Hey from Silicon Valley

Hey all,

Name here's Simon. I think, being 17, that I'm of the last generation that really grew up using film. I learned on a crappy Konica that was nearly broken, until my parents got me a Polaroid 600. After that, they bought me a digital camera. Polaroid film added up when your six year old kept taking pictures of his feet.

Later, I discovered that whole Lomography thing. I bought a ton of crap cams. After becoming disenfranchised with that (read: realized that the whole "philosophy" of not paying attention to your framing was wasting a ton of film and money while not producing anything Ansel Adams-esque), I started using my uncle's old AE-1 Program. Although I still keep my Gakkenflex TLR by my side. It's my favorite camera.

I just finished a 6 week photo course at RISD. The teacher, apparently, learned from Harry Callahan (whom I had never heard of, but, hey, he has a Wikipedia page).

Now I'm looking to do my AP Studio Art portfolio in traditional b/w/. My school is heavily into the sciences, so I think I might be able to bum the chemicals necessary to make paRodinal and fixer off of the chem teacher. Hell, we, for some reason, have sodium thiosulfate.

Anybody have good fixer recipes?

My portfolio (under reconstruction, after switching to a new host) is at http://simonorrstudio.com

Hello and welcome to APUG.

Jeff

Welcome to APUG! You'll get all kinds of chemistry advice here if you want to get into the whole home-brew scene.

You just named fixer. 100g of sodium thiosulfate to 1000ml.

Have fun!

Welcome to APUG Simon!

Congrats on your studies and welcome to APUG!

For my studio art class, I suppose that I'm going to just develop the negs, then scan them. The school's been around since 1856, but never built a darkroom, and doesn't particularly care to now. So I don't exactly want to shell out for an enlarger.

You don't have to shell out for an enlarger these days. Do a little poking around on craigslist and with patience, you can find a GOOD one for free or nearly free. Look for a Beseler 45 series or an Omega D2/D3/D4. They're big and bulky, which is why they're often given away. They can be found for under $100, again with patience, or you can find a smaller but still robust enlarger like a Beseler 23 series if space/weight are an issue.

Simon - hello and welcome to APUG!! :D

Hello Simon and welcome to APUG.