LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE.more experiences from members

LET SLEEPING PHOTOGRAPHERS LIE.

There was a time when through no ambition on my part I was forced to relin-quish the much loved status ot "Mister" and assume the grandiose appellation of 7666655 Sgt.Rawlings C.J. Roayal Army Pay Corps.

It was part of my job to process 100ft lengths of 35mm.film. The tilm was wound onto a wooden frame while pivoted on a suitable stand. The frame was then held in a vertical position in a wooden tank filled with developer, a wooden wedge at each end against the side of the tank keeping the frame beneath the surface of the developer.

A ringer alarm clock was provided to declare the expiration of the necessary 8 minutes at 68°f. Darkrooms in the Holy City become a bit sultry by mid-day and I formed a habit of dozing off until the clock wakened me when I would dunk the frame of film into a rinse and quickly into the fix.

One day some clot interrupted my slumbers and without thinking I switched on a 100watt bulb which was situated plumb and about 18 inches above the open topped tank containing the still developing film. Three or four minutes later the clock shattered my day and coarse soldier's oaths fell upon the unhappy one who had disturbed my slumbers.

!switched off the light and carried on as if nothing had happened and lo in due course a perfect film appeared without the slightest trace of fog.

There are times apparently, when there is a lot to be gained by allowing the developer to become so stale brownn and oxidised that a depth of about half an inch of it is so opaque that a searchlight would not tog the fastest emulsion immersed in it !

Jas.Rawlings,F.R.P.S. Hornchurch-in-Havering Photographic Society.