What’s so special about this photo?

Yesterday, I put a couple of cameras in my car and drove to Vermont to take a picture of a covered bridge. My Pentacon Six had a roll of Fuji Velvia inside, while my Kodak Medalist II (“Kodak Red”) held a pack of Kodak Tri-X 400 film that was re-rolled for 620 spools.

The plan was to drive to Bennington, Vermont, and photograph along the shoreline of the Paper Mill Covered Bridge. There’s a spillway under the bridge, and I hoped to get a nice photo AND to test out some of the camera filters that I can use with Kodak Red.

Kodak Red uses what are called Series VI filters; they fit perfectly onto the camera lens and are held in place by a screw-on attachment Now I have six of these filters in my Kodak Red camera bag – a red filter, two yellows, an orange, a Portra filter (whatever that is) and a Wratten 87 filter (for infrared).

Kodak Red can take eight wide shots on 120/620 film; of course, as usual, the camera jammed up on the first shot and I had to finesse it past that first blown photo. I did get seven images – one straight black-and-white shot, two with the red filter, two with a yellow filter, and two with an orange filter.

And of all the shots, this one turned out the best.

So I’ll think about using this for a future image, either as Competition Season or just as an artistic piece for a future show.

Okay, that’s my blog. Bye for now. See you tomorrow.

---

Wait, you’re still reading?

Hmm. I wonder why.

Let me think.

I took the pictures on Saturday, April 30, 2022. I took them at about 1:30 p.m.

And you’re thinking … wait, Chuck didn’t take these photos with a digital camera. And he didn’t take them with his cell phone. He said he used Kodak Red. That’s a Kodak Medalist II from the 1940’s. It’s a film camera. He took the pictures yesterday and he’s blogging about them today. Something’s going on here…

Okay, more thinking. Chuck probably used a 24-hour film developing company. Certainly he must have gone to the local Eckerd or Rite Aid or Fotomat to get the film developed in time for the blog today. But there’s no 24-hour film developing store in the Capital District. And certainly not available for black and white film.

Think, think, think … tapping the brain like Winnie the Pooh as he concentrates on a honey recipe.

Could it be that … maybe … just maybe … Chuck actually developed that roll of film himself, and for a change, the film turned out okay??

Well, there’s the evidence. Right in front of you.

I believe the appropriate phrase is “achievement unlocked.”

I should say “developed okay,” because optimally I should have scored eight images out of this roll. The camera jammed on the first shot, so that was tossed. Two other photos were over-exposed, and there were some very weird developing marks on four of the other five images.

This one, however … survived. And boy did it survive.

I’m still not 100% comfortable with developing my own film … but at some point I’ll get it right. At least for black and white 120/620 film.

One baby step at a time.