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NEPO= Negative + Positive 一切都开始于对底片时代的怀念!从网路上知道,可以从拍立得公司生产的撕拉片,透过洗底的手法,取得一张大底片,可是当时拍立得公司的撕拉片已经完全停产,在市场上就只能找到富士公司生产的FP-100C撕拉片。我首选就只能使用它,发现按照网站教学去做,不是很困难的就可取得大㡳片。这个方法简单说,就是用撕拉片拍完照后,可以同时拿到一张照片和一张负片,那张负片透过化学洗底过程,可以得到一张很像传统的彩色大尺寸负片。
由于自身是黑白摄影的爱好者,朋友就介绍我黑白撕拉片FP-100B,或许可以得到一张大底片。FP-100B很少有人洗底成功,因为他在化学处理上,完全不同于FP-100C,为了找出正确的处理方法,花了不少的精神与时间。第一次洗底成功的结果,并没有黑白负片,却洗出一张具有「色彩」的彩色负片。
这张具有「色彩」的彩色负片,在经过扫描之后,它会呈现出色彩的正像,但是并非全彩,但其某些色彩光艳的程度即使用Photoshop也无法模拟出来。推测它的感光涂料可能含有萤光物质。这种特殊的色彩呈像,吸引我开始大量的拍摄FP-100B,长期观察它洗底出炉的结果,发现这个隐藏版的非全彩的负片,同样具有其他传统底片的影像表达能力。
从因为怀旧想得到一张传统的大底片,演变成认识,証实一个新的化学感光材料的存在,过程中再加上数位时代才有的扫瞄机与影像软体的应用,找到有一种类比与数位时代的结合意义!在实验与写书的过程中,深深的感觉到撕拉片在方便与美丽的背后,它所牵涉到的撮影工具与材料,与当时的工业能力,商业利益,息息相关。
拍立得公司的创办人兰德博士留给后人,一句激励人心的话:「人生要选最不可能达成的事来做。」,能説、敢说这句话,只有这位旷世奇才,因为他的科学和商业能力,无人能及。遇到这个隐藏版的特殊色彩负片,也算是"被"遇到了一件"不可能的事",因缘巧合的开始有点了解博士的名言。我相信除了科学能量之外,对摄影的热情和专注,也是完成这一次实验和写出这本书不可缺的重要力量。同时家人和朋友的支持与鼓励更是一切的起点,这本书如果带有丰沛的感情,他们扮演着很重要的角色!
1: "Don`t undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible" Edwin Land-Polaroid funder
2:富士公司在2014年宣布了FP-100B停产。
3:用FP-100B的洗底得到的负片,在书内的命名为"NEPO"film它就是一种负片,具有表达影像的能力,在相反则不轨( Reciprocity law failure)的呈现上,相对的提前。
Afterword This project grew out of my nostalgia for analog photography. In particular, I loved and missed the process of developing film: the smell of the chemicals, the texture of the paper. As analog film became scarcer and scarcer, replaced by digital cameras, I longed to immerse myself in that process again. I was also fascinated by negatives, those inverted images printed on transparent plastic film, in which light and dark change places.
When I learned that Fujifilm’s FP-100C – at that time, one of the last remaining peel-apart instant films – produced large and detailed negatives, I was fascinated. I learned how to reclaim the negatives, using water and bleach to strip away the light-sensitive emulsion coating the plastic, revealing the image underneath. My nostalgia was satisfied.
But I have always been a lover of black and white photography, and I yearned for similarly large, clear negatives of black and white images. A friend introduced me to FP-100B, a black and white version of the peel-apart film with which I was already familiar. Unlike FP-100C, FP-100B was rarely processed in order to remove the emulsion and reveal the underlying negative images. I began to experiment.
As I did so, I found that the chemical process to reclaim FP-100B negatives was more complicated than the one used for FP-100C. I also discovered something startling: once the emulsions and coatings were stripped away, FP-100B negatives were characterized by vivid color. Unlike the positive image printed on the photo paper, the negative would emerge in brilliant shades of blue, red, orange, and yellow. In addition, certain portions of the negative image would actually contain positive shapes. It was this strange coexistence of positive and negative in the same film that led me to name FP-100B, as well as these reclaimed negatives, NEPO – that is, NEgative POsitive.
The unique appearance of these negative images inspired me to take more photos, and I began to experiment systematically. I discovered that these negatives could themselves be a creative medium. Out of my nostalgia-fueled attempt to obtain conventional black and white negatives emerged a new medium.
In order to achieve this, however, I needed digital technology. While the colors themselves were not altered digitally, their true brilliance, along with the details of the images, was only revealed after the negative images were scanned and displayed on a computer screen. The images in this book thus connect the analog and the digital eras. Useless scraps from analog processes have been transformed into digital art.
This is appropriate, because in the process of developing the NEPO images and writing this book, I developed a profound feeling that peel-apart instant film epitomizes the dependence of photography on industry. Scientific research and business imperatives enabled the development of this technology; however, as soon as there was no more profit to be made, the industry moved on, and these remarkable films became obsolete. Yet, as I hope I have shown, these negatives – which were originally waste products, remnants thrown away after the positive image photo was obtained – still have value.
The eminent Dr. Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid, once said, “Don’t undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” Gradually, I have come to understand that Dr. Land’s words describe my own experience, as well as the philosophy that guided his own remarkable career. Although it was not my original intention, I was pushed by circumstances into undertaking a project – the development of NEPO images – that met both of Dr. Land’s requirements. As an analog technology whose potential can only be fully realized with digital era tools, such as scanners and image editing software, FP-100B negatives have truly moved from the realm of the impossible into that of the possible.
In closing, I wish to thank those who have supported me throughout this process of discovery. In addition to an understanding of the scientific background, passion for photography, and focus, the support and encouragement of family and friends has been essential to this undertaking. For me, their help was the foundation of it all; any warmth found within these pages comes from them.
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A positive image is one in which light and dark appear as we see them with our own eyes. A negative image is one which light and dark have been reversed, so that, for example, a tree appears to be bright, while the noon sky behind it is dark. Film negatives received their name because they provide a negative, or reversed, image, which is then used to produce a positive image print on photographic paper.
A peel-apart film is designed to be used with an instant camera. When you take a photo, it produces both a positive image snapshot on photo paper, and a negative of equal size to the print. These emerge together from the camera and must be peeled apart, hence the name.
Originally, I believed that FP-100B combined the characteristics of traditional negative and positive films. Now, however, I believe that this effect – in which positive images suddenly appear in an otherwise negative image – is due to the negative film being exposed to levels of light that are too high for it. When this limit is exceeded, the light – which would normally produce a dark shape in the negative shape – suddenly produces a bright positive image instead. The technical name for this phenomenon is Reciprocity-Law Failure.
Bigshilin Photonepo