As many of you know, I’m an Ilford guy through and through. I usually spend my time huddled in the shed mixing up home-brewed developers—mainly Crowley’s FX-55, with a few experimental brews thrown in just to see what happens.
But recently, I’ve had an itch I just had to scratch. I wanted to walk down a path carved out by some legendary photographers before me: the world of high—sometimes extremely high—contrast black and white photography.
Bill Brandt is the obvious icon here, but the brilliant work of Daido Moriyama, Fan Ho, Richard Avedon, and others has been calling to me. I’m ready to set aside the endless chase for “shadow detail” and pristine mid-tones. I want to make images where black is black, white is white, and the drama speaks for itself.
Right now, I’m burning through my small stash of HP5+ and FP4+ using my temporary developer of choice for this phase: Kodak XDev (XTol).
“Why not use a home brew, Dave?” I hear you ask!
Fair question. My goal right now is to establish a solid, predictable baseline. By starting with a single film stock and a developer famous for punchy contrast, I can find that sweet spot image using known quantities. Once I hit the mark, I’ll branch out and start tweaking home brews and other film stocks to compare.
After doing a deep dive into the research, I’ve settled on my core combo: Kodak Eastman Tri-X 400 and XDev.
Why Tri-X over HP5+? Don’t get me wrong—HP5+ is absolute royalty in the film world. But there’s a raw, gritty magic in the high-contrast look of Tri-X that has completely hooked me. To set my baseline, I’ve stocked up on fresh rolls in both 35mm and 120 formats.
And why XDev? For the same reason! When it comes to high-contrast developing, XTol (now branded as XDev) is widely considered the GOAT. Plus, I love the replenishment method: keeping a 1-liter stock solution and replacing just 70ml per roll (whether 35mm or 120). It’s a workflow I already know and trust from using my homemade D-23 replenished developer (read more about that here).
Over the coming months, I’ll be taking you along on this high-contrast journey—from shooting to developing and printing in the darkroom.
I’ll be sharing updates right here on the blog, as well as over on my YouTube channel. If you haven’t already, head on over, hit subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss the upcoming videos!
As always I wish you well and safe journeys
DC x
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