Developing
In the field things had been discouraging. We arrive each morning to check our equipment, and several mornings the sight of tripped shutters filled us with a powerful anticipation. Hours have been spent arched over developer waters, swooning with the heady fumes of the darkroom. Murky images developed, revealing only two startled chipmunks, a squirrel, a rabbit, two bats, a martin and a badger; all with an apparent taste for blueberry jam. Though this may have given others a cause for despair, I was heartened. If this foray into the world of photographing the Others is a failure, I am optimistic for an alternate career in photographing wildlife.
Then came this morning. Once again we made our way out to the pasture through the early hours of the spring day, which are, in my opinion, the most heartening of all the season’s mornings. The coolness of the passing night wafts up in searching tendrils from the frozen earth, it permeates your woolies and seeps down into your bones. Then the sunlight rises over the hills and pierces the grey, warming the back of your neck and smoothing away the cold from your reddened knuckles. This morning was such a morning. My optimism was increased when the girls ran off before me to yell back that one of the shutters had been tripped. Lucia and Lenore (the L’s) have become quite capable with the photographic equipment now and so removed the negative holder before I had even arrived into the clearing. Sometimes their talents and skills are so great that I forget that they are still little girls – but not this morning. As they ran toward me they quarreled over the plate holder, a tug of war resulted in the plate holder flying through the air and knocking with a crack on the trunk of a near by maple. The girls were suddenly quiet – heads cast downward.
My darkroom is a makeshift affair – a boarded off section of the cellar, with an old pantry table, enameled pans of chemicals – and a pane of red glass squeezed over a small basement window. The negative was placed into a tin frame and immersed, like a wick in tallow, in the developer. The problem was, however, that this negative had a sizeable crack in it – having suffered a collision with the maple tree – so the negative had to be forcibly squeezed into two holders with enough tension to hold the truncated glass, but in doing so my hands, slick with chemicals, slipped – and the jagged edge of the glass was pushed deep into my palm. I ignored the slice, but noticed dark crimson blooms erupting in developer, blood dripping off my index finger. I wrapped a rag of muslin around my hand, and continued on with the development. But these are far from ideal darkroom conditions. Moldy spiders, long dead, remained suspended from their webs in their basement catacomb. When I felt a scurry in my hair my natural reaction was to shoo away the offending beastie, but the action resulted in my muslin bandage knocking against the red glass. A shock of daylight lit the room – and, sadly, solarized my negative. The offending creature, a harmless moth, fluttered to the tray and swam in circlets through the developer – sending ripples against the edge of the pan. I removed the moth, transferred the plates to the fixative, and surveyed the results.
There was something there, despite my bungling, there was something there.
Composed by Dr. G on Monday, Jun. 9, 2008
Gentle Reader Responses
Tara says:
Blood and moths and bickering girls...
Methinks you might persue that wildlife angle indeed...
Rosemary Renlund says:
There is nothing harmless about moths, believe you me. They are wily creatures.
Now I shall have to sit down for a bit.
Loryienne says:
My dear Dr. Galubrious, have you not heard of vulcanized rubber gloves? You have much in common with your near contemporary, Charles Goodyear, who discovered the vulcanization process … when he accidentally spilled his rubber mixture on a hot stove.
I have complete confidence that your trip-wire fumbles (all of which have been delightful) and your bumbling amidst moths and your stew of chemicals will reveal even more amazing discoveries than this unique and seminal documentation of the Other, but in the meantime ... caution ... caution ... caution!
Is it the magical qualities of the albumen that has saved your skin—“slick with chemicals”--from the poisoning effects of chlorine, silver nitrate, and especially bromine???
Please remember that even Mr. Goodyear’s health was adversely affected from exposure to those “tools” that fired his curiosity, nitric acid and lead oxide. He was once nearly suffocated by gas generated in his laboratory, and the resulting fever from the incident nearly took his life.
Your work is important—all the more reason to be careful. Wear the Goodyear gloves. Learn from the chicken.
Tara says:
(Loryienne - you crack me up!)
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