A Walk into the Forest of Small Things

[Ms. Toad]

This is my second assignment for Photography II (the second darkroom class in the BFA in photography).

Quite the challenge! I bought a new lens for my 70s Nikkormat (https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/105mm-f4.htm). It's a beauty!

But simultaneously, I started loading my own film. Then I developed a light leak and something scraping my negatives - not quite simultaneous with the new lens and film loading. The first roll of self-loaded film shot with the new lens was fine. The second had heavy scrapes across the bottom - the same edge with the light leak.

Clues:

* On examining the inside of the camera, there are small chips in the seal of that edge (no idea when they started - but it is possible a chip worked its way into the felt on the film canister and scratched the film).
* The spring clips on the door to the bulk film loader aren't tight (although the lever latch is) (Ironically, the tight lever latch is on the same side as the one-sided light leak.)
* I swapped out bulk film loaders and ran a couple of (too) short rolls and shot them using two different cameras. Unfortunately, I didn't include enough frames for a true test. . . . to be continued.

As to the images - there were severe scrapes on the bottom left photo and the start of a scrape on the leaf with drops on it which looked like a crease in the negative on the print. I made those far less noticeable by dodging the impacted area during the entire initial exposure, de-focusing the enlarger (raising it several inches), then burning the same area for slightly longer than the initial exposure.

I left the prints that show the damage at school - I'll upload photos tomorrow for anyone interested in detective work.