About the Analog Memory Film Users Group

A note from Brady, our Lab Manager:

Photography as a form of expression has been opened to a new world of possibilities with the advances made in digital imaging. Considering the ease of use and ever increasing digital image quality available at an affordable price, one would have to ask why anyone would want to use film again, ever?

While I acknowledge the validity of the question I argue against the presupposed position that there is an either/or decision to be made or that using one media excludes the use of another. Certainly the advent of the automobile seriously diminished the day to day use of the horse and buggy. However, the daily auto commute did not change the minds of countless equestrian enthusiasts nor stop us from enjoying the simple joys of riding our bicycles. In fact I would argue that riding a horse or bicycle has been freed from the drudgery of a means of transportation and elevated to an activity simply enjoyed.

Hi, my name is Brady Lambert and I am the Lab Manager at Southeastern Camera's Carrboro store. I have a lifetime in photography, starting in 1969 working as a darkroom rat in a portrait studio located near the French Quarter in New Orleans, I have worked in and around photography almost daily for 42 years. In my lifetime I have experienced many advancements in photography and followed many trends, tried all the latest fads, discarded the nonsense and attempted to keep and refine the positive developments.

I have fully embraced the digital image as an effective and beautiful form of expression and use my Nikon D700 exclusively for all of my commercial work. I also love to use the D700 along with the Carl Zeiss F.2 prime lenses to create art. Still, my 16 years running a custom lab specializing in quality B&W work continues to haunt me as it reminds me of the beauty of working with film, the edge sharpness and tonal quality of a perfectly exposed and developed B&W negative. I also enjoy the mental exercise of previsualization necessary to create a film image as opposed to snapping a shot in order to see it replayed on the LCD to see if it works as a photograph.

For these reasons and more, I am starting this group as a method of working with like-minded creative people who would love the opportunity to work with a variety of B&W films and processes. I will announce a selected process that I will process and invite everyone to submit film by a deadline to be included in this run. The selected process will offer a unique opportunity to experience some really exciting techniques not normally available in a commercial lab. To be notified in advance of the continuing projects, please sign up either in the store or send an email to secphotolab@gmail.com.

Analog Memory Film Group
Project Due July 13, 2013

June Project

Caffenol Developer

Caffenol is the use of instant coffee to develop black & white film. There are several mixture variations out there, but Brady has settled on one that combines instant coffee and vitamin C, which yields fantastic qualities of whatever film is being used.

From Brady:

“For this project, I would suggest shooting any type of black and white film, old or new emulsion.  I would recommend staying away from the 3200 films, unless you expose them at their true emulsion speed of 800 – 1200.  Once you’ve completed your roll, bring it to Southeastern Camera before Saturday, July 13.  We will start processing the film the following week.

The cost to develop a roll will be $10, either 35mm or 120mm.  To encourage people to post their images to our flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/analog_memory/), we are offering a cd for only two dollars more.  To summarize this deal,  for $12, you get your negatives developed in coffee and scanned to a cd.  Be sure to share them with us!

Remember that this development (and all other Analog Memory projects) can be ordered anytime.  Keep in mind that higher prices are necessary if ordered outside of the group rate projects. 

This special Caffenol development will produce images from all light levels from bright sunshine to candle light.  It will produce great tonal range and detail, so shoot anything and everything, then bring it to us--we’ll do the rest!”