wanna see some film I developed using Trader Joe's Mushroom & Company Multipurpose Umami Seasoning Blend?
Of course you do.
(I'm not sure my little double-exposed EI markings are accurate, but at this point, does it really matter?)
Inspired by my prior mushroom coffee experiment, Holly suggested that I try out this mushroom seasoning they had lying around that they'd never opened. There were some big pancake-lookin' mushrooms growing on my front lawn that seemed like a good subject for such an experiment.
Shockingly, it went poorly! It also has completely suffused my bathroom with an indescribable smell. I don't think this seasoning blend was designed to be experienced 12 grams at a time. All mixed up with the washing soda and vitamin C, it looked like pond water. Behold, my foul and wretched potion:
I used HP5+ as my film and the measurements for Caffenol-CL as my base for the developer, since that combination has worked well before. It didn't occur to me until I'd already mixed it that I probably could've infused it in some other way, and at least should have filtered all the bits out. However I was already pretty sure I'd messed up the roll trying to get the double-exposed EI numbers lined up, so I wasn't feeling particularly precious about it. I did try straining it through a coffee filter and it was not having it.
I was not remotely expecting anything to come of it. But! I did get one (1) nice photo. At the end of the roll, I cranked the aperture of my very nice lens all the way out to its maximum of f/1.2, an overexposure of something like 5 stops, and took one last shot. Behold, a photo of a mushroom developed with powdered mushroom (and onions, mustard, red pepper, black pepper, thyme, and a bunch of kosher salt):
A fair amount of the credit for this also needs to go to Negative Lab Pro for its inversion processing. The one good negative was the only one that was really legible to the naked eye, but it was still pretty faint. Still, I consider this an entirely unearned success and am excited to try developing film with more random shit in the future.
