Local photographer and writer Kieron Circut showcases the undeniable beauty of the North Coast-with a twist: his photographs were developed from home using a mixture of Coffee and things you could find in your kitchen.
By Kieron Circut
Earlier this year I started to work with 35mm black and white film as I wanted certain projects and captures to have a slightly different feel that I wasn’t getting with digital cameras. In the last few years something that put me off film has been the cost of development, the need for a dark room and the chemicals used in the development. Now, I feel like I’ve gotten around that by using a caffenol solution to develop at home. The caffenol mixture seems to differ depending on the results you want and how much you’re willing to experiment. I’ve only tried it with Black and White film as the research suggests it won’t produce colour and will leave the film with a sepia tone, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if that’s what you’re going for.
The development process that I use involves a dark bag and a small development tank lets you prepare the film loading it into the tank away from light. The solution consists of instant coffee, washing soda and Vitamin C powder, which is then poured into the tank. After about 12-15 minutes of agitation, you are ready to rinse out your film. A lot of methods do say there is a requirement for a stabiliser that will stop the negatives from fading over time but I haven’t played around with any organic solutions yet (although I’m led to believe they do exist). With this being the case, the method I use does carry an element of risk, but part of my goal is to be as quick and hassle free as possible, while getting there the results I desire.
Once the film has dried, I scan it to a digital file that’s that part of process complete. The images shared here were taken around the North Coast and I have some more caffenol developed images over on my website.
Check out more of Kieron’s work on his website callowexplorer.art or on Twitter.
The Jumble 