I am such an idiot! I missed yesterday’s #scintilla prompt because I totally forgot to hit confirm on the subscription sign up and therefore did not wake up to a prompt for yesterday or today. Thankfully however, they’ve been kind enough to make a prompt archive, so am able to catch up!

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For day one, I’ve chosen to do Prompt B, as we are given two choices.

Prompt B: Life is a series of firsts. Talk about one of your most important firsts. What did you learn? Was it something you incorporated into your life as a result?

I stood there in this small, completely dark room. I clumsily pried the film canister open with my tools and set to work winding the film onto the reel. Being claustrophobic, the idea of being in this tiny room with no light was somewhat of a nightmare, but even while sweating and breathing heavily, I was able to persevere and get my first roll of film onto its reel and into the developer tank.

I carefully measured out the correct ratios of chemicals, and double checked to make sure I had everything correct. I didn’t want to ruin anything.

Shake shake, whoosh, swirl, agitate.

Wait.

The clock is ticking, and I am getting impatient. “Why must this process take so long,” I thought to myself.

The timer is going off, and it’s time to rinse. Shake shake, whoosh, swirl, agitate.

Wait.

I’m starting to get nervous. Did I use the correct amount of rinse? Did I develop for the right amount of time? Only time will tell.

Ding. Film is done.

I carefully dumped the contents of the developer tank into the sink, and out popped the reel of developed film. I could see stories and memories on 35mm negatives right before my eyes. My heart skipped a beat. I was fascinated and excited. Onto the drying rack they went.

Snip snip snip, 7 negative strips. Ready and willing to go into the negative sheets and made into a contact sheet.

I chose my enlarger carefully, in the corner of the darkroom. I didn’t want to be bothered by my classmates. Click goes the enlarger. The timer dings, and I take my Ilford paper to the developer trays.

Dip. Wait. Dip. Wait. Rinse. Dry.

My first contact sheet is done. I chose a photo I took of my glass chess set. It has the right amount of noise and proper exposure to get the results that I want. Click goes the enlarger. The timer dings, and I take my Ilford paper to the developer trays.

Dip. Wait.

I see my photo come to life on the paper.

Dip. Wait.

It’s starting to come in clearer now.

Rinse. Dry.

It’s beautiful. The smell of developer on my hands, and watching a photo that I took come to life. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was life changing.

It was just the beginning.

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In case you were wondering, the above was about the very first time I developed and printed my own film in the darkroom. Unfortunately, I do not have my first photo scanned into the computer. One of these days, I will get around to it. 

scintilla day one firsts darkroom photography development