Time was when the technology we have today was unheard of and photographers working with their cameras and in their darkrooms were considered genuises. And to be sure, their work did have a certain allure, especially as the heart of it had to be conducted in a dark room.
I remember very well my first few visits to the darkroom my uncle used to have set up in his house. It was in the attic, so even getting to it was a bit of an adventure for small bairn like me; climbing all those sets of stairs till you eventually reached the attic had my little legs beat!
Of course, as is always the case, the first thing that got my attention was the smell, a weird mixture of chemicals and damp mustiness in the small space under the roof.
I can safely say that was the time when something clicked in my mind telling me that this was the best hobby I would ever see in my life, and from that time on, I was smitten by the photography bug, something that still has not gone away even now, after more than 40 or so years. Every time I enter my own darkroom nowadays, and the moment I smell the chemicals I use for my own processing, I am magically and instantly transported away to that tiny attic my uncle used to have.
And that was also the time when I learned the beauty of black and white film. Besides all the other films around at that time, my uncle had suggested, with a tell-tale glint in his eye, that I try some Tri X in my camera and see what I think about it. That of course told me straight away that there is bound to be some mystique behind the film, otherwise my uncle wouldn’t have given me that mischievous look of his, so I was determined to try it out.
Loading up my dad’s old Agfa Super Silette with a roll of Tri X, I walked out of the house and headed on foot, all the way to Ealing Broadway in West London, which at that time was a posh kind of place with stores like Bentalls, F H Rowse and British Home Stores lining the main High Street. And of course that was where one of my favourite toy shops used to be situated, just past the National Westminster bank; the toy shop was called Confiserie Francaise, and it had two huge beautifully curved glass windows outside, and a doorway leading to an absolute Aladdin’s cave full of all the toys you can imagine! Needless to say, I used to spend virtually every weekend in there, spending my few shillings pocket money on toys! Oh, those were the days!
Anyway, so during my way to Ealing Broadway, I took as many shots as I could, of buildings, people shopping etc, whatever I thought interesting, and of course at that time nobody was paranoid about someone taking photos, unlike today.
Very soon the film had been used up and that very same day I took it to my uncle who told me how to develop it and prepare the negatives for printing.
I can tell you that soon as I saw my shots printed out, my eyeballs almost fell out! I had never seen such beautiful photos, except in books of course; sharp, crisp whites and deep, dark black shadows, with shades in between; I was hooked!
So that was my first introduction to Tri X, a film that is still going strong and should be the one film, if not the only one, that every aspiring photographer, amateur or professional, should never be without.
The film’s history goes back at least 50 years. The speciality about Tri X is that it has a superb emulsion coating that gives unbeatable contrast with incredible sharpness, with only a slight hint of grain, making it ideal for moody shots.
Tri X has a lot of harshness about it; so this is the one to choose for portraits that convey the true feeling of a person’s character, I find.
And of course, unlike colour films, the images will not fade. I myself prefer to have my most valuable shots, be they of people or places, taken on this film and printed by hand on the very best black and white paper I can afford, for I know that once done in this way, my shots will still be around generations after I am gone from this world; I couldn’t say that about digital media, stored as it is on precarious hard drives, prey to all sorts of problems such as power surges and obsolete formats and magnetic storms and what not.
Tri X doesn’t require as much development time as other black and white films, like TMax for example. which of course means you can have your film developed, dried and in your darkroom for printing in a very short time span.
Sure, there is quite a bit of graininess present with this film, but that is half the fun and beauty of using it. It somehow manages to infuse a magical quality to your shots that you would swear were not observable when you took the photos! With hand on heart, I can safely say that digital black and white shots just do not, and for me, cannot have the mystery and magic that shooting with this film gives.
And you know something? With Tri X, you don’t need to have a camera costing $$$$$$; load it up into any good classic camera you have lying around at home, and you’ll see what I mean; the results will always be astounding.
So there you are! I bet this has got your creative juices flowing at long last and you can’t wait to get your hands on some this weekend.
For me, I am just so glad that I learned this superb art, which in my mind is so close to that other ancient art of incantation and hocus-pocus, alchemy. And all this at a time when darkrooms are fast being closed down.
Every time I switch on that red lamp and those weird and strange smells together with the tinkling sound of running water in my darkroom hit my senses, I am in heaven, nay, paradise itself!
Why don’t you join me?
:)
Filed under: black & white photography, cellphone art photograhy, chemicals & film, Classic film cameras, film noir
