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!

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!!

Processing Happiness

I’ve been processing Super 8 films myself forever … I like it, diving into chemicals, the excitement of opening the developer tank after fix and watering and checking: pictures on it or not?! This evening I processed a black and white TriX using the Foma (Czech) reversal kit. But I processed it negative which means only the first developer and then fix. Yeah! Great! One cassette contains 15 m (50 ft) of film and they are now hanging zigzagwise through my room, drying nicely! Happiness is a warm film!