Flora: a minor revision of The Populist

The internal assembly of the Populist is made from a long strip of cardboard which is folded into a rectangular shape to form the image chamber and the film bays of the camera. It works OK but the template has to be assembled from two parts because it's too big for one adhesive label. It requires a long piece of card and careful assembly to make sure it's truly rectangular with parallel sides when it's glued inside the box. While making some medium format sized boxes for single-shot photo paper cameras recently, I realized they are exactly the same size as the image chamber of the Populist. A properly folded box inherently has parallel sides and would provide a little more glue surface for a stronger camera. This new box needs a hole to be cut for the pinhole. A goal of my original 2007 design was that it could be made by children with rounded tip school scissors which is probably why the internal assembly was designed that way. I gave up on that with the current 2017 design but never changed that part. The new scheme also requires a smaller piece of card.

After verifying the accuracy of the revised templates, I'll update the directions for making a Populist eventually. If you're thinking of making a Populist, the current design on-line is just fine, just make sure that internal assembly has parallel sides. Oh, darn. Now I'll have to make a bunch of cameras.

Local business Kimberly-Clark comes through again with attractive materials.

This camera really didn't need to be tested. There was really no doubt that it would work but I can faintly hear Mr. Natural whispering to me that it's not very Zen to make a camera and not take some pictures with it.

When we need our supply of Oaks Chocolate refilled, I send them an email with our list. Last Monday, they responded right away, telling me it would be ready on Wednesday the 6th. I read that as tomorrow. When I got there, they pointed out my inattention to the actual text of the message but since the place was completely empty they'd get it done if I wished to wait. Hmmm. What to do in an empty candy store to occupy my time? The hand-lettered signs on the corner of the display case asks customers to please not touch the century-old glass, which is neatly illustrated by the wavy reflection of the fluorescent fixture which stretches the length of the store and can't be avoided.

Fresh roasted nuts. I wonder if they ever make chocolate acorns?

The side of the Grand Opera House, with shadows.

Just to the right, the emergency exit from the ground floor seats with more of that tree on the corner.

The theme for the Fox Valley Photography Group this month is Self-Portraiture. I'm a very convenient and willing model so my face shows up in my photographs fairly often. Almost all photography classes require this as an assignment. It requires previsualization and it's impossible not to have some emotional attachment to the subject. Taking my hair out of a pony tail is probably about as revealing of my true self as I'm likely to get.

Thought there'd be more glowing locks with the backlighting. Looks a little like Gandalf with a good rendition of an unhandyman injury on my thumb. I gotta go to the optometrist and get my glasses straightened out.

There's no place to put a tripod at the Rooms of Blooms biennial flower show at The Paine Art Center but stone columns are a very stable support. No one seemed to think it odd there was a man holding an orange floral box against the wall for a minute and half.

Despite our regular consumption of Oaks Chocolate, we do keep alternatives around.

The base of the acrylic pepper grinder broke after over a decade of heavy use. It still contains the peppercorns and grinds all right but a cylindrical object isn't very convenient to have rolling around on it's side where you're cooking. We replaced it with one of Peugot's early products in stainless steel that included this charming little operator's manual.

We have a weekly video call with Andy and Kristin. Modern broadband service is amazing. We get to see Greyson freak out live at "The Black Dog" from the next block.

That evening was developing night at Photo Opp. I had two frames left but could probably find something to photograph if I went up there. It looks a lot better now with the new light fixtures and the vault painted.

That circular window on the west wall projects a spotlight into the space in the late afternoon. During the previous exposure I was chatting with Instax photographer Joy Laczny with whom I shared a wall at Photo Opp's Range of Photography exhibition last year. We both noticed the beam falling on the comfy white chair and she agreed to sit for me with her Photo Opp hoodie and a new-to-her Polaroid.

 

I ended up not developing the film there. I wanted to experiment with minimizing film curl. I read that commercial labs have humidity controlled drying closets to actually slow the drying process, so I left the tempering bath on while the film was drying. I checked it frequently and as soon as it wasn't sticky, cut the negatives, put them in envelopes and under a very heavy pile of oversized art books overnight. It worked sort of. Most of the sideways curl of the film was controlled but it still rolled up the long way. It was much easier to get it to stay in the film holder. I still got a few Newton Rings, but much better than recent rolls of color film.

Flora has a .25mm hand-drilled pinhole, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film is Lomography 400 developed in Cinestill's liquid C-41 kit.