Miss C-41 shortly after Mads Greve had switched off her main power. Picture by Mads Greve.
Miss C-41 came to DMJX in the early spring of the year 2000. She was only a few years old and her metal was smooth and clean when we adopted her from the local newspaper, Aarhus Stiftstidende. The paper had decided that digital photography was the future and didn’t need Miss C-41’s talent anymore.
At DMJX we weren’t so progressive or maybe we didn’t have the money for digital cameras – no matter what, we stayed with analogue photography and needed a strong and trustworthy girl to do the work for us – so our students could meet their deadlines.
Our students already knew Miss C-41 before she moved to the darkroom at DMJX. Almost every night our stduents went down the street to her residence at Aarhus Stiftstidende to develop their film – after the daily deadline of the paper. The students were happy when she became one of us – now, they could develop films at all hours of the day.
In the beginning Miss C-41 was still very inexperienced – she only developed 135mm films. But she worked hard and developed all kinds of work. She saw reportage stories, portraits, news and sports photography. She worked both in b/w and colour – but mostly in colour. She looked with envy at the students, who developed their b/w film by hand. She really wanted to help them. She wanted to show them how easy she could develop their b/w films. Soon, they surrendered to her knowledge.
Miss C-41 got more and more experienced – She learned how to develop 120mm film. She was very busy – worked many hours, but very rarely in the mornings. She slept like the students. The students loved Miss C-41. They all shot on film and needed her work. Miss C-41 was stabile as long as she got her daily drinks. Every half year she had her restitution break and a visit by Peder the Doctor of Developers.
But the times changed and after some years DMJX got digital cameras. The students explored the new digital area and they didn’t visit Miss C-41 as often as they used to. She had problems in keeping the quality of her work. She saw how her little brothers, the enlargers, were laid off. All of a sudden she was often on her own in the darkroom. Miss C-41 heard us talk about the digital darkroom and that we might sell her. It was difficult times.
We decided to keep Miss C-41, hoping that the students would return to the magic of film photography. And they did. Miss C-41 now learned about films from cameras she had never heard about before – Holga’s, Lomo’s and the like.
In the past six till eight years the number of developed films has been increasing every year. The student wanted to work with Miss C-41. She became the centre of the inspiring culture at DMJX. Despite her age and her dents, she shined every day. The girl had become a honourable lady with whom you could share all your analogue secrets.
In spring 2013 Miss C-41 developed a record high number of films – 1365 pieces. But she could feel the age weakening her. In the past half year she had problems with her heating system and early this morning her wheels stopped working. Mads had to turn off her main power switch.
Miss C-41 didn’t marry, but she leaves hundreds of happy students behind. One of them, Filippo Menichetti, wrote on Facebook:
She gave birth to personal memories, beautiful projects and drunken photography. Now, she will develop dreams and clouds, in the developing machines’ heaven. I mourn her death.
Miss C-41 will be buried in silence on Friday the 12th of February.