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- Name
- Mike
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1993. The year I left Uni. I left with bright hopes of entrepreneurial achievement, after discovering the motorcycle disc-lock a couple of years before and then selling them in the UK by main order with my bike-nut Uncle; who decided we needed to open a proper shop, and I should run it.
September came, and as the leaves fell, so did our spirits... bakruptsy loomed. But, signing on, I discovered I could use my UB40 card to enroll in a night-class, so started my C&G Photography course, as I was fascinated by doing all the dark-room stuff, and felt a little bit of a fraud only ever taking snaps to be processed by Boots the Chemist. My Birthday was in November & getting really keen on the matter, my mother asked me what I might like for my birthday present. I had been pouring over started dark-room kits for £99.99 in the mags and this seemed like a good idea, and my mother agreed. But talking it through with my tutor, he reckoned that the kits weren't too great and I might be better off getting some better second hand gear. Enter a fellow student who had just some such equipment spare, and a deal was struck, that included a basic colour enlarger, lens, power-supply and timer; safe lamp and some dev-tanks.
I went to collect it after the next lesson, and he asked me for the magazine advert, which said that the £99 kit was a 'colour' dark room, and listed what was in it... which he checked then came back out to my car with an orbital colour print processor and a brand new and unopened box of colour chemistry.. "It ent much cop..." he said.... "But you might like to give it a try"
I did. Indeed I did.
And so my mother's kitchen, started getting turned into a dark room every night after every-one had gone to bed, and I started experimenting.... usually not very successfully!
However... this is the one and only colour print film I have ever processed.
The pictures were taken at the 1993 RAC Rally at the Weston-Park Special Stage; having discovered that kids got in free, so I conned my step-dad into paying my entry if I took my little step-brothers out for the day on this blustery autumn afternoon, when they were moaning they were bored!
When every-one was a-bed.. I blacked out kitchen windows and set to work!
The film was developed, pretty much following the instructions, then using the same chemistry I tried to make some prints. Which possibly because the paper was old, just didn't work. I tried making some B&W contacts and a few enlargements on B&W paper from the colour negs, but ultimately, never printed them; and was loath to go pay Boots 50p a reprint to see what they looked like.... so they were filed away and forgotten about... until this week-end.. when scanning in the archive I re-discovered them!
So here they are. The first (and only) Colour print film I have ever processed, almost 20 years ago!
Pic 1: #35 Glyn Jones & Nigel Evans - Toyota Celica GT-Four
Pic 2: #50 Jonathan Joannides & Adrian Farrell - Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4
Pic 3: #27 Ari Mökkönen & Risto Mannisenmäki - Audi Coupé S2
Pic 4: #104 Paul Cooper & Eddie Bastiana - Ford Fiesta XR2
Pic 5: #116 Richard Statham & Laurie Walker - Peugeot 205 GTI
Pic 6: #17 Pavel Sibera & Petr Gross - Škoda Favorit 136L
September came, and as the leaves fell, so did our spirits... bakruptsy loomed. But, signing on, I discovered I could use my UB40 card to enroll in a night-class, so started my C&G Photography course, as I was fascinated by doing all the dark-room stuff, and felt a little bit of a fraud only ever taking snaps to be processed by Boots the Chemist. My Birthday was in November & getting really keen on the matter, my mother asked me what I might like for my birthday present. I had been pouring over started dark-room kits for £99.99 in the mags and this seemed like a good idea, and my mother agreed. But talking it through with my tutor, he reckoned that the kits weren't too great and I might be better off getting some better second hand gear. Enter a fellow student who had just some such equipment spare, and a deal was struck, that included a basic colour enlarger, lens, power-supply and timer; safe lamp and some dev-tanks.
I went to collect it after the next lesson, and he asked me for the magazine advert, which said that the £99 kit was a 'colour' dark room, and listed what was in it... which he checked then came back out to my car with an orbital colour print processor and a brand new and unopened box of colour chemistry.. "It ent much cop..." he said.... "But you might like to give it a try"
I did. Indeed I did.
And so my mother's kitchen, started getting turned into a dark room every night after every-one had gone to bed, and I started experimenting.... usually not very successfully!
However... this is the one and only colour print film I have ever processed.
The pictures were taken at the 1993 RAC Rally at the Weston-Park Special Stage; having discovered that kids got in free, so I conned my step-dad into paying my entry if I took my little step-brothers out for the day on this blustery autumn afternoon, when they were moaning they were bored!
When every-one was a-bed.. I blacked out kitchen windows and set to work!
The film was developed, pretty much following the instructions, then using the same chemistry I tried to make some prints. Which possibly because the paper was old, just didn't work. I tried making some B&W contacts and a few enlargements on B&W paper from the colour negs, but ultimately, never printed them; and was loath to go pay Boots 50p a reprint to see what they looked like.... so they were filed away and forgotten about... until this week-end.. when scanning in the archive I re-discovered them!
So here they are. The first (and only) Colour print film I have ever processed, almost 20 years ago!
Pic 1: #35 Glyn Jones & Nigel Evans - Toyota Celica GT-Four
Pic 2: #50 Jonathan Joannides & Adrian Farrell - Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4
Pic 3: #27 Ari Mökkönen & Risto Mannisenmäki - Audi Coupé S2
Pic 4: #104 Paul Cooper & Eddie Bastiana - Ford Fiesta XR2
Pic 5: #116 Richard Statham & Laurie Walker - Peugeot 205 GTI
Pic 6: #17 Pavel Sibera & Petr Gross - Škoda Favorit 136L
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