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Coffee and Cameras

Now I can combine my two favorite things: coffee and cameras. Let's start with the camera. It's a 1960's era Chinese-made plastic camera called a "Windsor." It's the same exact camera that's a cult classic-"Diana." They just branded them different for whatever market or supplier. I think mine must have been Canadian or British, because they seem to show up there a lot instead of Dianas, which were common in the U.S. Mine looked like it was new, which isn't saying much, because the build quality was horrendous. But that's the charm and norm for these. The cult following is for the plastic single-element lens along with the light leaks or vignetting. I like to tape mine up and avoid the light leaks. There's enough going on with the blur and vignetting. Notice the blur around the edges - it reminds me of lenses from the 1800's. I added a little extra vignetting to about half of these images, but all already had a significant amount already there. Lomo is now making a modern-day Diana, along with the now famous Holga cameras. They all have their place.

And now for the coffee. That's what I developed these in. Yes, you read right. It also had washing soda and vitamin C in it. The coffee was Kroger instant coffee. Really smelly on its own, but when you add washing soda, it smells like bad instant coffee that's burned. I have to say I like the smell of D-76 developer better than this stuff. This was my first (and definitely NOT the last) time using this alternative developer. The film (Ilford HP5+ 400) was a little fogged, but the images were really strong. I've got to work out how to reduce the fogging, but it wasn't horrible. This developer, affectionately called "caffenol," also introduces grain. That's actually pleasing with these already dreamy pictures.