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 !
