So after a week of my photographic expectations (hopes?) not being met (fulfilled?), I decided on Sunday morning ahead of our little errands that I would get myself back to basics and choose a combination that I am familiar enough with: T-Max 400 that I would push two stops in HC-110.

No new developer.

No learning opportunity.

Just comfortable familiarity.

Oops.

I’ve really been in a bit of a dum-dum phase lately, and when loading the camera with the film, I neglected to switch the shutter speed from 1/1000 to aperture priority (“A”). Trusting the camera implicitly, I didn’t take care to confirm that the little green needle was in fact on “A” at the top and not on “1000” near the top.

It would not be until I passed the ninth frame that I had noticed and, as a result, had most definitely underexposed those photos. As if to compound the challenge, I decided to switch into aperture priority and simply split the difference in my development time, adding a third-of-a-stop-or-so to the push I had already planned to do.

I suppose that in the end, while “it’s pictures” is correct, the first three frames above illustrate that I would have had better results by pushing a full stop, but I didn’t want the correctly-exposed frames to be too cooked either.

A kind individual on Bluesky also mentioned that I could have stand developed the roll. I must file that nugget away, since I almost never remember that it’s possibly a great option for rolls with such an uneven experience!

Fortunately, the weather is supposed to be wonderful today, so I think that I will get out and make photos after work!

I could use a little personal redemption.

---