Regular readers may not be surprised that my Sunday morning routine includes a long soak in a hot bath while Sarah prepares her special Sunday brunches. I had actually planned ahead to do this picture of my feet (extra points for footography) resting on the taps and had the tripod between my knees in the bathwater. The wide angle reproduced the view as I see it from the other end of the tub quite well.
Another thing that has inspired me lately are the pandemic self-portraits posted on Facebook by Scott Stillman, a fellow member of the League of Upper Midwest Pinholers. I’ve also been watching a series of videos about Andre Kertesz who was noted for doing a lot of self portraits. Since I had the tripod in the bath with me, I thought of this image. I intended to have my face submerged more with my nose just barely above the surface so I could breathe, but I’m more of an airhead than I thought and this was the level at which my head floated. I didn’t even think of Ophelia until I saw the negative.
In order to get the camera to fit in the tub with me in it, the tripod was almost completely collapsed with the legs spread just enough to stand up. I thought I had planned everything carefully. When the alarm on my phone went off, I closed the shutter but instead of moving the camera out of the tub first I reached behind me to silence the alarm and knocked the tripod over, very briefly submerging the camera. Not a good thing for a camera made from cardboard. The Guinness package has a glossy surface and on first glance it seemed to have survived.
As I was drying off, looking at myself with my hair in a towel turban, the spirit of Julia Margaret Cameron overcame me. The camera must have also felt Mrs. Cameron’s spirit. It appears a little water made it into the camera and softened the emulsion enough to make the film sticky and this negative sustained significant damage. I spent considerable time retouching scratches but left some of the flaws, another hallmark of Cameron’s images.
The camera took more of a hit from the submersion than I thought and the shutters started to come apart. I swapped the film into the 10th Anniversary iPhone Box camera.
I’ve been reading a book about the daguerrotypes in the collection of the Getty Museum. When my son got married a few years ago, I bought a new suit. They were having a two for one sale, so I also picked out a second one but I’ve never worn it. Inspired by the Getty images, I put it on along with the top hat which the character I portray on Sarah’s blog is often pictured wearing.
Since I had the suit on, I tried a more conventional portrait. Funny how only one lens of my glasses reflected the window so it looks like I’m wearing a monocle.
After changing back into my normal outfit, I must have watched the news for a while.
You’ll have to visit the Pinhole Day gallery to see which one I chose as my favorite.
Thin Lizzy has a .20mm pinhole 30mm from a 6x6cm frame.
The 10th Anniversary iPhone Box Camera has a .26mm pinhole 36mm from a 6x6cm frame.
The film is Ilford Delta 400 stand developed in Rodinal 1:100.
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