Dagies Blog

Toronto, I Like You As Much As I Like Coffee

Dagie — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:27:18 +0000

Just a little trailer for a little film, shot on super 8 Kodachrome, developed in caffenol (coffee + soda + vitamin-c), digitally reversed.

16

Dagie — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:05:14 +0000

I gave a workshop today: how to develop black&white film using coffee+soda+vitamin-c >> here’s a piece of wonderful 16 mm, clear and crispy negative!

Sun Spiral

Dagie — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:08:01 +0000

Developing black&white reversal film you need to expose it to light a second time in between the developing baths. Normally hold it 2 minutes against a 100 W bulb (see the film is in a transparent spiral!), but I thought: why not take the Canadian summer sun while it’s on?! It works!

Chicken Momo

Dagie — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:09:33 +0000

Walking along the street in plain sunshine, feeling slightly hungry, being dragged just by coincidence into an inconspicuous little restaurant called Tibet Café, I ordered chicken momo just because I liked the name.
The smiling lady said: wait 15 minutes and so I did.
It smelled good there. They have a large image of the Dalai Lama, also smiling. I watched out the window: we’re open. Slow beautiful streetcar. Someone crossing the street. Sunshimmer. I have time. I exist. This is it. I understand the sense of it all.

Ambassadors Of Coincidence

Dagie — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:17:17 +0000

It’s a game.

We played and documented it today and yesterday.
It goes like this:
A city walk game. Limit: one city, two days.
A group of 2 or 3 people.

We chose a starting point by chance (dice, telephone book) which is a street and a number. We go there, our antennas upright, find something, any item possible, any stranded goods, doodle, debris, paint, house, plant, sign, scene, mark that gives away its secret and inspires us to find the next station. We derive information from it, meaning: next street-name and number. And so on.

We tempt fate and challenge coincidence. We go with the flow, confident that the mighty spirit of coincidence will give us signs and that we, the flexible and witty artists, will be able to interpret them, capture them and find our unique personal path until the game comes to a logic end.

This game is not objective. Our personality, our view and our history colorizes the whole experiment and makes it a singular happening, an irrepeatable film. There can be beauty in banality and we’ll find it.

We film and record sounds and document the trip as a whole, the magic points as individual signs, what we see, what we get, what we think … it can lead us to surprises, to weird stories or boredom. It depends on us. And a little on the weather. Super 8 helps make a jewel out of it!

There will be a website soon.
And a film. Give me some time

Rocky Racoon

Dagie — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:05:56 +0000

Amazingly huge, slow and cool!

Me And My Nizo On The Beach

Dagie — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:39:32 +0000

Timeless

Dagie — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:53:33 +0000

… probably never …

Coffee Developing Trance

Dagie — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:35:23 +0000

I’m in love with LIFT’s darkroom!
Today I tried another coffee based developer … and to refine the soup a little I used Lake Ontario water instead of regular boring tap water. And added some squirrel beer!
The result: wonderful black&white positive film!!

I Love Film + Coffee

Dagie — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:56:44 +0000

… The film is now telecined: the original is very orange so I reversed and desaturated it! And increased the contrast a bit.

Kodachrome Bathing In Coffee

Dagie — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:29:19 +0000

Caffenol is a black & white negative developer made from instant coffee, washing soda and vitamin c.
Old Kodachrome color super 8 film reacts nicely and the result is as you see it here: an orange toned b&w negative!
Yippeeh!!

Baseball, S8-John & Big Fat Burrito

Dagie — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:55:48 +0000

I met John Porter, Toronto’s most famous super 8 filmer, we bought some yummy burritos at Kensington Market (”Big Fat Burrito”) and opened the baseball season at Christie Pits (famous for its riots 80 years ago), beautiful green open park, Toronto Maple Leafs against Ottawa Fat Cats. We won!

My first baseball game! Haven’t got a clue why guys were standing at different posts doing nothing while the boy in the middle kept bombing tiny balls towards another one who constantly missed it with his bat …. but it was fun to watch and John brought ice cold cider

Hi Sky

Dagie — Sun, 06 May 2012 01:29:02 +0000

….. Summer!!!!!

Happy Animals

Dagie — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:41:41 +0000

Have a wonderful weekend!

Coffee Countdown Film

Dagie — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:37:06 +0000

How did this silly film idea come upon me … I want to make a short film, Kodachrome K40, and then process it in caffenol, see if it works … about Toronto and coffee of course, something speedy, most probably called “Toronto, I like you as much as I like coffee” using letters that I find around here … so I thought it would be nice to start it with a countdown, spent half my day chasing numbers from 10 down to 0 which is not easy because numbers tend to come in company: they have another number left or right, especially a 4 was veeeery hard to find …

But anyway, the sun was shining brightly, summer has come into town, butterflies land on my legs!!

Red Belly Birdy

Dagie — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:36:58 +0000

Who is it? The famous Canadian Red Belly Bird?

Seen and admired at High Park today! Lucky me, I live in walking distance!

Street Snake

Dagie — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:54:59 +0000

Me in Toronto … having plenty of time wandering Eastwest and Northsouth and zigzagish, inhaling fresh impressions and finding pictures at every corner and … look there: a snake sign on the ground! It’s a metaphor for me, meaning …. wisdom and a winding path to go!!

Good Morning Lake Ontario!

Dagie — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:19:36 +0000

Good morning, Lake O and Canada and America, how are you?

Black Squirrel

Dagie — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:01:51 +0000

I’m in Canadaaaaaa!!!!!!!
The first living being that greeted me this morning was …. a squirrel! But not only a squirrel … a black squirrel! They have black squirrels in Toronto, awesome!!!!!

Chubby Chaparro

Dagie — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:53:47 +0000

I’m so lucky to live in the chubbiest chaparriest coolest hottest center of the universe, just by chance, and here’s the hottest tiniest Mex ever, called Chaparro Cocina Mexicana … in Kreuzberg, burrito and quesadilla to stay or to go, with different hot sauces (1, 2, 3 chili signs declaring the power of hotness!) and some plusses like smoky chicken or veggie … take a beer from the fridge, dos equis xx or corona or victoria … just love them!!!

Travelers meeting: Dagie going to Toronto, Florian going to New York and Mexico, Khani coming from the Canaries, Nadine going to Italy … felt windy and worldy!!