Saturday, December 22, 2012

Fresh Brownie

My 1950s Brownie Hawkeye Flash rollfilm camera. 
It's a shame we don't have a product like Bakelite out there today. For a certain period in American history, Bakelite ruled supreme before being replaced by cheaper, less toxic plastics. Turns out the wonder material, of which my Brownie Hawkeye flash (at left) is made, contains insane amounts of formaldehyde and asbestos. Oops.
Bench at Donner Memorial State Part, Truckee, Calif. 
Anyhow, on to this weekend, when I loaded up some Ilford HP5 400 ASA film onto a 620 spool and shot away at Donner Lake near Truckee, California. This campsite is the location of the Donner Party's 1840s encampments.

After playing around with the Brownie for a day or two, I decided to develop it in Kodak D-76 at 7 minutes, 30 seconds, followed by a short stop bath and about 7 minutes of Ilford Fixer.

(Click any of the shots to see them larger)

Public Pier #2, Donner Lake, California
One of the curious things - the images here are accidental. When cleaning the camera, I accidentally flipped the lens, creating that Holga-esque effect people often intentionally go for. It was pure dumb luck, but I liked a couple of the shots on this roll.

Here they are for your perusal.

Thomas runs in from the snow, draggin his sled