One Photograph: Merry Christmas

All through December, 2017, I was shooting up a roll of Kodak Portra 400 in my Pentax Spotmatic F with the 55mm f/1.8 SMC Takumar lens. After the roll was finished, I decided to try the in-store photo lab at the local camera shop for developing and scanning rather than one of the mail order labs I usually used. When I went to pick the processed roll up right after the New Year, the lab tech told me that that something wonky happened during processing. He apologized and gave me a free roll of Portra 400 in compensation.

The image above of my Christmas tree that year was one of the few that came out fine. It was one of the first frames I shot on that roll. As I got closer to the end of the roll, the processing error was more evident as you can see from the beach image below, shot on New Years Eve.

With all of the film I’ve had processed since getting back into film photography, only two rolls have been messed up at the lab. I think that’s a pretty good track record.

As my blog begins its ninth year, I want to say how much I appreciate all of you who read and comment. Merry Christmas and best wishes for a great 2024.