Zeno Gill's "Harmacy"

Zeno Gill runs www.filmwithoutfrontiers.com and www.fuzzmagazine.com. He is always pushing himself when it comes to alternative photography techniques. His latest series "Harmacy" is the first time he's souped film.

See more of Zeno's work at @zenopox

A/A: Why did you become interested in film soups?

ZG: Film soups have interested me for a few years now, but the mysterious process has always intimidated me. One worry I had was that the soup, even after rinsing the film, may affect my chemicals. As my chemicals got old recently, though, I finally decided to give it a try.

A/A: The film soup matches the subject matter perfectly. Was that intentional?

ZG: I shot this roll and another with the intention of soaking each in a different soup. I shot this roll on winter day while on a walk with my family. Since I had no idea what the soup would do, I kept things simple, shooting mostly portraits of banal objects and sites.

A/A: Please explain your process to achieve these images.

ZG: I shot with Kodak Portra 400 in my trusty Canon AE-1. I mixed the soup with random stuff in my kitchen. I can't remember everything, but I used apple cider vinegar, lime juice, salt, sugar, hot sauce, a drop of food coloring (I don't recall the color), and maybe some cinnamon. I soaked the film canister overnight. I rinsed the canister a bit the next day, then let it dry in a bowl of rice for about a week. It was still a little damp, but I was able to process it without issue. Next time, I'll probably let it dry a little longer, and of course I'll continue to experiment with soup recipes. I'd love to achieve even more dramatic results.