I recently received some pictures I sent off for development. This single piece of plastic film has caused me more hassle in the past few weeks than I ever before imagined possible. Life at the best of times is fairly simple, you send the film off to get developed, it comes back a few days later and everything is all right. I took my roll to my tried and trusted camera shop and waited. A few days later I returned, no, “we’ll need some more time for that sir”. This seems reasonable enough. Or would do if it didn’t subsequently happen another five times. I should like to stress that I hold no blame with the people who run the shop, they did as good a job as they could with what they had. I just lament the fact that the business of developing pictures has become so narrowly focused.
Queerly enough I am not at all disheartened. Rather enlightened to the reality of developing slide film. I am happy with the results. This is enhanced in that the film was primarily shot on a day out with two of my great friends; Will (above left) and Pearl (above right), just before I travelled to University. The green tint of the images is an interesting effect.
I wonder at the way that images capture time, and in this instance the memories are just as much about trying to attain the images as they are about the time. I find it strangely harmonious. But next time I intend to get a film cross processed, I’ll plan for it to take a few weeks.
Jonathon Seagull Blog 