the changing bag

For a long time my routine after developing a roll was to scan all thirty-six frames at full resolution, import them, and then spend an evening flicking through them on a laptop. I ended up with folders of thousands of files I never looked at again, and the scanning itself was the least enjoyable part of the whole hobby.

This spring I changed the order. Negatives go into sleeves, the sleeves go onto a sheet of paper under glass in the bathroom-turned-darkroom, and I make a contact print. Only frames that look interesting on the contact sheet get scanned or printed properly. On a good roll that is three or four frames. On most rolls it is one.

What surprised me

I thought I would miss having everything digitised. I do not. The contact sheets live in a ring binder with the date and the film written on the back, and flicking through them is quicker than any photo library. Mistakes are visible in a useful way: I can see where I hesitated, took the same thing four times, or got bored halfway through a walk.

It has also changed how I shoot. Knowing that most frames will only ever exist as a thumbnail on a contact sheet takes the pressure off individual pictures, and I take more chances. Strangely, the keeper rate has gone up.

The practical bit

You do not need an enlarger to make contact sheets. A desk lamp with a low-wattage bulb a metre above the paper, a sheet of glass from an old picture frame and a cheap pack of resin-coated paper is enough. My exposures are around eight seconds at f-nothing, because there is no lens involved. Test strips first, as always.

The scanner is still on the shelf. It just gets used about a tenth as often, and I have my evenings back.

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