Late in January, I decided that I had been staring at far too many rolls of undeveloped Lomography film for far too long.  Most rolls were shot within 2013, but I’ve yet to invest the resources in sending them out. Because most are not only color but film that’s destined to be cross-processed slide film, I hesitate to have them locally processed given the lack of quality options in Fairbanks.  But… there’s that one B&W roll… erm.. cartridge… of 110 film that’s been staring me in the face for too long.

This was bound to be a challenge; I’ve got plenty of experience developing 35mm, 120 rolls, 4×5 and even 8×10 – but when it came to smaller-than-usual formats, I had no experience.  110 film, being a still camera format that runs off of modified 16mm film, requires special miniature reels and a unique reeling method because it lacks the sprockets that traditional 35mm film has.  But, I was up for it – only problem?  The internet suffers from a severe lack of FAQs on rolling your 110 film – and only provides a couple explanations on how to even crack open the cartridge.  So, I went along with it on my own.  The results aren’t pristine cause, like any good project, blood was spilt, things were done haphazardly and lessons were learned.

I started by procuring a 110 reel from work (a surprising little find from a couple years ago) and a black development bag to place all my tools into.  Although I rarely have used a development bag, I decided this was the best method for anything as small as 110 – it would keep all my tools within reach without fear of dropping.  Cracking open the cartridge with a flat razorblade went fairly well, even though there was some definite accidental finger pokes and prods, but I didn’t think anything of it – I was too excited that I was actually getting the film out of the canister.  Cutting along the seam actually went easier than I thought – although, some hindsight suggests that next time a small Exacto-blade may be a better option.

Rolling, however, was another thing.  Without sprockets, 110 has to be clipped and grounded to the center of its development reel, which, by the way, is less than a finger’s width across.  Managing to figure out how to slide both film and finger into the middle of the reel *and* engage the clip was difficult – especially within the small black bag.  After finally clipping it in place after multiple failures, I finally reveled in the success of completing the second step.  Now rolling was all that laid in front of me.

Without sprockets, once again, rolling was difficult.  After a dozen unsuccessful attempts at spooling the film in a neat spiral outwards and failing every time, I realized that the reel, which only had a guide spiral on one (rather than both) sides required a different approach.  Film had to be fed into the reel at a relatively awkward angle – about 45 degrees off of perpendicular with pressure put against the side that had the metal spiral.  Once that was figured out, rolling went alright – although not without its own hitches.

After developing, it was revealed that my rolling was less than perfect; for the first time in years, my film had overlapped and I had poorly developed a couple frames of my roll of film. For the most part, though, the roll came out decent.  Far from perfect, these images were taken with a Lomography Baby 110 Fisheye – a cute, lego-esque camera that has, since I’ve bought it, broken twice and been superguled twice (though no fault of Lomo).  They show an ultra-distorted view through a rudimentary plastic lens while the size of the film eliminates any possibility of decent resolution…

… but it’s fun – and the camera is a favorite of Aidan’s.  I didn’t let him take too much on this roll of film, but I know that the color cartridge, which I have yet to get developed, has quite a few shots by him.   I look forward to sending that one in and seeing what masterpieces he’s taken!

The shots on this roll of film range from a family outing to Chena Lakes, a hike, the Midnight Sun Baseball Tourney and a couple shots from last March’s trip to Juneau.