A Film Developer Made of Place

This experiment began with an empty jar, a roll of expired Ilford Pan F 50 film in my Leica M6, and a walk across the South Common in Lincoln.

I’m not exactly the “outdoorsy” type, so I was out there in jeans, flat-bottomed skater-style trainers, Vertigo-patterned film socks, a hoodie, and a light windcheater, surrounded by people in proper walking boots, Berghaus waterproofs, cheerful dogs, and early-afternoon can of cider drinking ‘walkers’.

Holding a jar of odd-looking plant matter in one hand and a camera strapped across my chest didn’t exactly help me blend in.

As I walked, I filled the jar with whatever caught my eye: dried blackberries, nettles, buttercups, thistles, holly, hawthorn berries, dock seeds, and a bit of cowslip. The same roll of film was shot during the walk, including a heron that landed on a single stone at the edge of the pond, pausing just long enough for me to make a frame.

By the time I headed home, the jar felt like a small, accidental portrait of the Common. It also contained a few tiny spiders who had climbed in; they were carefully rescued and released before brewing began.

The next day in my studio, at the Barbican Creative Hub, I steeped everything in hot water and added Vitamin C and washing soda. The room filled with the smell of hedgerows and cold grass (genuinely, it really did). It felt less like chemistry and more like bringing the walk indoors.

I developed the roll in this wild mixture, and the results were quietly strange in the best way: soft contrast, glowing highlights, and delicate marks left behind by the plants themselves. The negatives were scanned at Not Quite North, where the tones, textures, and that patient heron all came together.

What I enjoyed most was how simple it was: letting curiosity lead the way and allowing a familiar landscape to be a part of the process. No big plan. No special equipment. Just a walk, a jar, and the willingness to see what might happen.

Ingredients gathered on the walk:

• Dried blackberries

• Nettles

• Nettle flowers

• Buttercups

• Dried thistles

• Holly leaves

• Hawthorn berries

• Dock seeds (fresh and dry)

• Cowslip

• (a few adventurous spiders, safely relocated)

Ingredients used to develop:

• A jar of the above ingredients

• Warm water

• Vitamin-C

• Eco Washing Soda

• Zone Imaging Eco ZoneFix