Episode 18: This is Pure Record, Not Propaganda (with Kat Swansey)

On this episode, we talk a new old emulsion, we ask (and hear) about your first film camera, we dig into a few Depression Era photographers, have some more good news, and give a call to Texas photographer Kat Swansey.

The New Old Emulsion: Fuzzy Pürrito!

Get It Here!

Following up fast on the heels of The Slow Meow, we’ve got another limited run of new old emulsion. This time it’s a rebranding of Svema MZ-3, another Soviet-era film that’s been kicking around for a few years.

If you want dreamy and soft photos with quite a bit of haloing in the highlights, Fuzzy Pürrito – FuzzPürr for short – is the emulsion for you!

Our batch of this emulsion shoots at 12iso. This might seem a little limiting, but on a Sunny 16 sort of day, you’d shoot this at 1/100th of a second with an aperture of f/5.6 – three stops slower than 100iso. So give it a shot – push yourself to try something new. We’re offering a 3 pack for a pretty affordable price.

And developing it is pretty easy too, but you’ll need HC-110. For the FuzzPurr, you’ll have to use Dilution H (1+62). Do this with normal agitation for 9 minutes and you’re good. This doesn’t do well in stand development. It might be tempting, but you’ll definitely get better results with this formula. And of course, it fixes as normal.

We have three-packs of this film for sale on Eric’s etsy store for $18. Each roll has at least 24 frames on it, though the way that Eric rolls, you’re more likely to get 30. And at $6 a roll, that isn’t too bad. You’ll also get a few stickers, postcards, and an All Through a Lens button.

Here are some sample shots:

Firsties!

Vania’s first film camera (destroyed by a fall from a horse).

For our answering machine question, we asked:
What was your first film camera?

And we got a ton of replies!

Hello, Kat!
For our interview, we give a call to Kat Swansey. She grew up in a small Texas town outside of Houston, but now calls Austin home. With her 35mm Canon, she explores her smalltown roots, capturing them in vivid color.

And here are a few more:

Depression-Era FSA Photography

We dig into the early FSA photographers and discuss a few of their photos.

The early days of the project brought together Dorothea Lange (who ran a very successful portrait studio in San Francisco), Arthur Rothstein (president of the Columbia University photography club, and star pupil of Stryker’s – at first he was just used to set up the darkroom, but he eventually picked up a camera), Walker Evans (a well-known documentary photographer and pal of Earnest Hemmingway), as well as Carl Mydans (a photojournalist for the Boston Globe) and Ben Shahn (Evan’s former roommate and a well-known painter – Evans was really pulling for him).

Here are the ones we cover:

Dorothea Lange – Toward Los Angeles, California Arthur Rothstein – Heavy black clouds of dust rising over the Texas Panhandle, Texas Walker Evans – Floyd Burroughs, Alabama Sharecropper Carl Mydans – “Damned if we’ll work for what they pay folks hereabouts.” Crittenden County, Arkansas. Cotton workers on the road, carrying all they pos...