Developing Black and White Film at Home

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When I got back into analog film, I explored the option of developing at home but was fortunate enough to find a local lab that develops color film at a good price.  I marked it down as a TODO for later when I wanted save costs if I was developing film at high enough volume.

When I went to get the first roll of black and white film developed, I was shocked that the cost was three times that of getting color developed!  After looking up the available options; to get all the supplies needed to develop BW film at home would only cost the equivalent of getting 5 rolls developed and that price would drop over time.
I ordered the JOBO Mono kit from Cinestill and picked up other supplies off Amazon. 

After watching some Youtube videos, the process was really straight forward.  BW film is more tolerant to temperature changes of the chemistry compared to color.  The part I was worried about the most was removing the film from the canister and spooling it on the reel in the dark bag so I practiced a bunch with a spoiled roll of film.

From beginning to end; gathering all the supplies, getting the chemistry to temperature, prepping the film, and doing the developing only took about 30 minutes.  I do have a couple things to improve after this first attempt but overall I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Do androids dream of glitch?

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I’ve previous written about and discussed at conferences the difficulty of achieving glitch effect with AI image generators.  Back in February I began experimenting with using my glitch art as an image prompt combined with other of my photography and various descriptors.  What came out of these sessions became whole new worlds of the AI’s wildest imagination.
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The first set of combination photos I did used the above photos.  It took a few generations and using the terms “anagylph” along with the weird parameter to finally get to the other world.
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I ended up calling the series “Journey in Midnights.”  The surreal landscapes echoed the use of infrared photography with the dark skies and red hues on the vegetation.  This is just one example of the strange outputs I was able to get through this process.

Have you used a generative AI system with your own works as prompts to explore the latent space?

Lomochrome Purple Review

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With getting into film photography, I wanted to find ways to still explore reality different. I researched experimental films and found Lomography‘s many offerings. I decided to try their Lomochrome Purple first. The film creates other-worldly pink to dark purple hues. This was also the second film I tried after getting my dad’s old camera

I loaded the roll up and took the camera out with me on a hike, to a show, and walking around Charlotte Beach. It was really fun experimenting with it in different light conditions and pushed the film to make some amazing purples.

Other reviews have stated how changing the ISO affected the colors in the film. In my trials, the ISO setting to meter the film has little difference on the film. The difference can be adjusted with exposure and contrast controls to make the film almost identical.

I ran a test roll where I shot the same scene at 100, 200, and 400 ISO. There’s only minor difference in darkness of purples between ISO 100 and 400.

Lomochrome Purple film negatives have a green tint to it, compared to the typical orange tint that Kodak film has. I had to adjust my camera settings when scanning the film to a more cooler temperature as my normal color negative settings completely ruined the color.

This is one of the more unique films I have tried and it has quickly become one of my favorites. I have a few more rolls I plan on taking with me when I go on trips in the coming months.

Getting into Film Photography

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Growing up, the only option for photography was using film. With the digital photography entering the market, film was quickly replaced with better quality photos and not having to wait for the film to be developed. However, film has a vibe that can not be truly replicated by digital technology. As with my analog glitch art, digital technology now provides us with new ways to manipulate the medium.

My dad gave me his old Canon EOS 10S that he used while I was growing up. I’m always looking for new ways to express myself and discovered from unique filmstocks available. The ones that caught my eye the most were Lomography‘s Purple and Turquoise along with the various batches of Psychedelic Blues.

With the decline of film, options for getting it developed are limited. Fortunately there is one store left in my city that will develop film and return the negatives. I opted to explore scanning the negatives myself. The scanning part is straight forward with the right equipment. I’m using my Canon EOS R and the RF 100mm 2.8 macro lens. For my quick and dirty scanning rig, I’m using Duplos to space the film above my cell phone that is providing the backlight for the scan.

It is important to note that when scanning the film from a camera, use a custom white balance setting at the wamest temperature your camera can do. On the EOS R, I have it set to 2700k. The spacing of the film my cell phone is also important because the macro lens can pick up the individual LEDs of my phone screen.

The images are then processed in Lightroom by inverting the light curve and making slight adjustments to the color. If you have your ISO set to auto when taking the film scans, you’ll need to adjust the exposure in Lightroom as it may be too bright.

I’m going to continue to use film as an outlet for my creativity. Be sure to follow along!

Glitchaglyphs Explored

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I always like to push my art into new styles to explore ways to present reality in differently.  What started as adding anaglyph to a prompt turned into researching how to actually create them. 

The secret to creating the depth is to create a displacement map.  The file is made by editing regions of the image with varying shades of white, grey, and black.  Once processed in Photoshop it creates the illusion of depth when the 3D glasses are worn.

This process adds a unique perspective to my works and puts me in the third dimension. On my Facebook page, I run a contest at the beginning of every month for one free print!

Glitchwerks Chromafield

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I was able to get my hands on the Glitchwerks Chromafield back in June of 2023. The Chromafield is a circuit bent Canon A540 digital camera. There are three switches to change the glitch effects as well as maintaining the features and functions of the camera.

I’ve done a bit of experimenting with the camera and I use it often when I’m out to capture glitches on the go. I’ve gotten some very vivid captures while out that bring a unique vibe to the world around us.

I’ve even used it as video input for a feedback loop at a live show. The colors were incredibly bright and brought a whole new dimension to the performance. I’ve also used it to capture TV footage for an instaglitch.

Overall I’m really happy with it and it’s a great addition to my glitch arsenal. One thing I had to do when I got it, just as an FYI, was replace the CMOS battery because it was dead. With no CMOS battery the camera drained the AAs very quickly.

Mothership Deluxe by Gator Glitch Gear

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This post has been updated since initial publication.

This has been a long time coming, but I’m finally getting around to writing gear reviews! First up, we have the Mothership Deluxe by Gator Glitch Gear. The Mothership was the first circuit bent piece of analog glitching equipment I was able to obtain. Using the Archer Super Video Processor as a base, Gator creates a device that is able to explore new dimensions within the analog glitchverse.

It took some time to get a handle on what the device is able to do, but I soon found a setting that allowed me to create “The Bend”, as I call it. Examples of The Bend are below:

The bend has been a core component to my glitch art and is featured in a number of my pieces. I’ve also been able to get great moving effects from this device and rainbows for custom logo work.

One of the issues I had with this device was keeping track of different settings I had when achieving an awesome effect. To help with this, I am announcing the release of my patch sheet template along with 4 patch settings for the Mothership! I have them stored in a folder on my Google Drive, which will allow you to view and download the PDFs.

One of the things I’ve found with these analog devices is that the effect has to be created by twisting the knobs in a certain order. Normally I start on the left and move right to change the settings, but sometimes you need to wiggle some of them randomly to get the desired effect.

After speaking with Gator, there are a few other aspects of analog glitching and the Mothership I forgot to mention. First, the source media of the glitch has influence on what the resulting will be. Going full analog(VCR, camcorder, etc) will produce different visuals than going from a digital source then downgrading the signal to composite. Second, the type of TV used will also influence the resulting image. For glitching, I use a generic Target brand TV from the early 2000s. Different models may or may not result in the same glitch effects as what I have achieved. The patch notes I provide are a guide, hopefully you can find amazing effects and different sweet spots!

If you make some interesting patches, please let me know! I’m always finding new things with this device and I’d be very keen to see how others are using it.

Psych Glitch

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Resolume is a really powerful VJ software that I have been exploring a lot with preparing for live visual shows. An output of one of these experiments was recording some footage of my analog glitch art through a few effects.

The analog textures come alive in new ways when combining them with digital processing effects. To achieve the output I’m using the Mirror Quad and Delay RGB effects. Not every analog glitch capture has worked for this, it needs to be something that scrolls so make the desired output.

I started using the output as a backdrop for recording some jams with the Moog Sound Studio. The result is something that is visually and audibly stunning and mesmerizing.

I plan on creating a collection of these videos to sell as a pack for creatives to use in their sets or whatever creative output they explore.

Live Visuals – Reflection on the show at the Downstairs in Ithaca 8/29

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I set out with two goals for this year; one was to get my art in more galleries and the second was to do one live visual show. I can happily say that both of these goals have been achieved!

Through connections I’ve made from performing live with Adam Arritola, a request was put out for someone to do live visuals for an upcoming show in Ithaca. I quickly hopped on the request and was booked to perform visuals for the gig. I had been practicing live visuals in preparation for such an opportunity and was excited for tackling the challenge.

For each of the artists I created a setlist for them of different visual clips and effects. I listened to some of their music and asked them how they “saw” their performance and matched my footage to that. I mixed together footage I’ve taken, custom glitch footage I’ve done, and some stock video to put together an amazing visual performance. I also used a Glitchwerks Chromafield for some live glitch visuals of the performers.

The event went really well; the artists were pleased with the show they had. It certainly added a bit extra flair to what was going on. I was able to capture some video which is up on YouTube:

Glitch and AI: Exploring a new digital consciousness – FUBAR 2023

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I had the amazing opportunity to present at this year’s FUBAR conference. I decided on a presentation that combined both my interest in glitch art and generative AI. I’ve long been disappointed with how the many generative AI systems struggle at producing images that capture the analog-CRT-glitch aesthetic.

Looking to change this, I finally decided to dive into training my own model to be used with Stable Diffusion. There are several guides available but I didn’t feel like they clearly explained it. Doing a bit more research, I found an online service that will generate the model based on images you provided. As a bonus, it builds off the standard SDv1.5 model so there are base images to create art with.

Using Dreamlook, I created my own SD model using 44 of my analog glitch art images. The results have been amazing!

Check out my whole talk on Youtube where I go into much more detail about the process!