Author name: Andrew Smale

Kraken

Making 4×5 Slides using a Sepia Toner Kit – By Andrew Smale

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Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited to contribute to a project that was started by Dave Whenham (@elland_in) and John Martin (@TEMLIGHTIMAGES).  The project is passing a homemade 4×5 pinhole camera around some invited contributors, who each use the camera and submit the results as content for a zine.

When I agreed to do this, about a year ago, it all seemed a bit far in the future.  As the camera landed on my doorstep things got real, very quickly.  I’d had a year to work out my plan of attack and I’d put it into the back of my mind.  The first weekend I wasted by being frozen with panic.  I was going to look like a real fool.

In a fit of JFDI (Just Flippin’ Do It) I loaded a couple of sheets of Adox CHS 100 II film and shot a frame of a Kraken Rum Bottle and a  vase of plastic flowers.

I am not a person, with whom the term “brilliant” is associated, however I do have the odd flash of inspiration.  This came in the form of not having any Kodak D23 made up or chemicals to do so.  The only developer that I’d got was Ilford PQ Universal.  I also had an unopened box of Fotospeed ST10 Sepia Toner.  What if I tried a reversal process using the Sepia Toner?

The theory goes that you develop the film in a strong dilution of paper developer, then use the toner from the ST10 kit and then use the bleach from the ST10 kit you will carry out reversal of the image.

Positive Memories – Creating Positive Images Inspired by the Photobooth Process – By Andy Smale

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When I was young, every bus or railway station, airport, Woolworths, Boots, shopping centers and department stores all had a Photo booth.  These booths allowed the sitter to have 4 pictures taken, in return for a suitable deposit of coins, followed by the actual silver gelatin black and white photographs in a strip about 1.5 inches wide and 5 inches long.  The pictures were accepted by the passport office and were of great quality.

Some of the machines were also capable of producing a single portrait or 4 mini portraits in a square as well as the more common strip of photos described above.

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