A long, long time ago...

 ...I used to participate in photo clubs where we would take photos of amateur models. They were always amateurs, people who just wanted to have photographers give them photos, and we (or I) were bumbling photographers trying to learn the craft or just pass a lazy weekend doing something that did not involve watching football or other sports on television. I never did like doing that. 

I went to this park and photographed this model all those years ago. Earlier today I unearthed a box of negatives, all from about 20 or 30 years ago, and found this batch in a sleeve. The negatives were black and white, and they were very, very thin. There was hardly any image visible on them, and I can only surmise that either they were massively underexposed or else, what is more probably, that they were not fixed properly so the negatives faded.

I don't recall if I developed the negatives. The fact that they were in sleeves and not in a store envelope tends to lead me to believe that I developed and fixed them, and that the fix must have been exhausted. 

While scanning, the Epson V600 had way too much difficulty finding an image. I had to outline the area for it to scan, and I had tremendous difficulty finding it myself. Also, I had to set the brightness level high so it could actually obtain a usable scan. There is only a faint trace of an image on the negatives.

I know, I know, I have heard people on the web say that Digital Ice does not work on black and white negatives, they need to be color. However, I tried. Here are my two scans, the first without Digital Ice, the other, with that software aide.

While it did seem to help, I know that I do not like the weird pixellation effects with Digital Ice. I prefer the first version without it. By the way, I had to increase the exposure for both these scans in my limited pictorial software program, they were much too dark. 

I hope that I gave her copies of the photos. She was very photogenic. Sometimes I didn't give the models images because I didn't think I had taken successful photos. Those were the days. Now, of course, with the coming attempt at a fascist coup by the scheming orange individual in the White House, and the feeling that this country is falling apart, I need to find something to distract me and make me believe there is hope. I am looking for peace.