The Polaroid 55 chronicle continues
A faulty boiler is preventing me from developing film. It is entirely
possible to develop film in 55f water, but a mantra of film processing
is that you should maintain a routine of ways when possible, keeping
the constants of temperature and time as similar each time as possible.
(for me, tri-x shot at iso 320, chemicals at 70f, 14 mins in pmk pyro
agitating every 15 seconds, 6 mins in non-alkaline fixer agitating
every 30 seconds, back in the pmk pyro for 4 mins agitating every 30
seconds, each of these steps having 6 full water fill and empty cycles
between, then a 28 min wash under water, and a final dunk into
photoflo).
So out onto the streets with the 4x5 pinhole and polaroid 55s I
went, having made the decision that I would reseal the polaroid
envelopes in the field and process at home. I headed for the London
Eye, once again for reasons of knowing what to expect in terms of
results. But an unexpected thunderstorm (which I should have expected)
made it a short lived adventure. No beginner’s luck as two of the three
frames were destroyed. The last frame you see here, perfectly exposed
and awfully framed. Next time I’ll be lugging around a litre or two of
water and checking the results on site.
