The nerve wracking journey of developing film at home…

25 Jul

It was my dream for literal years. Even before the pandemic I was looking into finding courses to teach me that. They were of course too expensive, but since I bought my Minolta Maxxum 400si for $30 in Williamsburg NY I had wanted to learn how to properly take and develop film photographs.

Then work, then other projects, then a pandemic and a business, and my first serious digital camera happened, and it took me until this year to pick that camera up again. An internet friend of mine (whom I never met in person) is a film fanatic, so I asked him for advice. We spent an evening chatting film on WhatsApp, he sent me a discount code for some film, I ordered a new battery for the camera and off I went. This was February. I exposed a couple rolls, but the cost of developing always put me off developing them, so back in May I bought the Ilford Paterson developer starter kit (currently unavailable on amazon), but too much of a chicken to start, I left it there, looking at me until July.

Enough! I have to do it at one point, might as well start.

YouTube and Skillshare on the background, I spent 1 FULL HOUR learning how to slide the film onto the rolls that go inside the developing tank. I sacrificed one roll of expired film, until I was able to do it in the dark.

To prepare the chemicals, it took me ANOTHER HOUR. I was so scared of screwing up the temperature, the measurements. I had ice to cool the water down (my under-the-roof flat is like an oven in the summer: collecting whatever kind of heat and making the flat hotter than the outside), three thermometers just to make sure (as an ex pastry chef I have A LOT of tools), and off I went.

I also decided to invest another £9 into the Massive Dev app, in which you input the film, the chemicals you’re using, the amounts you need and it’ll give you timings and recipes. BEST 9£ EVER SPENT!

It was exhilarating and I felt so proud of myself. Seeing the film hung there to dry in my shower, with ACTUAL PHOTOS in it, well there’s nothing like it.

(Honestly I was so exhausted after the whole ordeal that we ordered Dominoes that night 😂)