the trials of photography
It's the 21st century. Although I still don't have a rocket car, technology has brought us many very useful things. Such as film scanners. Except when they don't work.
This weekend I went home to south Georgia and shot my family with the 4x5. I got a couple that I'm very happy with, and some that I'll have to shoot again.
Today I had the chromes processed and was very excited to get them scanned and printed tonight. I went to the lab, got the imacon holders, got set up, and turned the computer on. The "bong!" that a Mac makes is a very pleasing sound. This one seemed to start out alright, then it got stuck halfway. I've had trouble with this machine before, so I restarted it. And again. And again. Then I unplugged it. And again. And again.
Then I talked to the operations manager. He said it'll start, it just takes a while. I started again and waited. And waited. And waited. After about 10 minutes of halfway starting, it jumped to the end. Then 20 more minutes.
And I gave up.
One hour. No prints, no scans... no computer even. Sigh.
The polaroids look great. I'm not sure my family will be totally enchanted with them, but I think the pictures sort of reflect their tolerance of my interest. They've been putting up with this for the last 20 years or so, they figure they can stand still for five more minutes.
As I shot the four of them, each said something along the lines of "that's an old camera" or "that's a fancy camera." I said that any camera is essentially a box with a hole in it. And while this particular box (Toyo 4x5 monorail) along with the polaroid and chrome film (all technology that's been around 50+ years) served me well, the computer was a total bust.
Maybe I'll go to pinhole and chemicals. That's a simplified process, and there's really only one thing that can screw up there. Me. I can deal with that.
This weekend I went home to south Georgia and shot my family with the 4x5. I got a couple that I'm very happy with, and some that I'll have to shoot again.
Today I had the chromes processed and was very excited to get them scanned and printed tonight. I went to the lab, got the imacon holders, got set up, and turned the computer on. The "bong!" that a Mac makes is a very pleasing sound. This one seemed to start out alright, then it got stuck halfway. I've had trouble with this machine before, so I restarted it. And again. And again. Then I unplugged it. And again. And again.
Then I talked to the operations manager. He said it'll start, it just takes a while. I started again and waited. And waited. And waited. After about 10 minutes of halfway starting, it jumped to the end. Then 20 more minutes.
And I gave up.
One hour. No prints, no scans... no computer even. Sigh.
The polaroids look great. I'm not sure my family will be totally enchanted with them, but I think the pictures sort of reflect their tolerance of my interest. They've been putting up with this for the last 20 years or so, they figure they can stand still for five more minutes.
As I shot the four of them, each said something along the lines of "that's an old camera" or "that's a fancy camera." I said that any camera is essentially a box with a hole in it. And while this particular box (Toyo 4x5 monorail) along with the polaroid and chrome film (all technology that's been around 50+ years) served me well, the computer was a total bust.
Maybe I'll go to pinhole and chemicals. That's a simplified process, and there's really only one thing that can screw up there. Me. I can deal with that.
Labels: 4 by 5, 45, aggravation, complaint, family, polaroid, portrait, technology
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4:46 PM
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