Scanned photos from Lake Arrowhead trip

Yesterday I had an urge to do something. I had spent the whole day holding Zoom classes on my computer, so after I was done, I needed to do something. I had been putting off developing my 4x5 sheets of black and white film, so it was a good time. I thought I would see if any of my photos from my trip to Lake Arrowhead had turned out, and I wanted to try developing in warmer water so I wouldn't have the milky layer that spoiled my 120 rolls a week ago.

So, I loaded up my reel. I am using the 20th Century Camera reels, and have now gotten a feel for how to load them. I used to struggle a little bit in the beginning, but now, it is easy enough. The thing is, I don't think all the sheets I loaded are from my Lake Arrowhead trip.

This time, I wanted to be more careful with the temperature of the liquids I was using. Since we are having fall weather, the tap water from the sink is icy cold. I think that might have contributed to the problems I had with the 120 rolls. Also, I mixed both new developer AND new fix. I threw away my old fix and mixed a new batch. No more re-using developer, and I will be more careful not to go months and months with the same fix (although I had no problems before).

Also, when I washed the film, it was in warmish water. I made sure all the halation layer was washed off. With Arista 200 film, it comes out as green. Now, I know that I also had loaded some Ektapan film, because after a few washes, some of it was still coming out a faint brown, and that only happens with Ektapan, in my experience with films.

So, warm water with the pre-wash, and also, warmish water with the fresh batches of developer and fix. Also, I was careful with all the intermediate washes, only using warm water. No more dramatic differences in temperature, because I read that that causes "reticulation", but what I have seen in my negatives is not a pattern overlay of cracks, what I have seen is a milky white layer.

When I took out my sheets, lo and behold, four of them were blank. I was upset, of course. There were only two that were fine, and they were what I knew came from my Arista 200 film, because the sheets were still loaded in the holder when I put them into the changing bag. The others were in an envelope where I store my sheets. No, that envelope does not leak light. I have stored plenty of sheets in there for later developing, and they have come out fine when I got around to processing the sheets.

I can't explain what happened to the blanks, but I have ideas. One, I think they were Ektapan sheets. So, maybe the warmish temperatures of the water might have washed off the emulsion? I have to remember, after all, the emulsion is probably very fragile, my Ektapan film is an expired box from the mid 90s. 

My other possibility is that I might have been shooting them thinking I was shooting Rollei IR 400 film. I hope I was careful, but I might not have been, and I do commit errors. So, what would that mean? It would mean that I would have shot them with my Hoya R72 filter on the lens, which means, no visible light would pass to the film, only infrared, and Ektapan has no sensitivity to infrared, so it would be seeing blank. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

So, four of the sheets were blank, but the Arista sheets came out. They seem a little underexposed, but I was using a red 25A filter, and that cuts downs the amount of light on the sheet. So, at ASA200, I was shooting with a shutter speed of 1/30 in semi-bright conditions. Maybe it was not enough. However, at least I obtained the two images that follow.

On the 18 freeway up to Lake Arrowhead. All along the highway there are these pull-outs that afford one amazing views. Now, if only I can go when we have clouds in the sky, so I won't have such blank spaces. I had to increase the light levels in the shadow areas.

This is a small, closed-off beach at Lake Arrowhead, next to a shopping center. There was absolutely no access to it, it was gated off. However, I thought it might make for a good photo. It reminds me of the beach layout in that final scene in the movie Cosmos, where Ellie encounters the alien simulation of her father deep in the center of the galaxy. 

That was it, I think I still have more 4x5 sheets to expose, but I am left with the question of why I am having these difficulties with my film. I need to investigate further. Right now, I want to drive to the lab in Irvine to pick up some 120 rolls, then go to Newport Beach to see if I can shoot some beachside shots, all before noon. It is 9:12 a.m. as I write this. Wish me luck.