Heroique
7-Nov-2009, 14:48
Oh also, where can I get basic chemicals (HC110, stop & fix) and maybe rent portable strobe (aka elinchrom ranger). Last time we used Glazers camera. Just in case if they do not do film anymore (I do not know) - any other places?
This morning, I paid a visit to my local film and darkroom supplier – and saw funny & melancholy things.
As many here know, Glazers (in Seattle) has two stores on opposite sides of the street. The store for lighting/darkroom/film is one side. Digital on the other. They face each other in friendly antagonism.
Entering the lighting/film store, you’re met by umbrellas and studio lights mounted on tall stands and swinging booms – pointing up, down, all directions. Giant white diffusers and gold reflectors hang from high ceilings. Like a Hollywood set. And you’re the …. film star. :cool:
Keep walking. Further back are tables burdened with giant Omega enlargers, sprawling Saunders easels, working Kodak projectors. Next, one sees shelves brimming – groaning – under the weight of darkroom chemicals, beautiful print washers, 250-count boxes of heavy fiber papers, and development trays of all sizes.
Best is the back wall – where tall glass doors open onto shelves of film stored in a refrigerated room. All emulsions. Every format. But before you open the glass door, wipe the mist and look inside. I wish to God I were delivered of what I saw. Little elves, dressed in 70’s fashion, keeping all the film bins full. (When you open the door, they scatter and disappear.)
“They’re so much shorter,” said a nearby customer, who was inspecting the 6” Kodak darkroom thermometers. The nice 12” versions were out of stock and no longer on display.
With FP4+ and Ilford RC Deluxe in hand, I visited the cashier, then crossed the street to the digital store for more fun. “So this is where all the customers are,” I thought. Customers, that is, who moved quicker. Talked faster. Gestured excitedly. D3x’s. 1Ds Mk III’s. 3880’s. Incentives. Promotions. Next week’s miraculous break-through.
But strangely, right over there – just like an oasis in the desert [see Ed. Note] – and where it’s always been, was the lonely, quiet counter w/ used LF gear. (Not long ago, I met my beloved 150 g-claron here.) I watched two customers wander slowly in this direction. I followed them. I listened closely. “I remember…” I heard one of them whisper. Also, “Back in the day…” Then nostalgic smiles & healing conversations.
Now I’m ready for tomorrow’s field trip, but I’ve already had my weekend fun. :)
[Ed. Note: I was about to say “digital desert,” but its likable alliteration didn’t quite justify its inflammatory potential.]
This morning, I paid a visit to my local film and darkroom supplier – and saw funny & melancholy things.
As many here know, Glazers (in Seattle) has two stores on opposite sides of the street. The store for lighting/darkroom/film is one side. Digital on the other. They face each other in friendly antagonism.
Entering the lighting/film store, you’re met by umbrellas and studio lights mounted on tall stands and swinging booms – pointing up, down, all directions. Giant white diffusers and gold reflectors hang from high ceilings. Like a Hollywood set. And you’re the …. film star. :cool:
Keep walking. Further back are tables burdened with giant Omega enlargers, sprawling Saunders easels, working Kodak projectors. Next, one sees shelves brimming – groaning – under the weight of darkroom chemicals, beautiful print washers, 250-count boxes of heavy fiber papers, and development trays of all sizes.
Best is the back wall – where tall glass doors open onto shelves of film stored in a refrigerated room. All emulsions. Every format. But before you open the glass door, wipe the mist and look inside. I wish to God I were delivered of what I saw. Little elves, dressed in 70’s fashion, keeping all the film bins full. (When you open the door, they scatter and disappear.)
“They’re so much shorter,” said a nearby customer, who was inspecting the 6” Kodak darkroom thermometers. The nice 12” versions were out of stock and no longer on display.
With FP4+ and Ilford RC Deluxe in hand, I visited the cashier, then crossed the street to the digital store for more fun. “So this is where all the customers are,” I thought. Customers, that is, who moved quicker. Talked faster. Gestured excitedly. D3x’s. 1Ds Mk III’s. 3880’s. Incentives. Promotions. Next week’s miraculous break-through.
But strangely, right over there – just like an oasis in the desert [see Ed. Note] – and where it’s always been, was the lonely, quiet counter w/ used LF gear. (Not long ago, I met my beloved 150 g-claron here.) I watched two customers wander slowly in this direction. I followed them. I listened closely. “I remember…” I heard one of them whisper. Also, “Back in the day…” Then nostalgic smiles & healing conversations.
Now I’m ready for tomorrow’s field trip, but I’ve already had my weekend fun. :)
[Ed. Note: I was about to say “digital desert,” but its likable alliteration didn’t quite justify its inflammatory potential.]