So apparently, my excitement for twin lens cameras (TLRs) was not just a summer fling. They carried me through fall and now well into the winter and they're still my favorite cameras to reach for. They are simple, have fixed lenses, yet result in gorgeous images on 120 film that provide plenty of quality to enjoy in any size prints.

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It's also another Caffenol diary for me as I continue that ride. I have to admit, it's with mixed results. And I don't mean mixed as so-so. When things work out I get excellent images to my liking and would not even need a different developer. However, I also had some results that were very bad. One 35mm roll was so thin I did not think I'd get any results from it. In the end, after scanning, some severe curves adjustments saved half of it. I attributed the failure to mixing Caffenol in the wrong sequence of ingredients resulting in intense foaming during inversions thus developing the film in foam for at least half the time.

Winter EntranceOrchard Park, New York

Snow Covered Winter Entrance to the Wetlands Woods, Orchard Park, New York
Photographed with a 1940s Rolleiflex Automat twin-lens reflex camera on Fomapan 400 Black and White Negative Film
Developed in Caffenol Delta Recipe

Then one roll of 120 ended up in trash since it was even thinner and seemed to have a host of other issues, like overlapping frames, possibly suffering from camera shutter issues, and maybe more. I was testing a "new" camera, a Pentacon Six, which to a naked eye appears to be working perfectly fine. But could I really see a hesitating shutter at 1/60 of a second? I also suspected that maybe somehow the film slipped during loading it on the real and ended up multiple times in the same groove preventing proper development. But I am not yet sure about either. And finally, I've had that roll of JCH Street Pan 400 sitting in the basement for couple years. That should not really be a concern but it is a film I shoot infrequently. Bottom line? Some failures with unproven theories about why. It could be there's something wrong with my Caffenol process. But what? The other 50% of my rolls end up just about perfect. A conundrum indeed.

Spooky Winter WetlandsOrchard Park, New York

Snow Covered Spooky Winter Wetlands, Orchard Park, New York
Photographed with a 1940s Rolleiflex Automat twin-lens reflex camera on Fomapan 400 Black and White Negative Film
Developed in Caffenol Delta Recipe

Anyway, let's switch over to the positive side. Today's roll of Fomapan 400 was a nice rewarding success. It followed a similar success with Fomapan 200, a film with a different emulsion. With the 200 version I expected good things. Since Caffenol Delta was tuned to develop Ilford Delta T-Grained film I was assuming it would work similar magic with the Fomapan 200 hybrid emulsion. Since that was a definite success I wanted to see how a traditional emulsion of the 400 would react. And I like what I got again!

Winter CampOrchard Park, New York

Snow Covered Winter Camp Shelter, Orchard Park, New York
Photographed with a 1940s Rolleiflex Automat twin-lens reflex camera on Fomapan 400 Black and White Negative Film
Developed in Caffenol Delta Recipe

As you can see, the theme was very timely. We have had a nice winter so far in January and going into February and on couple occasions got some wet snow sticking to the trees creating a beautiful natural winter wonderland. It's times like that I love photography even more. It's often that extra push that gets me out of the door into the cold. And once I am out, it's all good. The laziness dissipates and winter beauty is all around!

The NoseOrchard Park, New York

Snow Covered Nose in Winter, Wetlands Woods and Trees, Orchard Park, New York
Photographed with a 1940s Rolleiflex Automat twin-lens reflex camera on Fomapan 400 Black and White Negative Film
Developed in Caffenol Delta Recipe

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

References: You can find a whole publication dedicated to Caffenol recipes here: The Caffenol Cookbook.

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