I shot a roll of film on Sunday. I had done the search for camera batteries over the weekend (I had to go to Maplins *shudder*) and now the X-700 and ETRS were up and running again. It had been a long day yesterday and on my way out in the evening I wanted to drop this film in on an hour process in the hope that I might get some interesting prints back for Absence & Presence. I dashed across town to one of the few places I knew and got it in through the door.

I went for a coffee. A latte – with too much sugar.

I went back to collect the film. The man behind the counter was holding it up to the light. You could see straight through most of it. My 36 exposures of HP5 yeilded nothing. I must get a project book and slip a slice of it it. Absence of anything, absence of the photos that were taken in a place that commanded presence. If I were to make prints from these, I’d have sheets of black, empty, photograpic paper. That might be an idea in itself.

Oh to be able to use my digital prints :(

I will have to put a cheap roll of colour through the X-700 just to check that its not a fault with the camera and square the inability to take the pictures solidly on my shoulder. Its a shame that the camera doesn’t handle exposures longer than 1 second. The whole experience has my eyeing up an EOS 1.

On a more possitive note, the 7 rolls of film from Belgium have arrived this morning and I will have a look through them this evening. Fingers crossed they came out better than their more recent cousin.