Darkroom Day

We finished Focus on Wednesday and were away pretty quickly – Jan managed to talk her way past the security gates to reach the doors nearest our stand before they let anyone else through!

Hope you managed to come by our stand for a chat, if not there are plenty of other opportunities through the year as we do shows from Edinburgh down to Sevenoaks and lectures down as far as Brighton.

Now I’m spending time in the darkroom working my way through processing 141 rolls of 120 FP4+ from our 4 week trip to the USA in January and early February. My film drying cabinet packed up yesterday which isn’t going to help! Hope the local electrician can come by soon.

So far I have processed the Chicago and Keystone films and I’m sure I have some good ones. Loads of snow in Chicago to add something different to the shots. Today I’m doing Colorado National Monument, Goblin Valley and Bryce Canyon. First I have to post off my Gitzo tripod head and Lowepro camera case for repair and I sent off one of my Mamiya 7 cameras and the 43mm lens yesterday for the same. After years with no real problems I seemed to be jinxed on the recent trip. My plastic shell of my mountaineering boots also cracked and fell apart in the cold weather and the smooth plastic sole of my downhill ski boots disintegrated. I put these last 2 down to old age. What a trip!

Off to the Lakes in a week or so for some more pictures for my next book, weather permitting.

Dave Butcher