ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2022 Entry 25th November 2022: Post 1: Johnson Do-it-yourself Photographic Outfit No.1. Johnson Do-it-yourself Photographic Outfit No.1. This was the last of those finds that I uncovered whilst tripping through the loft the other week. This one did bring a lot of the old memories back. My era of developing my own pictures ended in the mid nineties when I sold my Gnome enlarging lamp and developing tank etc. I had been developing my own pictures on a regular basis since my school days. I still have my first simple developing glass which you literally loaded with photo paper and shoved in front of a lamp for a few seconds. It was my dad that introduced me to the whole process. Following that early period I bought a good camera plus all the developing kit which I used very frequently during my years at School of Architecture. The process in simple terms: First take a black and white film and make a note of the film settings etc. In a complete dark space extract the film and load into a spiral that inserts into a special developing tank. The spiral can be extended if you need to develop two films. Next mix your developer and fixer and make sure they are at the correct temperature. Pour in the developer and agitate then I simply inverted at regular intervals. Once the time was expended simply flush out the developer and then pour in the fixer. The process is repeated as for developer. Then pour out and pour in clean water with a touch of washing up liquid. Finally run clean water into the tank for several minutes. Then remove the film and hang using a couple of bulldog clips in a dry place. Next we bring in the Gnome Enlarger and a frame board for sizing the prints. Next prepare a developing tray, stop tray and fixing tray located to the side of the enlarger. In the dark under the safety of your red light insert your film, now cut into sections of three and or four frames and focus your image onto the frame. When happy extract the photo sensitive paper and then insert in the frame. Time for those 'thousands'. So switch on the enlarger lamp and count your thousands as seconds... 'thousand and one' etc. With practice you learn the number required for the image and the type of paper. Place your paper in the developer face down and make sure it is free of bubbles. Then turn over and watch the magic. I used my fingers for this process. Next when happy drop in the stop or water, and then quickly into the fixer. And that is all you do. Anyhoo the Johnson Do-it-yourself kit was a gift from my gran I think. Something she had stored in her attic no doubt. I have no idea of the date. The chemicals have long gone. The paper is still in the envelope. There is a safelight and mini trays plus a therm ometer. In this system you simply place old style large negatives into the 'bako' glass frame and expose direct to a light. Pretty crude but does work. I have never used the kit as I had way more advanced stuff in the day. I have even taken photographs of negatives and developed as black and white slides. Very useful when drawing perspectives. That is that then... I guess I will have to visit my loft a little more frequently. Who knows what is up there. Johnson Do-it-yourself Photographic Outfit No.1.

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Last updated 25th November 2022

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