Film Soup : Childhood

I’d been struggling to figure out where to take my natural dyeing until I found an account on film soup using plants. I’d seen film soup before but most people were using household cleaners and various chemicals. Once I saw that plant material can be enough to change it, everything clicked. I wanted to start out with an experiment based around childhood nostalgia. I’d collected a bunch of weeds that I remembered I used to use to make flower crowns or necklaces as a kid. I included the clovers I would stare at in hopes of finding one with four leaves. Acorns and gumballs were of course a part of the collection. I also noticed some yellow blossoms we used to decide if you liked butter or not. All of these plants had some memory association with me. I took photos with my Konica of swings, playgrounds, neighborhoods, grasses, and all the places I’d find myself as a kid. I then soaked it overnight in these plants and hot water. I let it dry for 2 weeks and shipped it off to be developed.

Childhood plant collection

Soaked Film

The effect was gorgeous. The photos came out with a nostalgic haze to them. Some scratches and irregularities seemed so perfectly placed it was like I chose it for myself. These photos feel like memories. Not quite real, not quite tangible…but something I felt I could remember as easy as yesterday.