In the mid-seventies, I tried briefly tried my hand at developing my own film and photos. I didn't keep at it very long because I didn't have a proper darkroom and found it impossible to keep the chemicals at their proper temperature in our cold basement. However, above and below are two my efforts. I had a good model. In both pictures I experimented with dodging as I was projecting the negative onto the photo paper in an effort to eliminate the busy wallpaper background. Nikki Dee was in that dress last week, and those pictures are on Cuppa's blog this morning.
I think the next one was done at Sears; if not, it was taken as part of a church booklet. She must have been a bit younger than Nikki Dee is because the dress fit her better.
A family portrait from the very early eighties when AC still had hair.. This time Althegal is in the same white dress. Note: I still wear a goatee but I wore a fullish beard most of the time for over thirty years. Although I never thought to go full-beard again, I have lately been playing with the idea of growing it in. My hair isn't very gray, but beards turn sooner, and I am wondering what mine is like now.
In case you don't go to Cuppa's blog I will say that the white dress was smocked by my mother and the orange one by Cuppa's mother. I don't suppose they were even thinking about great grandchildren back then; I know that I certainly wasn't thinking of grandchildren, and I certainly wouldn't have thought of getting out those dresses if Cuppa hadn't.
