by Leslie ©
I had my hands in the black bag. The film canister opened easily with the can opener. I slid the roll of film into the plastic holder and wound it around the track. The cap screwed on smoothly and the work was done. Chemicals and care followed to turn the unexposed film into a developed roll of negatives. The temperature, agitation and timing are always critical to making a good roll of negatives come to life with the proper tones. Sure contrast can be played with when printing the pictures, but the negatives are the key. I rinsed off the film and hung it up inside the darkroom with a clothes pin.
I thought the photo shoot went well. The set up was very professional. It was paid for by Estee Lauder as a promotion for their sunless tan creme. I thought that a photo shoot for a sun tan product using black and white film was a little odd, but innovative things always seem a little odd at first. That is a sign of genius at work. I decided to reserve judgment until the printing onto photographic paper had begun.
The negatives dried cleanly and looked good. I prepared to make a contact sheet to view all the pictures at once. I chose an Agfa paper and slide it into the easel. I laid out the negatives and adjusted the f-stop on the enlarger. 15 seconds of light later I was ready to dip it into the soup and see what I had come up with. Developer, stop bath, fixer and water produced a nice clean contact sheet with clarity and contrast. The dryer was doing what it was built to do and within 3 minutes I had a clean, dry sheet to peruse. When the lights came on and the contact sheet was in the viewer, I put the loop to my eye and started to examine the little photos all in a row. The models looked great in black and white as did the fake, lush foliage. The skimpy suits in the first 2 photos really did accentuate the tanned skin against the light colored material. Looking closely, I saw the sprayed-on water that dotted the model's skin and accented the tropical ambiance.
When I got to the 5th photo, something was wrong. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. The model, a particularly beautiful brunette, was not wearing a bathing suit! I swear she was wearing one when I snapped the photo. Not only that, but her eyes had a strange quality to them. I could not quite make it out from the small contact photo, but it was odd. I looked again at the picture and sure enough....no suit. Photo 6,7 and 8 of this model also were without suit, but every other model and every other photo on the contact sheet was as I saw it through the viewfinder. I did not know what to make of it as I hurried to make enlargements of negatives 5-8.
Without the usual care and sweat on my upper lip and around my temples, I proceeded to make one 8 X 10 of the 4 photographs of the naked model. I started to slightly hyperventilate as the first image in the full size mode started to appear in the developer. My eyes went to her breasts and found them exposed to my gaze. Her neatly trimmed vagina was also in view as a droplet of sweat fell off my forehead and into the soup. Then the eyes. Her eyes were not in black and white. That is why they looked so different on the contact sheet. They were a deep blue and they seemed to follow me as I gazed into their sensuous depths. Nothing like this had ever happened to me. I have been a commercial photographer for 16 years and this was the strangest thing I had ever seen.
The other prints were the same. The sensuality was driving me crazy and I felt my penis swelling from the thought of what might have caused this phenomenon. I instinctively touched my swollen member and started to caress it through my pants. I seemingly could not help myself and snaked down my zipper and underwear and masturbated until my semen dotted the darkroom floor. I was still breathing heavily when the phone rang.
Quickly pulling up my shorts and pants, I hobbled over to the phone and answered. A woman's voice greeted me with, "How did you like my pictures? I knew when you were taking them that you wanted to see me naked." Then a click. I was sweating profusely by now. My head was spinning. Who was this woman? How did she know? I grabbed the photos and scanned them again. They had changed. The bikini was in place and the eyes were dark and cold. The contact sheet was the same.
I could never share this story with anyone until now. They would think I was crazy. Am I?
To Be Continued...