Live analog film developing on stage

Alexander Baxevanis, EMF 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ten years later, they still kept the prints framed.

The speaker recounts shooting analog portraits at a festival a decade ago and mailing darkroom prints to strangers who still keep them framed today.

Why Analog Film Prints Last Decades

What photographic film is actually made of.

Alexander breaks down the science of photographic film, explaining how silver halide crystals suspended in gelatin capture light to form an invisible latent image.

What Photographic Film Actually Is

Patented in Prussia in 1891 and still used today.

Alexander introduces Rodinal, a classic photographic chemical patented in Prussia in 1891 whose public formula makes it a enduring open-source developer.

The 1891 Open Source Film Developer

You can develop film with instant coffee and vitamin C

The presenter breaks down Caffenol, a DIY developer made from cheap instant coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda that yields usable black and white images.

How to Develop Film Using Instant Coffee

Artists are making jewelry from recycled film fixer

The speaker shows how the silver salts stripped away during the fixing bath can be harvested and melted down to produce solid silver jewelry.

Turning Photo Chemistry Waste into Silver Jewelry

How spy satellites dropped physical film to Earth

The speaker details the Corona spy satellite project, where cameras in orbit ejected film capsules in re-entry vehicles that were caught in mid-air by specialized planes using hooks and baskets.

How Spy Satellites Dropped Film from Orbit

The presenter places a newly developed black and white negative on a light box and uses a smartphone app to invert the tone curves. The audience cheers as the live shot taken earlier at the event appears perfectly reversed into a positive photo.

Inverting a Live Developed Film Negative on Stage

The speaker explains how strict limitations inspire genuine creativity in an era overflowing with instant digital assets.

Why Creative Limits Beat Instant AI Generation

Film captures light permanently across generations.

Printing an archival photograph of his wife from the 1980s reveals the permanent chemical power of film compared to fleeting digital files.

Holding Decades of Photons in Your Hand

Film is not dead. It is just slightly wet.

Holding up a freshly rinsed roll of negatives straight from the tank, the speaker delivers the perfect conference sign-off.

Film Is Not Dead, Just Slightly Wet

[00:18] Why Analog Film Prints Last Decades
[02:12] What Photographic Film Actually Is
[06:53] The 1891 Open Source Film Developer
[11:20] How to Develop Film Using Instant Coffee
[14:27] Turning Photo Chemistry Waste into Silver Jewelry
[17:02] How Spy Satellites Dropped Film from Orbit
[20:45] Inverting a Live Developed Film Negative on Stage
[26:19] Why Creative Limits Beat Instant AI Generation
[26:51] Holding Decades of Photons in Your Hand
[28:25] Film Is Not Dead, Just Slightly Wet

Live analog film developing on stage

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