develop

Why Film Photography Sucks (and Why I Love It Anyway) by Ray Phung

Shooting in film really sucks sometimes.  Rest assured, for those of you who know me well, I routinely sing the praises of film photography - the look, the feel, the methodology, the technical demands.  I love it.  I feel my own photography has drastically improved since shooting film.  It's one of few things I truly get super, unabashedly geeked out about. And nothing is quite as exciting or satisfying than holding a properly exposed, properly developed negative.  But there is a dark side to this:  there nothing quite as devastating when the perfect shot is ruined because I flubbed it.  Big time.  And while this doesn't happen very often, it does happen, and it's beyond frustrating.  

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Darkroom Finds by Ray Phung

For quite some time now, I have been toying with the idea of setting up a darkroom in my bathroom. Developing and printing gives you that extra latitude to control your exposures, be it from pushing/pulling in development or dodging and burning.  It also gives you an added economic benefit.  Not so long ago, I purchased a roll of Fuji Provia 400x at the tune of around $17 for the roll.  35mm Kodak Portra goes at almost $10.  And this does not include the cost of developing and scanning (around $9-$15, with the high end for E-6 and B+W).  As you can probably tell, it adds up quickly, and I really wanted to find a way to minimize these costs.

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