Diana & Ikenna

October 25, 2024
365 Challenge #299

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Your photograph was taken with a 8x10 inch Eastman View Camera No. 2D (Also known as a large format camera). This camera was manufactured around 1930 and is composed of only wood, metal, and glass. Everything on the camera is operated by hand, and every decision must be made with intention and precision.

After I took your photograph, the glass plate returns to my darkroom. Since the plate is large and flat, I am able to process it in a series of trays under a red safelight. This whole process takes about 30 minutes, bathing in one chemical to another to properly bring out the negative image that we made together… Let me shut off the lights and walk you through the process:

1) Prewash, 1 minute - This allows the plate to prepare for development and allow for a more even tone in the final picture.
2) Developer, 5 minutes - The time here can vary, but 5 minutes is an average. This chemical makes the photograph appear as a negative in the plate. Creative control can be made here by adjusting exposure to the film itself or adjusting the development length, affecting the end result. I can watch under the red safelight when to pull it out at just the right moment.
3) Stop bath, 1 minute - Don’t turn the lights on yet! The development needs to be stopped or washed off the plate before the next step. I use plain water.
4) Fixer 1, 4 minutes - Fixing means to make the image permanent and to make it viewable in the light. It also clears the plate making it transparent. From here the lights can be turned on.
5) Fixer 2, 2 minutes - For archival reasons, the plate is fixed twice. This ensures it reaches archival standards when stored properly. Black and white film theoretically will have image permanence of at least 500 years when stored well.
6) Wash, Approximately 20-30 minutes - To remove residual chemistry and to retain archival permanence, the water wash cycle has two parts: 3 quick fill and drain of fresh water followed by a series of 3 five minute soaking baths.
7) Dry, 2-3 hours - Using a final soak in a drying aid, the plate is set into a rack where it will slowly dry and then carefully placed into a protective sleeve where it is stored until later.

The glass plate negative is now ready to make prints in a darkroom or scanned into a digital image file. To turn it into the picture you see now, the plate is carefully placed onto a specialized flatbed scanner and scanned for about 20 minutes to capture every detail. Dust is the biggest problem here as everything gets through to the scanner’s sensor.

The digital file is cleaned up a little to remove anything that is intrusive to the overall image, but other than that, I like to preserve the original character that the glass plate offers. I then make small adjustments to brightness and contrast until I find something I am happy with. After a quick resize, the final image is ready to be exported. I export two different files, one that is intended just for you (A high res file) and one that is for the public viewing page (A low res file).

Each photo is put in its respected place, uploaded, and an email is composed with your name on it with good news in the title. From there, the circle is finally complete. Your portrait is now yours.