happened.

I thought I would begin with a contact print. I took one of my 8x10 pinhole negatives and put it in a holder with a sheet of Arista RC Pearl Paper, and put it out in the sun for about an hour. The negative was for this image:

This negative was taken on 4x5 film with my Travelwide camera on the day it was announced that justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had passed away. It was taken on Arista 200 film and low and behold, I developed the negative with my new 20th Century Camera reel. No more violent stains on the negative! NO more stains! It was the reel, it wasn't the film and it wasn't the developing chemicals and it wasn't my technique, it was the damn reel! This came out extraordinarily clear. It is such a relief to find out it was the reel. Now I can have a reprieve from the developing problems I was having with 4x5 film.

This was the image with 8x10 Arista 200 film. I hate the blurriness, it seems way too excessive. It is my pinhole, I know it is. Developed in the Stearman Press 8x10 tray that I purchased from Freestyle Photo. 

This is what I obtained when I made the contact print. Wow, I didn't expect the colors, but given the Lumen prints I have made in the past, I should have. I love the colors, but the image is still blurry. I am so desperate for sharp 8x10 negatives. 

That was my temporary relief for today. I prepared a contact print and also developed some 4x5 negative. I will try to hide for a while longer since I do not want to hear about the debate last night. I am beyond desperate, but I have to survive and I have to help myself cope. These past four years have been extraordinarily stressful, and this last year, with the death of my father, more so. I have to survive.