You probably read the title and cringed in some sort of way. He did what? What could have gone wrong? Well..considering it’s film photography many things CAN and WILL go wrong. I’m speaking from experience when I say this.
Anyways…one of the film stocks that seemed beloved by many film shooters, Kodak TechPan, is no more. I’m not sure when Kodak stopped producing the film but I’ve always heard that it’s a fantastic film, there is no grain, it’s beautiful, it’s sharp, etc…Well, awhile back I was gifted a few of the TP 120 film rolls. I’ve never shot this film before so I knew I wanted the first roll to be special.
I recently drove out to my local dragstrip with my Pentax 67 aka Big Boy and my Holga 120GCFN. I knew this would be my last trip to the dragstrip this year where I could shoot some film. Soooo I grabbed one of the expired rolls of Kodak TechPan and threw it in my backpack.
I decided to shoot the roll @16 and that worked out great considering it was a bright sunny day. What could go wrong right? Being horribly sick, I still wanted to develop and scan the roll. I wanted to see what all the talk was about. I reached out to Alex Luyckx and he kindly told me how to develop the roll. Rodinal 1+100 for 4 min. Easy peasy.
I don’t know if the meds I am taking messed with my judgement but I used a tank that I’ve had issues with before. It didn’t even cross my mind. Everything is going well. Developer, stop, fix, rinse and end with photo flo. Check. Time to hang the negatives and look at them closely. Check. Well…I skipped a part. Somehow, the roll was slightly crinkled here and there AND parts of the film were touching each other. Not every frame but %70 of them. Yup…I managed to screw this one up.
I sat there and debated if I should just throw the w tire roll in the trash can or should I suck it up and use it as a learning experience by sharing this dreadful experience. So I let the roll dry and went upstairs to see if I can salvage the %70 of photos that I screwed up. But as I say there, I thought screw it…I’ll write a blog about this terrible ending and share every photo on the roll. Yes, they’re ugly but I’ve accepted that. Being pretty sick, the last thing I need is to beat myself up over my bad judgement.
So you may be asking “Jr, so what do you think about Kodak TechPan?” Well…I think it looks fabolous. Everything about it. Grain? No grain. Sharpness? All there. Tones? Beautiful. I had a thought…if this film were in existence today, the odds are it would be in my top 3 to shoot. That speaks a lot because there are many good film stocks available….for now. So yea, it’s a fantastic film! I have a few rolls left and I plan on shooting one more roll. Same iso, same development. I’ll probably take portraits of my 4 year old twins. With that said, I apologize for the long words but I speak what comes to mind and I just type it lol
I decided to share every single photo on the roll. They’re not that great but hey, it is what it is right? I’ve accepted it, I’m moving on. It’s only film. Remember, if you have any questions or feel like discussing a topic please feel free to reach out to me on IG @wyattshootsfilm
