A day of organizing

Awoke this morning to the sound of rain, brewed a pot off coffee, and planned my day.

Nothing pressing, so I poured another cup, and enjoyed the solitude of an early start.

Breakfast dishes done, and put away. Time to find a project. A good day to get in the dark room,, and sort through stuff. Time to toss a few expired chemicals, wash some beakers, flasks, and test tubes, and give everything a good cleaning.

I also took stock of my camera collection. Some of it I have not used in years, and a few not at all. I am now at the point in my life when I need to downsize. Devote myself to photography, and not camera collecting.

If I can’t carry it on my bicycle, then it has to go.

Well, the morning organization went well, so now time to do some printing.

Two prints to start. A 4×5, and a 2 1/4 x2 1/4

Salt printing is about as easy as it gets. Water colour paper is first coated with a simple saline solution, and allowed to dry before being coated with a silver nitrate solution, and dried again. Now the paper is light sensitive.

This is a contact printing process, so a suitable sized negative is selected, placed on the paper, and exposed to UV light. On sunny days it can go outside, but today is overcast, and wet. Under my homemade light box then.

Eight to ten minutes does the trick. Now a quick rinse under cool water before washing in a bath of sodium thiosulfate, and then a final bath.

I have thousands of negatives. 8×10, 4×5, 5×7, medium format, and 35mm. Most have never been printed, and I am only now just beginning to scan them. But, I’m only Sixty Two, and I can save that for when I’m old.