It seems like I’ve been cooped up in the house for a very long time. There are so many positives to being self-employed and working from home. The office is only steps away from my bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc., I have my two dogs at work all of the time and every day is casual Friday. There is one big negative though, it’s extremely easy to become a hermit, especially if Becki is out of town working. I can go days without seeing or talking to anyone.
This last week was busy and productive so Becki and I decided to have a date night, heading up to Santa Monica for a drink and some food at The Lobster. After dinner we could walk around on the pier to see what sort of photo opportunities might present themselves. I loaded my Leica MP with some Tri-X thinking I could expose the film at 1600 and develop in Diafine, a developer that I picked up at Freestyle last week and have never tried before.
My date was both beautiful and enchanting. The food and drinks were excellent. The jury is still out on the Diafine. Years of shooting Tri-X and developing in either D-76 or HC-110 leads me to expect a certain result, even when pushing a couple of stops. The Diafine developed negatives are substantially different, not a value judgement, just an observation. I will continue to experiment for awhile, just for grins.
Here are a few images that I made on the Santa Monica pier that night and a few more from the next morning back in Manhattan Beach.
