Yesterday I blogged about redscale photography with 35mm film – i.e. taking a roll of normal film and flipping the film inside the cartridge so that the light passes through the film itself before it hits the emulsion and causes the chemical reactions that produce an image. The same technique can also be applied, of course, to 120 film. This is a little bit trickier to accomplish because the film is bigger, and the film is more difficult to control. Rather than just taking the end of it, taping it to the trailing end of a piece of film in a cartridge and winding it back in, you have to unroll the entire length of film, as well as the backing paper of a 120 roll, separate them from each other, flip the film, and tape it back on so it winds up straight. You also have to make sure it’s taped in the right place so the numbers on the paper will accurately reflect which picture you’re on. And you have to somehow roll it back up even though the film “wants” to go the other way. This all has to happen in complete darkness or, if you can’t guarantee complete darkness, inside a changing bag.
So this is how my pictures turned out – mostly underexposed and therefore somewhat dark and red. I’ll try different settings next time.
