"Not until Lobster Night did I understand the Roman phenomenon of the vomitorium".
"The toilet's flush produces a brief but traumatizing sound, a kind of held high-B, as of some gastric disturbance on a cosmic scale".
Being isolated on a cruise ship for a week as it toured the Carribbean may have provoked existential dread in David Foster Wallace, but, in all honesty, reading his essay in Harper's made me want to go on a cruise more than ever.
Similarly, it is hard to resist the allure of making 'cinematic' photographs by simply running actual movie film through your 35 mm stills camera. It sure sounds like fun! The cosmic-level disturbance in this case is something called Remjet, a black layer of carbonaceous gunk on the surface of the film required for its use in cinema cameras, but that needs to be removed if you want to scan or print your images as still photographs. Just rub it off in warm water with your thumb! The additional manual labor just adds to the myth.
My experience shooting Vision 3 cinema film was more spartan than sybaritic and definitely insanity-producing. Remjet is a bitch. I ended up with sticky black crap all over the place and dirty, water spotted negatives that I thought were totally ruined.
At any rate, both images were shot on Vision 3 movie film using the Leica R6 and the 50 mm f/2 lens. I guess my choice of subject matter reflected my sense of dread. The colors are indeed lovely!
I have photographed dead things. I have hand processed cinema film. I have conquered Remjet. I am ready to re-enter the landlocked quotidian real world of standard C41 and black and white films.
