Photos from 2010 Tour with The Dela Project

I intended to post these tour photos long ago, but I left behind a roll of film that documented a good section of our trip (Denver, Colorado). I have since abandoned the hope of having the lost roll returned to me, so the following photos and accompanying text from the summer of 2010 will have to do.


After I finished my finals for Spring quarter, I hitched a ride to Boise in a NAPA truck to meet up with The Dela Project for a week long tour. Following are many photographs taken on my trip.

This is what we look like (fools):



When I met up with the boys in Boise, we went and played for some kids at an elementary school. Unfortunately, most of the pictures were blurry; this is the best one.



As one would expect from an elementary school gig, we were paid in Juicy Juice.





Casey fell asleep trying to find the wizard. Long car rides are tiring.



Next stop was SLC (Silly City).



We played at a place called The Woodshed. It was unremarkable with the exception of this Ms. Pac Man arcade machine. Note: free play.



That night, we slept at a rest area.





And then we were off to Buffalo to play at the Occidental Hotel (please ignore the missing "O," it was Accidental).



Casey found some of his relatives from the area.



A new burger joined my Top 5 burgers list. This is the buffalo burger served at the Occidental Hotel restaurant.



This little girl (Mya) danced to our music. It made me happy.



Days later we returned to Silly City and made some new friends.














Most of them were tattooed.

The last stop on our tour was Bend, Oregon. Casey lives here and has many of the simple things that make a good life.

We arrived late and slept on welcoming couches. When I opened my eyes in the morning, this girl was looking at me.

Before I had a chance to undust my eyes, she handed me a star she kept in a box. It was a "wishing star" she told me. I made a wish and put the star back in the box. She did the same.

Tour was over. Casey finished reading his Western novel. I returned home, and have since forgotten my star wish.

Sometimes I find constellations during the daytime.

Problem Photos

These rolls of Tri-X didn't develop correctly. I was pretty disappointed. The process that I'd used before to make acceptable photos now left me with long streaks across my gray negatives. From what I have read on the internet, this phenomenon is called "bromide drag," and it happens when the developer sits too long on the surface of the film. In other words: I didn't agitate well enough. I still don't quite understand the reason that the streaks seem to parallel the sprocket holes on the film. Next time I'll make sure to shake the hell out of the developing tank.

I don't remember taking this picture, and I don't even know what it was, but it is now a great example of bromide drag.



"Hey you down there!"



Crazy spiderwebs around Medical Lake, WA in July.



Yep. I know.



Holding the flügelhorn after his performance on Memorial Day is my trumpet teacher, Andy Plamondon. He is a good person.



I do kind of like the silhouette that happened here.



This floor in Isle Hall lived up to its namesake and came out looking a bit like water.



A broken photo of a broken building.



"The quotation mark: A crane that lets you lift language from elsewhere and drop it in your writing — an essential tool for the bricoleur." - Daniel Coffeen, "On Punctuation"

Like Dogs

Some days my work needs harder hands
To grip the wrench with blood and oil.
Those days my hands are stiff and rough.

Before the perfect tissue work
Can speak with holy white and ink,
I scrub my hands clean as the sheet.

How sad to see a student squat
On every virgin ivory page
And splash her yellow marker piss -
Hard work to mark her boundaries.

Caffeine Fix

I made a second attempt at developing with Caffenol-C-M, and this time was a success. I am happy to report that it is not only possible to develop film with coffee, but the negatives (at least the Pan-F 50) actually turn out better. This time I was a lot more careful when mixing the ingredients; they must be mixed in order: washing soda, vitamin-C, and then instant coffee. This time I measured the portions on a scale rather than with teaspoons and tablespoons. If you're interested in the details, this is where I got the recipe: http://caffenol.blogspot.com/2010/03/caffenol-c-m-recipe.html

The negatives had some cool peculiarities, namely image fogging, strange treatment of shadows, and an unexplainably older look. I am so satisfied with these negatives that, if HC-110 weren't so cheap and easy to use (and a good complement to Tri-X 400), I would develop only in Caffenol. I will continue to strictly use Caffenol at least for Ilford Pan-F 50 (which HC-110 has never developed well for me anyway). The following images were developed in Caffenol-C-M for 15 minutes with an exhausting 3 agitations per minute.


This is a Tascam 22-4 1/4" reel-to-reel recorder I received last month as a gift from my good friend. When I got it, it wasn't working correctly, and so lately I've spent many hours repairing it. Notice the strange shadow near the bottom of the image.



Here's a photo with reels loaded and spinning. That metal rectangle in between the two reels is the brake solenoid - it wasn't working correctly, and it gave me a lot of trouble.



This photo shows the work that ultimately fixed the brake solenoid - a 10KΩ resistor bridging a damaged section of the PCB pathway. I guess the previous owner must've spilled something corrosive into this machine. I taped a post-it note around the exposed wire to keep it safe.



This is another photograph of the same thing, but scanned as a color negative. I had heard that Caffenol tinted the negatives brown. Maybe my perception of color is messed up, but I'm seeing a blue tint in the negative, which is totally normal.



Here's the unit in tip-top shape, all cleaned and tuned up. All it's missing is the head cover and the feet. Hopefully I'll find them on eBay someday soon.



Grodge.



Another negative scanned as color. Same blue tint. There's some fogging at the bottom of the photo. I don't scan all of my negatives in color because it takes forever. If anyone has a better negative scanner they don't want anymore, let me know.



I'd been meaning to try breathing on my lens to fog it up before taking a photo, supposing that it would make a cool effect. For this photo, a step from the chilly Manito Park into the humid Gaiser Conservatory Greenhouse did all of the fogging work for me.



I like the fogged lens effect, and I'll probably keep using it. This photo is almost an optical illusion.



This is what I mean by older-looking. Zoom in to the face detail and it looks like it was actually sketched on. I'm sure there are some expert film photographers who could explain this phenomenon to me. Until then, it's the "old-timey effect."



This one also has the Caffenol fogging at the top and bottom. It looks almost like a light leak.



Again, the shadows are doing strange things and I like it. This picture makes me laugh.



Right now, life is reel pun...I mean, real fun. Feel free to leave me hateful comments.

Winter Photos

Lately I've been taking more shots with my BB gun than my camera. The last roll I shot came out blank when I tried to develop it with Caffenol-C (a developer that uses instant coffee, washing soda, and vitamin C) and apparently did something wrong (the vitamin C formed a hard wafer instead of dissolving into the developer). The following roll, however, turned out fine because I went back to my tried-and-true HC-110. The earliest of these photos are from Christmas, and the latest are from this last weekend.


Ben + Color Mix Crayola Markers = AW SHIT



This girl is pretty cool.


I received this Ansco Super-8 movie projector for Christmas. I recently shot my first Super-8 footage and projected it with this guy. Once the snow goes away, I'll start shooting my first actual Super-8 movie (it'll be about 5 minutes long).



Miniature Lincoln Log cabin: very tricky to assemble.



Magic pipe.



This is Washington State. If you're not here already, you should come here. It's really great.



"In my head there's a city at night / Static gauge with the rush and the lights."



This is one of the early steps to becoming a boring old photographer.



Kids save the day(s). Never quit.