Two prints with Beseler 23C II enlarger

Desperately wanted to do some printing and so I went off and bought myself a Beseler 23C II b&w enlarger even though I already own an Omega B66 b&w enlarger (which I bought for $40 off CL 2 years back and have printed very successfully from it after tweaking it and adding ND filter to increase the printing time). Unfortunately, I am in the Bay Area for a couple of months without it. I had checked out what is left in the rental darkroom scene from San Jose to San Francisco, and figured I will end up spending more since they go by the hour or a combination of one time membership fee plus a reduced hourly fee. I much prefer the comfort of printing at home in peace.



The enlarger and the many accompanying accessories costs me $120 (off CL). There was a nice timer, an orange safe light, 4 negative carriers including 4x5 and 6x6 beg carriers, extra 38mm and 80mm enlarging lens, an almost new Sanders 4 blade 11x14 easel, 10+ stainless steel developing reels and tanks, and "several hundreds" of dollars of old fiber paper from 8x10 all the way to 16x20, still in their boxes and sealed. If 1/10th of the papers were any good, I would have recovered more than what I paid for, and the Beseler 23C II would be a bonus!! There was a box of Zone VI Studios Grade 2 paper in the pile, I understand they were the standard until Multigrade papers came along.


"f/5.6, 6 seconds, Grade 2 paper. Plus X 125 film, Canoscan 8400T scan"
So I proceeded to set up my makeshift darkroom. There were two windows and a door that needed to be light tight. I taped the windows with black plastic sheeting from Home Depot and created a temporary workbench for the trays by putting a 2x4 plywood panel also from Home Depot over two plastic cabinets. Bought a fresh developer and stop bath from Kaufman's camera, and they "donated" a piece of perspex for my contact print (it worked). Printing is only done after sundown (now you see why I wish the sun would set sooner so I get a few extra hours of printing at night). After some experimenting, I was finally able to settle into the printing routine.


"f/5.6, #3 filter, Ilford Multigrade warm tone paper, 8 seconds, SPX 200, Canoscan 8400T scan"

A few notes:
I used RC paper for contact print, at 3-5 sec increments, depending on the tone/contrast
After looking at the contact print, I decided to test print an image I shot at the recent Cinco de Mayo parade in San Jose on Zone VI Studio Grade 2. There was more contrast on the contact print than I wanted so I thought printing on Grade 2 paper would be a good compromise (I am still waiting for my filter pack to arrive).

The first image above of the young cowboy was rather interesting...the old Zone VI Grade 2 fiber paper probably gave the print its warm and aged look.....still experimenting....

The daisy shot on the other hand was printed on regular Multigrade Fiber Paper with a #3 filter. When I looked at the contact print, it seemed to have nice shadows and highlights (the #3 filter was the only filter that came with the enlarger until mine arrives). Below is the scanned image. I like the result, particularly the grain, which was very visible when enlarging to 11x14. I might add this was shot with Ilford Harman Infrared SPX200. It was the first time I used Ilford SPX 200 and I love it. It has a nice soft tonal range and the highlights are a touch ghost white while the shadows are solid black. Looking at how my scenics and still life turned out, I will definitely be shooting a lot more of the SPX 200.

My defining moments in Photography

A fellow photographer at a networking group recently posted a poignant question: what are your defining moments in your pursuit of photography?

A few responded that it was their move to digital photography as it helped shorten their learning curves considerably. For me, the defining moments came in stages and had more to do with photography techniques than equipment per se. I am old fashioned in that sense, I am always searching for the crafts of the old Masters as opposed to the latest and the newest. This craving has its roots in my passion for an unpretentious good bottle of wine - a la "Two Buck Chuck" at Trader Joes.


My first defining moment was when I was introduced to cross processing at the end of my first photo class, developing E6 slide film in C41 chemistry. I was shocked by the complete color shift and the rather unique end image. It was my baptism into alternative processing in a way. For weeks after class ended I poured through photography books trying to discover what else is possible in cross processing and how I could push the limits.

Part II of my journey was learning the art of seeing light in photography - by way of black and white/traditional darkroom technique - A labor of love. The black and white photography class I took was taught by an idiotic professor who rather be retired at his age and was often moody. However, because he has a wealth of knowledge, the students put up with his tantrums. All was not lost because I came away realizing photography is really about seeing the light and it has been my mantra since.

Read more on My Defining Moments in Photography

The Wonderful World of Photography

This is sort of an old story but worthy of a blog post - a page in my quest to become a better photographer.

The two photography classes I took at Santa Monica College (ranked 9th in the nation for Photography) were all well worth it, albeit the instructor for Photo 2 was rather cranky, idiotic and I put up with it for the love of photography. All in all, good stuffs and I have all the wonderful slides and negatives to show for!!.

I fell in love with my 18 year old crusty Pentax ME Super manual camera which intimidated me when I was in college, which now boasts of a beautiful SMC 50mm f/1.7 lens in great condition. My favorite was cross processing, from E6 to C41 (not the other way around), I was flabbergasted (understatement) by the results and the metering of my now beloved Pentax ME Super, see image posted below. I tried my hands at Infrared color slide, and they were out of this world especially the still life shot in the little make shift studio I set up in my garage which has two large glass panes that filter in beautiful afternoon light :) Need to get those slides scanned so I can show them on the blog. Oh, the Ektachrome Infrared EIR films were no longer being manufactured by Kodak so I had to hunt high and low for them and someone in NoHo had two precious rolls. I used one for class, glad a few shots came out really well and now the remaining roll is sitting in my fridge and I am guarding it like a small pot of gold.



No unauthorized download of this image for any purpose. If you wish to use this photo for any publication, please contact for any re-publication right.

2009 Resolutions

1. Further reduce my carbon footprint in 2009. Drive less, I don't care if gas is $1.50/gallon or $3.50/gallon. I am going to use public transportation whenever I can. Ride my bicycle more. Recycle and I am going green!

2. I am not going to fall for the "newer and better" marketing gimmick, I was never much of a consumer anyway. I don't think most people realize how much electronic waste we generate in this country and that these toxic wastes are all being shipped to developing nations where street kids work in horrible conditions to strip them off the metals for pittance. It is time we all learn to hang on to our electronic gadgets until they break before we rush out to buy a new one.

3. Add an additional side income stream to my existing list which are stock photography and writing today. I have identified learning studio lighting as the next project. This will help improve my work on still life and portraiture photography. It will be a good investment and will go a long way in my quest to be a better photographer.

4. Read five good books. Write a review on each one of them and publish the reviews

5. Write the story of a young heroine who grew up on a tropical island. with her clown fish. A story that has been forming in my head the last 6 months. I intend it to be the subject for a children's book.

6. Crazy and passionate about beautiful landscapes, wine country and log cabins, I am going to look for a small country home, with a barn that I can buy . If I succeed in finding one, I would love to start a vegetable and herb garden and plant some grapevines.

7. Further scale down my lifestyle so my fixed expenses are as little as I can possible have. This will give me many more choices as I get older.

8. Learn a new job skill. I have always wanted to learn computer programming. That is on my To Do List and I shall start immediately in January with the Stanford University Continuing Education program.

9. Go back to basics. Spend more time with loved ones and close friends. Do more yoga.. Small is beautiful and less is really more. Focus on quality and not quantity.

Last but not least,

10. Definitely keep certain parts of my life off the web.

Martin Luther King said - "Life's most urgent question is; what are you doing for others?" How often have we conveniently forgotten our humanity in the past...... Let's do something special for at least one person in need in 2009