Schlagwort: eco developer

Cow Parade

Kodachrome & Prosecco and some other yummy soups!
The story continues … Yesterday I tried Prosecco! The result is good but less orange-ish!
Watch these gifs (bad resolution, sorry, better coming later)!

(The original Kodachrome negative is yellow / orange … then I digitized it with my fancy Sumikon machine and flipped it over to positive / complementary colour: blue!)
In conclusion, I can say: You can expose Kodachrome film (make sure it’s relatively fresh, don’t use any from the 70s or early 80s!) to plenty of sunlight, and then you’ll have a chance of getting some good pictures.
And then you can bathe it in different developers: ‘normal’ chemicals or Caffenol or all kinds of juices / teas, the result will always be more or less yellowish to bright orange!

My Last Workshop Of This Year

… took me to the countryside! More precisely: 2 hours north of Berlin, near Angermünde.

A former student of the DFFB (Wiki says: “The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) was founded on 17 September 1966 as the first film school in West Germany, officially opened by the Mayor of Berlin, Willi Brandt. Established as a non-profit limited company under the sole ownership of the State of Berlin.
In the late 1960s, DFFB became involved in student political movements; in May 1968 the school was briefly occupied and renamed, and later that year 18 students were expelled amid debates over management and governance.
From the 1970s onward, the academy was associated with politically engaged and documentary filmmaking.”)…

… bought an old, large railway station building together with friends. The station is still a station, trains come and go … but the large building was no longer needed (buy your tickets online!).

My co-teacher Ute, six students and I lived, worked, cooked, ate, slept and developed there for two days.
16 mm film, developing with food scraps, chestnuts and flowers… in buckets! Great fun and wonderful results!

And that was it for this year (or was it?) with the workshops. I will now have a little more time for my own projects!

Autumn Soup

… made from rose hips / Hagebutten!
I love the German word Hagebutte! “Entstanden aus den mittelhochdeutschen Begriffen hagen ‚Dornbusch‘ und butte ‚rundlicher Gegenstand‘ / Originating from the Middle High German terms hagen ‘thorn bush’ and butte ‘roundish object” … says Wiki. Dornbuschrundling! 😀
I made juice to develop some positive prints.
That’s all for this week, autumn cold winds blew into my neck and gave me a little cold. I slow down.
Hatschi / Atishoo!

Gesäuse!

And this is what happened in Austria recently:
For days now it has been raining permanently night and day and snowing 100 m higher …
I am here in the wetlands haha part of a small family-like minifestival (called »Enchanted Garden«) giving a workshop. All was supposed to happen outside in the huge natural park called »Gesäuse« but all is now happening inside … feeling sorry for the festival but people are in a good mood (we’re talking about 15 people, not more, it’s really nice and tiny).
How can I translate »Gesäuse«? Something making a whispering sound like the running water of the river, of the falling rain, of the wind in the leaves …
We’re filming in a small group, just 6 people and me, developing in a soup of what nature gives us. Cheers!
You can see some results here on YouTube!

1:1 Workshop

I had this experiment yesterday: a 1 on 1 workshop with an artist from the US (we’ve known each other via instagram), now in Europe, documentary film maker, who wanted to learn from me: caffenol / veggie soup developing, super 8 and double 8, tricks and recipes, how to set up a darkroom, which devices needed for developing and so much more!

It was fun, it was inspiration and knowledge … and now I think I will do it again. Offering different kinds of workshops, online and in reality, one person and more.
A regular date maybe (like every first Sunday of the month) via Zoom for little money: me answering all super 8 / eco developing questions, helping with current projects, showing how to mix a magic soup … like it?

Ovomaltine + Mountain Herbs

Recently I collected some mountain herbs and flowers hiking through the beautiful Klöntal in Switzerland … I filmed … I collected … I felt like walking in a postcard …
And then later I developed the film in these collected herbs, made a tea from it and added some of Swiss favourite drink: Ovomaltine … plus washing soda and vitamin c to activate the soup.
Results? A soft black & white film with good gray nuances!

Jacaranda And Seaweed Soup

I filmed some Super 8 black&white films and then developed them in different soups: Jacaranda blossoms and seaweed … both mixed with vitamin c and washing soda as usual. The blossoms or the weed don’t do the job solo, it works only in combination with the other two (ph balance).

The results are amazing, the films came out beautiful, the seaweed film a little yellow-sepia! Maybe because of the salt contents? Must ask my chemist friend Thierry …

It’s hot at the Echo Park Film Center!

Jacaranda blossoms lose their sweet color as soon as you pour hot water over them …

(the yellowish image, the ocean waves: that’s a seaweed developing!
All film stills original negative and then scanned and digitally inverted)

Sea Scum Developer

I collected some sea weed and made a tea, strong and salty-fishy smelling and for sure not potable!
I developed a film in it … super 8 black & white … and it turned out quite light and low contrasty with a yellowish tint! Yippeeh!

Why light, why low contrast? I presume because of the salt content. Must ask my chemist friend.

Coffee, Coke, Wine, Berries, Vodka, Tea …

I’m possessed. By the idea of developing black&white films in an environment-friendly way. In a yummy way: using ingredients that you can find in your kitchen. Or at your local supermarket, for little money. Ingredients like instant coffee, red wine, tea, soda, vitamin c powder, vodka, lemons …

Here’s a three minute film that I developed in 5 different soups – the original negative version (later I digitized and reversed it to positive, it’s not yet online, come back later!!!)

Coffee Developing Trance

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!!