Hello World
Welcome to Ben's Bangin' Blog! This is a place where I come to write blog posts about anything any everything that's on my mind. Some ideas for what I will be doing here include posts critiquing and explaining some of my photos, information dumps about new hobbies that I'm looking at getting into, and posts detailing my latest experiences with my current hobbies. I plan to make a few posts each week but that will likely change over time.
About Me
So who am I anyway? I grew up in south-central Mass on a farm before going to Worcester Polytechnic Institute where I earned my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Since school I've been working for a satellite telecom provider as a software engineer working on TCP/IP acceleration. While I was in school I developed a love for theatre and event production as well as picking up a few of my hobbies. I have many years of experience working on the technical side of the stage as well as experience in college working on lighting and sound for events with the Lens and Lights club where I served as an officer on the board for two years.
My Current Hobbies and Fascinations
At the moment the thing that takes up most of my time is analog photography. While in college I discovered my interest in projection and subsequently film photography. I soon had purchased not one but two SLRs. I shot my first roll of photos on a sunny afternoon in the dead of winter and developed the roll in the photography club's darkroom. A few weeks later I learned about darkroom printing and helped a friend make some black and white prints and I was hooked. Since then I have shot about a dozen rolls and accumulated more equipment. Some of the things that take up less of my time are helping my parents to make products for their farm stand including jams, jellies, pickles, soaps, lotions, honey, and maple syrup. I have also been interested in getting into candle to add another product to the stand. As a CS student I am also interested in technology and specifically networking. I have a few projects in this regard that I have been thinking about including a custom film scanning software and setting up and maintaining this site.
Lately the big project I have been working on is getting a Ilford 2240 RC paper processor running as well as converting my kitchen into a darkroom so that I can make darkroom prints of my own. In a later post(s) I'll share the story and struggles of this project. We have recently gotten everything finished and made our first black and white prints and now we are starting the process of learning the intricacies of printing and mounting our photos.