In the Mirror by Lise Gold & Madeleine Taylor

Author:Lise Gold & Madeleine Taylor [Gold, Lise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lise Gold Books
Published: 2022-05-25T16:00:00+00:00

45

Faith

As I hang the last picture on the clothesline I’ve spun across the bathroom, I cover them with a piece of cloth for Silva’s reveal. I’ve missed the familiar red glow of the safelight and the calm silence while I wait for my photographs to dry.

“You can come in now,” I yell, hoping she can hear me. I’ve been in here for most of the day and I’ve totally lost track of time.

“Wow. This is quite the room transformation,” she says after closing the door behind her. She curiously glances over the equipment I’ve set up: a plywood folding table with three tanks for the developer, the stop bath and the fixer stands next to the filled bathtub, in which I’ve washed my photographs. My enlarger is on the toilet, and I’ve placed a large chopping board on top of the laundry basket to hold the measuring cylinders, the tongs, the mixing containers, the stirrers, the thermometer, and my timer, as I couldn’t use my phone in here in case it lit up.

“It’s very DIY, but it works fine. Apart from the guest bath, this is the only room in the apartment without a window, and it’s got a good ventilation system.”

“Very clever. What’s that?” Silva points to the projector.

“That’s the enlarger. It shines light through the negative and transfers the image onto paper. After that, I use the baths to develop the photographs.”

“Why the red light?” she asks. “I’ve always wondered about that, but I never bothered to look it up.”

It dawns on me that this process is no longer widely known. With everyone taking pictures on their phone and saving them digitally nowadays, the art of analog photography is slowly drowning in a sea of technology. Endless possibilities in terms of filters and enhancement allow people to create an ideal and slicker self, so no one is interested in a slow process, the outcome of which might disappoint.

“Most darkroom papers are orthochromatic,” I say, pointing to the pack of paper on the shelf above the sink. “It means they’re blind to red light, so they won’t get exposed when it’s on. There’s nothing mysterious about it. It’s purely so I can see what I’m doing. I could turn the lights back on now, but I like it.”

“Hmm… me too.” Silva’s eyes meet mine in the dim light, and she smiles as she inches closer. “It’s sexy.”

“Uh-huh.” I close the distance between us, cup her face, and kiss her. It’s been at least eight hours since we last kissed, and it feels like a lifetime. She pulls me closer, and I shiver when she runs her hands underneath my T-shirt. Her closeness feels both soothing and arousing, a glowing cocoon that warms me from the inside out. It’s peculiar that I don’t even think about the fact that I’m kissing a woman. It’s Silva, and she’s delicious. I’m close to bursting, but before we get too carried away, I pull out of the kiss and step back. “Not in here.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.