Discoveries

So this lomography thing keeps proving to be very useful to me in that I am reading up on photography processes (experimental and non-experimental) very consistently now. That hasn't happened in a long time. College has a way of sucking all excitement about what you're studying right out of you. Or it did that to me, at least.

Anyway, couple of interesting things I've discovered recently:
Concerning the Recesky DIY Twin Lens Camera Kit--
It seems that lately...or maybe it's just this particular brand of kit...the viewfinders are kind of faulty. They're supposed to be slightly opaque so you can see the reflection from the mirror piece and actually focus. It seems people are getting clear viewfinder screens in their kit for some reason and that makes you see the mirror piece directly--it doesn't work. You can't really see the full image that you'll get and you can't focus at all. This discussion on flicker is what helped me out: Click here to read . The idea to use the post-it note tabs absolutely works. I had my doubts but it works perfectly. That first image is definitely what your viewfinder should look like when you point your camera at a subject...if you're getting a round image...you need to try the post-it note trick.

What else, what else?

Developing my own color film:
I've never really thought it was possible/practical to develop your own color film at home but this video makes it look pretty simple: $18 bucks will develop approximately 8 rolls of film...it would be $18 bucks to get 3 rolls of film developed at say walmart (which is my only option around here, unfortunately). So yeah, that's definitely worth it, I think. Plus, I'm kind of a dark room junkie--I love developing my own film and prints. Been a while but I'd loveeee to get back into it. And developing color would be a brand new experience for me. I guess I figured it would be a lot more expensive than that for chemicals to develop color film. Good to know it's not.

Mad scientist chemical experiments with film (bwahahaha):

I've stumbled across some interesting articles on lomography.com about putting film to the test. It's funny because my photo professor always freaked out about how fragile and precious film was. I guess I get it if you're concerned about proper technicality. But now--I'm a graduate, not a student, and I can do whatevvvvver I want! ;) And it seems that putting your film through a survival test can produce some very cool effects. Here are a couple articles that suggest odd things like overdosing your film with cough syrup and getting it crunk (well..with rubbing alcohol...but hey, maybe someone should give vodka a try and see what happens?). Home developing would probably also give me the option of cross processing which produces this kind of crazy vintage look:

Cross processing is when you take slide film negatives (usually developed with E6 chemicals) and develop them in the chemicals typically used for regular color negatives (C-41). Most people seem to cross process slide film in regular color negative chemistry.  Haven't really looked into E6 chemistry yet/cost/etc.

Soooo I'm still hoping to be able to set up a dark room of sorts when we get to El Paso. I think it will open up a lot of new avenue's for this hobby I've taken up. Haven't really been taking that many pictures, though to tell the truth. I haven't really been anywhere recently that's caught my eye or struck me as picture worthy. But I've been taking a camera with me when I do go places usually so I'm ready if the opportunity comes up. Definitely can't wait for the move! Need a good change of pace and new things for my eyes and camera lens to take in.