KODACHROME PRE PAID PROCESSING PACKET PROJECT

it’s a while since i blogged re the kodachrome, oops. i resubmitted the arts council proposal and got a NO, which was really dissapointing. so i was feeling down about it all for quite a while, it took a while to get back on the case. the mexicans roll of film finally turned up so i tried to find somewhere to process in black and white, i thought i had found somewhere but they did a test on it and then didnt want to continue. there is a thick layer of stuff on the film and they got a bit stuck over what to do with it. so i got a friend who used to run a lab ages ago, and knew all about processing kodachrome, to develop the 2rolls. the italian film was ok, because it is a very complicated colour film the negs look orange when processed as b&w, so i have images but they were v.odd. the mexican film was BLANK. after all the time and energy spent there was nothing. i really cant explain how i feel about it – tho resignation probably sums it up.i decided to use the blank film as a metaphoric full stop.

scanning the last 2negs was complicated as the scanner saw the orange as purple and it needed so much re-jigging i was begining to loose the will to live, i was loosing the essence of it all. i hate scanning.

meanwhile… i entered a jpeg from my visit to dwaynes lab into the national art competition and got through to the 2nd round of judging. hoorah! so i scanned the slide and had it printed digitally. it looked awful, like it had no interest in being. plan B. i needed it printing from the slide itself, none of this digital interfering. i found a small lab in tonbridge wells that did, the only place left in the uk, only to find out that ilford were stopping making the paper soon, so ilfachrome (originally cibachrome) follows kodachrome into extinction. the lab fella announced that he was planning on shutting shop after the supply of ilfachrome stopped, its all very sad, another skill becomes redundant. the print he made was so much better than the digital derivative. it sings, it has life, it is alive. it made me happy and i was so glad that i had found the right process just in time.

the photo failed to get into the exhibition.

i have decided to get the slides of the kodak addresss printed on ilfachrome, it feels like the right direction to go in. i am having to borrow a large sum of money from my parents to pay for the printing, which feels like the wrong direction to go in. i think that has been my problem for the whole of this project. i really couldnt afford to make it, the film, the postage, the flights & hotel, the processing, the printing & not forgetting the time. but i have carrried on because i believe in it, my head & heart says yes, but all the time is a nagging doubt that i should be wearing a different head !

the mexican has responded & promised to send the roll next week, so i have faith again that he will follow through. i sent the AC application with my referance whilst i was in gdansk on the post industrial revolution residency, the reply was a ‘no’ but it suggested ways to make it a ‘yes’, so i am now concentrating on it again and plan to have send it off again by this friday. i had to put the project to the side whilst i was away, everything had to be put aside, but motivation has returned and i am excited to be back with it.

i received the milan roll a few weeks back, but am still waiting on the mexican, he is not respondinng to flickr messages so i feel a bit stuck at the mo.i shall persist. however i was advised to apply for an arts council grant to help with putting it all together so that has taken a lot of time & brain power. it is now ready to send but i am waiting for a supporting statement that was offered, now i dont know wether to send without or hang on.

argh

hhmmm

since all of the exciting stuff its been relativley quiet on the project front.

i got all of my slides back from dwaynes which left me on a high for a while. the slides from australia came too. mexico i have resigned to being lost in the post so i have sent the mexican another roll to shoot. italy, well its complicated, i think he did not take/send them so i am not blaming the post. after lots of trying i have found another milan flickrite who is keen to take part – hoorah, and i think we know where the po box is so i am hoping that all of the addresses will have been captured soonish. the downside is that i will have to get the last2 processed in black n white, suppose it puts the whole project in context tho (?)

well i was right, america is a long way off & i was fine.

the flying bit took ages and after my second flight i decided to sleep instead of driving. which was the right decision, it allowed me to stop and take photos on the way the following day. driving for miles in a straight line is weird espcially when listening to country music.

so i got there tuesday and checked in to the Super8 motel- its not often the lodgings are in context. found Dwayne’s photo lab and went in with a couple of rolls to be processed. introduced myself and got talking to a fella who had a car load of slides developed, all of trains (how long will that take to go through etc), when a chap from the new york times came out from back wanting to talk to the fella and the lady from london england. he seemed to think we were news worthy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html?_r=1

i had made friends with a flickr member in parsons so i called him and he gave me a tour of the town, which was really kind of him. i was all enthusiastic about being somewhere new which semed to lift his boredom about being somewhere old hat. the next day i went to the council offices to enquire about the very closed art centre, which was indeed closed, but they put on exhibitions in the town hall so after a natter i took a few emails and the hope of putting on some sort of exhibition. spent the rest of the daylight taking photos around the town and popped back to Dwaynes to hand some more film over. oh, and met a group from belgium making a film about traveling & filmmaking, who were cool. Dwaynes was really busy on thursday morning, there were reporters filming and reporting on photographers and photographers photographing photograhers, and all were filming photographing Dwayne’s lab. they were So accomodating – Dwayne was there welcoming people, all the staff were wonderfully communacative and smiley and we were allowed to explore the inner workings of the site. which is what i did with my last roll. my last frame was taken of the office clock as it turned 12.00 the cut off point for handing film over, and as my camera rewound i came over all emotional, i really didnt want it to rewind.

i was all melancholic watching peolple use up their last rolls of film & it was interesting to see digital users clicking away with no countdown pressure. Dwayne was a pleasure to talk to and had time for everybody, a true gentleman, and i feel very honoured to be captured on his roll of film-the last roll of kodachrome to be processed