Disaster!

Well that sucked...

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I've recently done two landscape shoots with my 4x5 camera, one photographing Cape Patterson in early evening and the other at the Big Drift on Wilsons Promontory. I exposed six sheets of Kodak Tmax 100 at each location.

Last night I started developing the sheets. I can only develop six sheets at a time so I randomly grabbed three of the film holders and started loading up the Mod54. I planned to stand develop the film for one hour using Rodinal.

I always pre-wash the film for a couple of minutes before adding the developer. As I started pouring the water out of the Patterson tank the lid fell off the tank. Obviously some fool (me) hadn't ensured that the lid was secure. Six sheets of film ruined. Even though I knew the film would be completely buggered I decided to finish developing anyway - 'cause you never know what you might find.

Losing the Big Drift photos sucked especially hard. I wrecked myself getting those shots, my back is still aching from three hours of walking up and down sand dunes with a heavy backpack.

Anyway, I still have six sheets to develop. Let's hope for better luck tonight.

The good news is, you can learn from my mistake. Make sure you check and double check that everything is light-tight and secure before anything else.