I have not been shooting a ton over the past few months. Instead I’ve been spending my photography time in the darkroom, working on prints to give away this holiday season. That work has been very rewarding, but I wanted to create some new negatives so I finished shooting a roll of FP4 that’s been lingering in my camera since September.

For this roll I tried semi-stand development with Rodinal mixed 1+100. The film sat in the developer for 60 minutes and I inverted it every 15 minutes or so. Is this the reason behind the streaks on these negatives? Or were they caused by something else? I’m not sure. Other than the streaks I think the negatives came out great. I may try washing them again to see if that helps.

Another lesson learned (or, rather, re-learned. Again) is that using a 50mm macro as my walking-around lens introduces some challenges with focus and depth-of-field.

Another lesson is that my Pentax Spotmatic does not like temperatures below 0F. The mirror will freeze in the up position, making it impossible to see through the viewfinder. So these shots taken during a very cold hike in Afton State Park were taking largely by guesswork, which is why the focus is off. I’m surprised they turned out at all. I’d love to hike back out to this tree once temperatures warm up.

Finally, a lesson that I should listen to my instincts. I drive past a nearby park all the time and there are two staircase features there that I’ve always wanted to photograph but never do. To finish off this roll I headed down there with a tripod and my 35mm/3.5 and started shooting. I should have shot there earlier! I will make a point to get back to that park many times in the future.

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