I think I can do this. I just have to find the right ingredient – the right catalyst – the right part of this project that will work best in this situation.
Background.
A while back, I tried running two rolls of 35mm film in my Agfa Clipper Special f/6.3 camera, which can handle 70mm (616) film. The photos turned out nice… but the sprocket holes, which normally enhance the photo, were now distracting the final composition – almost as if two teams of ellipses were racing across the middle of the photograph.
Crumbs.
Now you know me. If at first I don’t succeed, re-design the image and concept. That’s how I scored a success with last year’s The Lenten Meal photograph.
But if I wanted to do something like this again…
I needed to find a way to make the sprocket holes accentuate – rather than detract from – the overall photograph.
Back to the brain cells.
And to do this project correctly, I needed two rolls of Kodak Ektar 100 35mm film, as well as an old roll of 116/616 backing paper and a 616 spool.
I checked the archives. Yep. Here’s the film. And here’s an old paper spool.
And for all of you out there… trust me. Paper spools were NOT designed for reuse. The edges of the paper start foxing and tearing, which lets in light leaks, if you use the paper more than a couple of times from its original intentions.
Anyway… I rolled both packs of 35mm film into the paper, and then inserted the roll into my vintage Agfa Clipper Special f/6.3.
Now for a drive. I want a good piece of neon for this picture…
And looky here. I found one. It’s the shoe repair neon sign at the Troy Shoe Repair place.
So here’s what I came up with.
Here’s a simple splitfilm picture with a neon pirouette at the bottom.
Like?
The top picture is the neon shoe repair sign itself; the bottom picture was created when I left the shutter open and slowly pirouetted the tripod head on one axis.
Yeah. This looks nice. It’s expressive, it’s creative, it’s –
It’s probably about two years past what I’m capable of doing. This is stuff that I did back when I packed two rolls of 35mm film into an old plastic Holga camera and photographed pictures like Coca-Cola Relieves Fatigue, Sold Everywhere 5c. Yeah, back in the day.
Let’s try an additional trick.
A few months ago, I tried a photo technique where I actually advanced the film in the camera while the shutter was open. Figured it would work with neon signage, and I did get at least one good shot with it – albeit the test was in black and white.
Okay… let’s see what happens when I try this with color film.
Wow. This is freakin’ impressive.
I tried one more test – I wound the film forward while the shutter was open. And I ended up with this image.
Holy Thom McAn and Buster Brown., Batman… this may work even better than I expected.
I’m almost tempted to print out the two portions of Shoe Repaired 3, and maybe lace them together by threading shoelaces and bootlaces through the sprocket holes. That, or just let the picture stand on its own and maybe add a neutral background. What do you think?
I know what I think. This “neon pirouette” project seems to be working well for me.
And I want to keep it that way.
Chuck The Writer 