The one thing I haven’t done since I was in high school was develop my own film. I didn’t have a darkroom or access to one, so I had to send the film out in mailers to get it developed or have it done at a local lab. Living in New York was great because there were plenty of places that developed film. It was a lot easier and much more cost effective have it developed than to rent out darkroom space, buy chemicals, and develop film. With the advent of digital cameras, I got away from shooting film. Even though I don’t need film anymore, there was something about it that I missed. Just like an audiophile that enjoys the sound of an album (yes, I have a turntable and albums too), I was missing the look, the grain, and the ‘feel’ of film. I would still shoot film from time to time, but something else was missing.

Just recently I got the itch to develop my own film at home. I discovered that it doesn’t require a fully equipped darkroom. There’s minimal equipment, minimal space, and a minimal amount of time needed for home developing. So what did I do now that I was armed with this information? I loaded up the camera with some film, picked up the necessary supplies, shot and developed my own film! I feel like a kid on Christmas Day. What’s changed is that I can now use modern technology to complete the process. Once the film is developed, I just use a scanner designed for film negatives and scan them onto the computer. At that point the images are completely digital and can be treated like any other digital file. I can process and edit the images just like a digital image produced by my digital camera bodies. Even though there’s a digital component, the ‘feel’ of the film is still there.

Here are the first images from my foray into developing film at home. I hope you like them…

Earlier this month we made a trip up to Buffalo to pick Becca up from school. We met her boyfriend Andra’e for the first time, proceeded to scaring the crap out of Andra’e for the first time, and then took them out to the Cheesecake Factory for the best cheesecake ever……Red Velvet!

One of the main benefits of the move will be the addition of a studio/office, something we felt we needed in order to conduct client consultations in more a relaxed setting. While we always offer to meet clients at a location of their choosing, it’s nice to offer a quiet place to discuss your photography needs. We plan on using the studio for client meetings, photo editing, and shooting headshots and portraits. And yes, there will be coffee!

Just to give you and idea of how much work we have ahead of us…

At one point we had a full breeding setup of about 6 tanks, all filled with African Cichlids from Lake Malawi. Over the years, we managed to whittle it down to just one 75 gallon aquarium. We recently lost a favorite of ours….a fish that we’ve had for near 4 years. His name was “Spot”. You can tell how he got that name by taking a look at the image below.

Rest In Peace, my friend…

- Alan & Silke

©Alan Abrams Photography – Long Island Wedding Photographer – Specializing in Wedding, Portrait, and Lifestyle Photography