I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone as much as I can with my work recently; making the jump from digital to getting my first film camera was a big, and somewhat nerve wracking thing for me.
I constantly review my work and instantly get irritated if I haven't captured my vision or got the perfect shot first time round. So, the fact that I wouldn't even be able to see what I shot until two or more weeks later instantly planted the seed in my head that everything was going to be terrible, and I will have wasted my time and money (films not cheap).
Fortunately, my first few rolls of film didn't turn out too bad. Don't get me wrong, there was a fair few casualties - but considering my expectations were so low in the first place, I was pretty happy with the final outcome.
What this meant is that I was left with a handful of images that were okay: not great, but not write offs. They just needed that something extra that was going to add to the complexity. I could have just digitally manipulated them, but I liked the idea of being hands on. I warmed to the uncertainty of not knowing what the final outcome would be until it was done, so I thought, fuck it. I'll bleach them and hope for the best.
Now, just a little disclaimer: if you're planning on bleaching your film, make sure they're genuinely pics you don't mind losing (or ones you have a backup of at least). Also wear gloves.
I'd watched a few 20 second TikTok's on this as I was too lazy to watch a YouTube Tutorial on it, and just went for it. Not my best move.
My original plan was to fill up a bowl with water, which I then put a fair share of your standard toilet bleach in and gave it a good stir to mix it all up. I went straight in with submerging the print in the mixture, pushing it right to the bottom of the container and waited for something to happen.
I quickly realised that it was not doing anything at all. I assumed my Bleach : Water ratio was off, so poured another generous amount of the bleach in. This sunk down and covered the print underwater, and the reaction happened pretty much instantly.
The drop marks / patterns started to distort and within a few seconds the whole image had this warped, distorted effect that I loved. I quickly went to lift it out before it developed any further, and found the entire image melting off as I lifted it to the surface. By the time it had hit the air, it was literally a white print. Gutted.
I made this mistake the second time round as well. Even though I used less bleach, anything that had a remotely good effect was wiped as soon as I brought it to the surface.
Not too great. But we move!
I didn't want to run the risk of ruining any more photos, so thought I was best to change my technique. This time round I scrapped the water, and applied the bleach directly to the print using both kitchen towel and my finger (with a glove on obviously).
This meant I had more control over the pattern and direction of the bleach, and they could air dry before moving them to avoid any more spoiling. I definitely found this an easier and more enjoyable method, and after some experimenting I ended up with a collection of images that went from looking average to pretty cool.
I scanned them, put them into Photoshop for some editing, and voila! The Bleached Film series was created.
Overall, this was a pretty fun experiment! I'd definitely recommend doing it if you have some film photos lying around that you're not crazy about.
These images have gone from being some of my most dull / average work, to being some of the pieces I am most proud of.
I made a little montage of the process that you can watch over on my TikTok: @cloevisuals (You'll be able to see what the failures looked like before they melted off).
You'll also be able to find this series, and much more of my work over on my Instagram: @_cloevisuals.
If anyone reading does decide to give this a try, I'd love to see the results! Feel free to message / tag me in the final product :)
Chloe x
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