A brief escursion on my first analog printing experience that happened in February this year. I honestly don't know why I kept this post for such a long time in my drafts.. probably as some great photographer used to say - I need to give time to evaluate my work, have patience and being able to understand the feelings I experienced in that moment.
Dubai, February 2017
It is a cloudy and rainy day, since the morning I feel the need to pursue my passion, my interest, Analog Photography. There are some days I wake up and I feel the need to go out and shoot, other days I want to watch videos on YouTube and learn something new from the thousands of videos with interesting content. But a new interest and desire woke me up this morning.
Roll of Film from Japan Camera Hunter JCH StreetPan 400, home developed.
Some weeks ago, I got in contact with a gentlemen from Abu Dhabi, I was looking for an enlarger. Chatting a bit on Facebook, he gave me the insane and amazing news that he would have gifted me his old enlarger, as he had just bought a new one. The curiosity to start printing my own pictures was insane. Traveling often for work, then holidays, and other reasons, made me wait this day for weeks, for months. Finally Michael and I had occasion to meet and exchange the enlarger for few film rolls. I rushed home, cleaned a bit this amazing tool, and then started to watch video to clarify and understand the whole process. I was ready to postpone the experiment to another day. Suddenly I got dressed, and rushed to the only place here in Dubai that sells film and photography paper as well as the development chemicals. I guess that I have never been that quick inside a mall. I knew exactly what I needed and in less then 10 minutes I was already back in my car, heading home. First I stopped to Ikea to take a frame (i just needed the glass to press the paper and negatives, some plastic container for the development process and some other little tools that usually you would have bought in dedicated store. I couldn't wait to order all this material online, therefore I had to adapt. I met with my brother Fabio, his wife Celine and my niece Sophia for dinner and I started explaining my crazy idea to set up a sort of Darkroom at home. They smiled at me, and understood my enthusiasm.
Back home, I started to prepare the room, isolating it from any light, and setting up the enlarger, my new tools and mixing the chemicals. I jumped into the process and switch on the red safe light. I stopped for a moment before starting, observing the room in the red light, and the silence all around. I started doing a test strip as learnt from the videos. After undertsading the right lens aperture, exposure time, and focus the projected image from the enlarger with the grain finder (its a sort of microscope that allow you to put the grain of the emulsion of the negative in focus) I pulled out the first sheet of photographic paper. 10 seconds to expose the paper. Done.
the paper now was holding in secret the picture. It's time to dive it into the developer bath, 60 second, slowly agitating. A smile on my face... The Picture start to appear. The darkest area painted the white background.
It was time for the stop bath. 30 seconds, moving the chemicals slowly, washing the sheet. Last step, the fixer, and there it was. After rinsing the paper with water, my face was hurting for the smile stretching all the muscles of my face.
I did it. My first analog print.
The portrait of my wife Karolina, was ready to dry. I decided to print first a portrait of my wife, to give a strong meaning. I started photography thanks for her. I started analog photography, again thanks to her. I had to have her portrait as first print. A Tribute to my wife.
I repeat the entire process for another frame. Put them to dry, and start dismatelling this temporary Darkroom. I went to bed smiling in the darkness.