« Kicking ass in Canada | Main | Hint hint, love, IMNA »
Another historic photo
Dave, powdered, 1996ish.
Maybe I'll make this a regular "from the photo vaults" feature. Kind of self-indulgent, but it has been fun digging up the images from the photo gallery site I built around 1996 (which I've since taken down).
I took this photo in college using a 1960s-era Hasselblad on loan from my dad. I gave the camera back to him recently, which of course I now regret. I think he sold it on eBay.
There's a funny story behind this. I was visiting Dave at his parents' house out in the suburbs, as I did every weekend in the summer to enjoy their air conditioning (and company, and bottomless pitchers of iced tea, and awesome cooking, and ever-gracious hospitality). Dave's mom was on her way out to the grocery store and asked if anyone needed anything, so I asked if she could pick up a couple pounds of powdered sugar for me. Bless her heart, she did, and she didn't even ask what I needed it for. Dave and I retreated to his bedroom, where he took off his shirt and I buried him in 10x.
I wish the tones in this print were a little bit better. I could have worked a little harder printing the highlights and shadows. But it's kind of fun. It was lit entirely by a single 60w bulb. I asked a lot of that camera. If I ever get my hands on a film scanner, I can work on a better "print," but for now this scan is all I have, standard disclaimer blah blah blah.
The white scratches and blips on the image are damage and fingerprints on the negative, although they arguably add to the grimy effect I intended. I processed the film by hand, and while loading 35mm film onto a processing reel is pretty easy, it's much harder to get this wide 120 film on the reel without flexing it or crinkling it the tiniest bit. Most of my prints were a lot cleaner than this one.
Or maybe some of the powdered sugar just seeped in through the old camera and stuck to the film. That's sorta what it looks like. That's a better story. I think I'll stick with it.
August 28, 2006 10:17 AM
There are (is?) all manner of scanners (and multimedia equipment) available at school, if you ever want to make a field trip...
and here i thought that my college boyfriend & i were weird in that we took joy in painting on each other (yes, ON) w/ watercolors while we traipsed (trespassed?) nekkid in the woods behind campus...you, my friend, took photos of your boyfriend covered in confectioners sugar while at his PARENT'S house!!! crazy kidz!!
Ooooh, premarital powdering. Kinky. What I want to know is how you managed to clean it up without attracting unwanted attention from Dave's mom (then only 'boyfriend's mother')?