Ilford HP5+ | Nikon FM
April 2014
Nepal
This happened to be a bulk loaded roll of HP5+ that was in my camera when I left for Nepal in April of 2014.
I shot the roll with out issue however when I reached the last frame and went to wind (not knowing it was
indeed the last frame) I accidently tore the scotch tape that held the film to the spool. CRAP! At this point
we were in a quaint little village called Tal. I waited for it to get dark out side, climbed into my sleeping bag
head first in hopes to remove the film and put it into a black plastic canister without ruining the roll. After all,
I still had two months of travel ahead of me. I opened the camera and got the film out with little effort and
rolled it so it would fit into the plastic canister. No problem - I would deal with it when I got home.
I wrapped a piece of medical tape around the lid to the bottom just to make sure I knew which one
had the loose film in it and so it didn’t accidentally pop open rolling around in my bag.
Fast-forward 4 weeks on my way to Thailand via New Delhi, India. We had to go through security….
Again. Leaving Nepal was bad enough, we were checked 6 times, 4 of which I had to re-explain
how I did not want my film to go through the scanner (these ones were not film safe). We make it to New Delhi without incident
and the securitycheckpoint was just a mess. Chaotic, disorganized and of course no one really spoke English.
I manage to convince the security official that my film wasn’t going to go through the scanner. Next I had
to go through the metal detector and get wanded, no problem. Well, he see’s my bag of film. I made sure
to put it in a nice big clear ziplock bag for going through security to make it easy for them. He was not
happy. He kept pointing and saying things I didn’t understand. Apparently I had upset the process.
Finally another guy comes over and grabs me, great he’s going to hand check my film. He wanted me
to open some of the plastic canisters to show him what I have. No problem and I obliged. Well, little did
I know he wanted me to open ALL of my plastic canisters. I had about 16 in total so I started hoping he
would be satisfied and get me to stop. Not the case. I dreadedly opened the canisters one by one,
slowly moving towards the one in which I didn’t want opened. Anyways he made me open them all,
exposing the loose film to light. In hindsight I should have just put it through the x-ray machine to
avoid this – it really wouldn’t have been an issue. Oversight on my part.
Most of the exposures were lost due to fogging however some were saved and some actually
turned out pretty neat with being exposed (burned) again.
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Ilford HP5+ [135] - Nikon FM
April 2013
Sombrio Beach + Area