Danbury Railway Museum

 The Danbury Railway Museum, located in Downtown Danbury Connecticut, is a treasure chest of old trains. I visited the museum last weekend to check out my friend Anne's photographs which are on display, and took some of my own while I was there. 

The museum is located in the old Danbury train station, and scenes from the movie "Stranger's on a Train" were filmed there. The best part of the museum is that they let you explore the rail yard and go inside a lot of the old trains. My favorite in the mail car. 

These photos were taken with expired Tmax 400 in my Minolta XG-M. I developed them with Ilfotec-DDX

♥ Jessica

New Britain Museum of American Art

A few weeks ago I visited the New Britain Museum of American Art. I had no idea this museum even existed until a friend suggested we go see their Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit.

One of my favorite sculptures at the museum is Don Quixote, right out front.

It's funny how a great museum could be so close I you don't even know it. I definitely recommend visiting the NBMAA if you are in the area. 

The Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit will be open until May 12, 2013.

♥ Jessica

Minolta 16mm "Spy" Camera

Back in late 2012 I received a Minolta-16 as a gift. It's a small metal camera that was originally produced in 1960. Sometimes this type of camera is called a "Subminiature" or "Spy" camera, but it wasn't actually designed for secret agents. It was marketed as a pocket camera for kids and families. It took small cartridges of 16mm film produced by Minolta (similar to 110 film cartridges). It's a fixed focus camera but you can adjust the shutter speed and aperture which makes it very handy for a variety of shooting conditions. It's super handy as it fits in your pocket so you can take it almost anywhere. And the negatives are so cute!

Thanks to the magic of the internet I was able to purchase a cartridge loaded with fresh film and a developing tank which can hold smaller rolls of film. 16mm film was primarily used in movie cameras and is still produced today. In an effort to save money I purchased an older 50 foot roll of 16mm Tri-X 7278 (which is different from today's Kodak Tri-X film) for loading into the cartridge. I was completely lost when it came to developing. I have a bottle of Ilfotec DDX and I had no idea if it would work with these films, or how long to develop them for. I arbitrarily chose 6.5 minutes and, for some reason, it worked.

 

 

 

The first three photos are from the fresh roll of film that came in the cartridge. The last one is from the old Tri-X 7278 film. I'm very pleased with the resulting pictures and I am looking forward to shooting the next 48 feet of film.

♥ Jessica

Fifth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk

This weekend I participated in Scott Kelby's Fifth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk. I joined the Poughkeepsie NY walk at Locust Grove with my photo buddy Anne. 

There is a contest but you can only submit one photo. Which one should I choose?

Details:

Minolta XG-M loaded with Fuji PRO160S developed with Unicolor C-41 kit.

Minolta SRT-101 loaded with Rollei IR400 developed with D-76

Modified Holga 120 loaded with Tri-X developed in Ilfotec DD-X

♥ Jessica

Autumn and Progress

 

I celebrated the first official day of Autumn with my co-workers at our annual Autumn-Fest. It was a little chilly, but we had fun frolicking in the pumpkin patch and feeding chickens. These photos were taken on some Kodak Max 400 film that I got for free at a flea market. It could have been expired, it could have been damaged, but it was free so I gave it a try. I developed it with the Unicolor C-41 kit.

So, I am happy to report I am making a good deal of progress on my goals. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, I created 4 Simple Goals before 2013. I have kicked my soda habit and now only occasionally enjoy one. I would say it's down to once a week, which is better than I expected in such a short time. I immediately started washing my hair less, and although I hate day 3 of "lived in" hair, hopefully my head will begin to get used to it. I haven't had much "downtime" to enjoy, however I was sick earlier in the week and I was able to just relax and watch I Love Lucy reruns without feeling too guilty. It's still a struggle and I did work on my Halloween decorations a little, but overall I think I succeeded in "enjoying" my downtime (enjoy might not be the right word since I felt like crap, but you get the idea). Unfortunately, I haven't taken any Polaroids since I set that goal. I definitely need to devote some energy to that.

As for my goal of creating 150 journals before Renegade next summer, I have been thinking a lot about new types of books to make, but haven't sat down to make any in several days. Sometimes you need a break, and I don't think I have fallen too far behind yet. 

♥ Jessica

A Day At The Fair

Last weekend I visited The Bethlehem Fair in Bethlehem Connecticut. I grew up in that area and it was a tradition to go to the fair every year. I haven't been there since I moved away. I always find agricultural fairs fun, maybe because I always had such a good time at the Bethlehem Fair as a kid.

Moo!

Photography Winners

Games

I bought some natural wool yarn from a local farm that raises sheep and alpacas. 

Roden's Farm. Best. Corn. Ever.

 Sleepy Sheep

This ride looks too scary for me. 

These photos were taken on Kentmere 400 film (shot at 400 ISO) and developed with Caffenol. This was my first time using Caffenol and I nearly shrieked with excitement when I opened the film canister and found pictures on my negatives. I thought for sure it wouldn't work.

If you have never heard of it, Caffenol is a black and white film developer that you make at home. It is a combination of Washing Soda, Vitamin C Powder, and Instant Coffee. Sounds crazy right? But it works. I did a lot of research on which Caffenol recipe I should use, and how long I should develop it, and I came up with this recipe to use with Kentmere 400 film:

1000 ml room temperature water

54g Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

16g Vitamin C Powder

10g Iodized Salt

40g Instant Coffee

I added one ingredient at a time to the water in that order. I then pre-soaked my film in room temperature water for 5 minutes. I developed the film for 30 minutes, agitating it for the first 30 seconds then again at 1, 5, & 15 minutes. I used Ilford Rapid Fixer and Kodak Photo Flo to finish it off. 

I usually develop my film in Kodak D-76 which isn't an expensive developer. The Caffenol actually comes out a few pennies more expensive than buying a gallon mix of D-76 (Vitamin C powder is the pricey ingredient), however I like that you mix it up one batch at a time because D-76 will go bad if it is left too long. I also like that you can buy all the ingredients locally and it probably isn't as hazardous as traditional developers. Oh, and I like that it is like a fun chemistry experiment.

♥ Jessica

York Beach ME Part II: Kentmere 400 Film

Film photography can be an expensive hobby. My favorite film is Tri-X, but when I saw that Kentmere film was drastically less expensive, I had to give it a try. I read several reviews from people who love it, and several from people complaining about the coarse grain. 

The grain is an issue for me. I'm not sure if it is my exposure, my developing (D-76 for 14 minutes), or my scanning, but some pictures look less grainy than others. I don't mind a little grain, and it adds something in some pictures, but others look odd. 

So, I'm curious if anyone has some tips or trick for reducing grain. 

What is your experience with Kentmere film?

♥ Jessica

My Crafty Week

I didn't feel very crafty this week. Between having a cold and being really busy at work, 

I just crashed when I got home each night. Last night I looked through my camera and phone, and
realized that even when I'm not very productive, I still craft a lot. I guess it's just what I do.

I worked on my crochet blanket while I vegged on the couch and watched TV. I'm exactly half

way done making the granny squares.

Ashley over at Lil Blue Boo repainted her daughter's Toms with amazing pink glitter. When I saw the

pictures I had to revive my old beat Toms. I really wanted to do neon glitter pink like hers, 

but I decided to work with what I had, and so I used Martha Stewart's Multi-Surface Paint in 

Silver and Purple Glitter. 

I got caught in a rain storm this morning, and the paint held up

beautifully.

Decorative paper was on sale for 50% off this week at Jerry's Artarama! I stocked up.

 I developed two rolls of film this week. These two photos were taken with my trusty Kodak

Hawkey Flash (flipped lens) with Ektar 100 film. I developed it with a Unicolor C-41 kit.

This picture was taken with my Holga 135BC on Rollei Infrared 400 film.
It was developed in Kodak D-76.

When you develop a lot of film at home, you end up with a ton of empty canisters and backing

papers. I whipped up a nifty little pocket notebook from my Ektar backing paper. It's bound 

pamphlet style with lined paper inside and more of the backing paper as the end pages. 

This would be a good field notebook on photography expeditions.

So, what did you craft this week?

♥ Jessica