Scanner Madness

In an effort to post some photos using my Nikon N70 film camera, I decided to take advantage of the super-snazzy film scanner at school today. I walked into the lab feeling confident in my embrace of modern technology (after spending hours in a medieval darkroom developing the film to be scanned, that walk felt like a time warp to the future). Unfortunately, this wonder of modern technology had a ragged sheet of copy paper taped to it stating "Broke - do not use."

The other available scanner is a flat-bed style that can be rigged up to scan film, but not easily. Well, at least I couldn't figure it out after messing with it for an hour and a half. This is a test strip I used to see if I could get the darned thing to work.

It took so long to do this I feel compelled to post it. Phew! I took these shots as part of an assignment in capturing "light." That was the extent of the explanation of the assignment; it was our job to interpret that as we like. These are not my favorites, but I kind of like them as a triptych...plus, this really took forever! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they fix the decent scanner!

Doris adoration.

For anyone that doesn't know, I adore Doris Mitsch's work.  I first noticed it during my time at International Paper.  A competitor printed a stunning, perfect-bound book displaying her gorgeous photographs on their gorgeous paper.  I smuggled it home from the printer that made the mistake of showing me the piece and, occasionally, I'll pull it out and drool for a few minutes.

Instead of using a camera, she uses a flat-bed scanner.  I haven't done this yet, but at some point I'm going to pull myself together and try it out.  I have a feeling it is much harder than it sounds.  For instance, a flat-bed scanner is...flat.  How does she get all that dimension if the subject is smashed against a piece of glass? 

Exactly.  I have no idea.  When I find out, I will definitely post the answer.

Here are some of her beautiful images and a link to her site: