I decided to take my large format camera on the trip to capture some of the epic landscape and the beautiful people I was with. During the whole trip, I was able to keep my film dry and clean... until we got back to Colorado. When we got off the river, we discovered that due to wildfires Jamestown was under evacuation, and we ended up having to stay at a hotel. My film that was in a dry bag got left in the cooler, and somehow water got in.
I lost a few negatives, and some others were saved, but clearly, they have water damage. I was unsure what to expect from the ones I did manage to get developed, but overall I am quite pleased with the outcome, water damage and all. I feel like they fit nicely with the rest of my work, and add a little extra grit.
Over the next week or so, I will be doing a few more shoots scheduled with the 4x5, and I am eager to see how those turn out without any water damage or any other complications.
Figure 1: Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 2: Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 4: Emma, Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 6: Mae, Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 3: Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 5: Lucy, Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 7: Katy, Green River Utah, 2020 Stevi McNeill
Figure 8: Under developed negatives 2020 Stevi McNeill
The first set of 4x5 negatives did not turn out. I did not have any black and white developer, but I did have some kale developer. The negatives needed to stay in the kale developer 15-30mins longer. Overall it was a good experience getting the camera out and figuring out a system.
For scanning the negatives, I am using the intrepid enlarger, and a copy stand with my digital camera. So far, the process is simple and, the negatives have converted easily in Lightroom.
Figure 9 : Scanning negatives 2020 Stevi McNeill