Boom or Bust Byway

Earlier this month I set out on the first half of the Boom or Bust Byway in Caddo and Bossier Parishes. This highway is a part of Louisiana’s Scenic Highways and Byways program. This byway features the oil boom that led to many of its towns being settled. It was also a good candidate for testing out a film I’d previously never used. Adox CMS 20 II. The sharpness of this film caught my eye and it’s ability to resolve detail very well, even better than digital sensors. The catch is that I can’t send it into a lab as it needs a special developer to achieve this sharpness. So it also ended up being my first go at developing film at home. I was surprised how well it turned out. Black and fight film is also a little easier to scan than the color ones to. In these photos you’ll also see a couple where I blow-up portions to demonstrate how much detail is captured since the website scales everything down to 1080p.

I didn’t use all the roll as before I knew it, lunch time had arrived. After being down by the river, I crossed into Bossier Parish and found a Mexican restaurant to eat at in Plain Dealing.
The next Saturday, the day before Easter, I drove out into Texas to spot trains at the Marshal Depot, an active Amtrak station. I only managed to capture one train as it went by, but got a few other good pictures while there. As well as headed into town to find a spot to eat lunch again.

I finished the roll while spending time at my parents house for Easter. I managed to capture a few good photos with lots of little details and textures.

I quite like how these pictures turned out. I want to print a few of them, though I’ll have to wait until I can get some black and white paper and chemistry. And I like the look of the film too. I have another roll of it. The developer makes six rolls and it was definitely on the expensive side as far as developers go. So I’ll probably buy four more rolls of this film to make sure I use all of it.