Just Plain Playing

With the pressures of work and career on my mind all the time, I'm trying to remember to play. Hence, I've been playing around with different homemade photo developers. There's an avid community of film photographers who use "caffenol" to develop black and white film (made from coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda). So, I did a little research into this, and found out what chemistry is at play here, then decided it was time to get a little crazy.

My experimentation has been paying off, perhaps less in terms of the quality of the images I'm getting (although I'm not disappointed), but definitely in terms of the fun-factor. So, above you see examples of the following "home-brewed" developers, from the top on down:

1. A view of my backyard, developed with a "tea" of chopped basil leaves.
2. Blueberry Pomegranate juice, frozen concentrate
3. A macro of a rose, developed with O'Doul's Premium beer
4. Cranberry Blend frozen concentrate
5. Folger's dark roast coffee
6. A tea made from German Tettnang hops

I've got a few more things to try, then I'll have to refine the recipes of my favorites, but I'm having a ball messing around. I may never buy commercial developer again!