I’ve only been taking my film photography class for a few weeks now, but it’s already taught me many valuable things. I’ve learned how to load film into a camera, how to properly develop that film into negatives, and how to use those negatives to make full-size prints. It’s really an incredible class; as someone who’s only ever dealt with digital photography, the realm of film is fascinating, exciting, and just plain cool. But aside from teaching me about the techniques surrounding film photography, the class has taught me a life lesson: we all make irreversible mistakes sometimes, and that’s okay.
A key part of making the exposed film into negatives is keeping the film from coming into contact with any light until after it’s been developed. If the film is exposed to light, it’s ruined and the pictures on it are lost. Film must be loaded into a developing tank in complete darkness, and the tank is “light-tight” so that developing can be done in normal lighting. The key to this “light-tight” tank is the center column that the spool of film slides onto; it’s what makes the tank functional. Without the center column, light can get in and destroy the film. Behold the all-powerful center column.
By now you probably know where this is going. The first roll of film I developed went off without a hitch because our professor was there to guide us during the class. My attempt to develop a roll outside of class (which we had been asked to do) was where things went awry. About halfway through the developing process, I realized I had forgotten the center column of the tank. I finished the process anyway, hoping that some of the images could be salvaged. In the end, six total frames looked like they could maybe be used, and even at that, the images were extremely overexposed.
I was very upset to see all my time and effort go to waste. I called my mom, and she helped to talk me down from my wrecked emotional state. I was ready to just give up and go back to my dorm, but she encouraged me to load a new roll of film and try again. I was hesitant; it had taken me at least a week to use up the whole roll that I’d ruined, so I wasn’t sure I could shoot enough pictures to do another whole developing process that evening. I decided to give it a shot, though, and I’m glad I did. Between impromptu shots of friends I saw around campus and a golden opportunity at a Greek organization event, I used up my new roll in no time. When I went back to the lab and developed the negatives (correctly!), I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Although I’ll never know for sure, I think the pictures I ended up with are better than those that I ruined.So, what exactly did I learn? Firstly, it’s not the end of the world when I make a mistake. The stress of school can sometimes make little problems seem like doomsday, but the mistakes we make usually aren’t that detrimental to ourselves or anyone else. Secondly, some mistakes can actually result in positive outcomes. As the wonderful Bob Ross once said, “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” Thirdly, we shouldn’t let our fear of making a mistake hold us back. When you think about it, a lot of our fears come down to fear of mistakes: fear of saying something silly when talking to another person, fear of messing up and ultimately failing, and fear of not being good enough to do something. We all make mistakes, so it’s time we own up to our imperfections. Accidents happen, and sometimes that’s a good thing.