Caffenol Magic: Using Coffee to Develop Film Photos, Featuring Daniela Hurtado

Big Photo Hunt Member Daniela Hurtado, a talented film photographer and coffee shop owner based in Antigua, Guatemala, has found a way to blend her two passions—photography and coffee—into something truly unique. She introduced me to Caffenol, an eco-friendly, affordable, and chemical-free method of developing film using coffee, water, vitamin C, and other simple kitchen ingredients.

In this episode, Daniela shares the story of how she discovered this creative process and how she and her partner, Sebas, turned their love for coffee and photography into Cafegrafia, a must-visit coffee shop in the heart of Antigua. Whether you're a seasoned photographer or a beginner, Daniela explains how you can easily develop your own film using coffee and why this technique is gaining popularity among analog enthusiasts.

If you're curious about sustainable photography, DIY film development, or just want to hear an inspiring story about following your passions, this episode is a must-listen.

Show Notes:

• Cafegrafia Instagram
• Daniela Hurtado Instagram
• Directions to Cafegrafia
• Caffenol: A Guide to Developing B&W Film with Coffee
• Developing Film with Caffenol
• Next Episode: Embracing Sensuality: Boudoir Photography with Christopher P. Baker
  
  

Welcome to the Big Photo Hunt, arguably the worlds friendliest photography community.

Some more stuff for you:

• The Big Photo Hunt is the world's friendliest photography community.
• Ken Deckinger created a YouTube channel for learnings and tips.
• And of course, the Big Photo Hunt is on Instagram.

Transcript

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00:00:00:06 - 00:00:17:29

So we thought that it was only going to be a fun experiment. But when it came out so good with the recipe that I found, we started doing it regularly and we offered it as a service, and all of our clients wanted to test it out because they were so shocked by the way that it could have been done. 

00:00:18:01 - 00:00:24:15

And you have like a client base, people that actually come in just to do this. Yeah, that is so cool. 

00:00:25:09 - 00:00:34:17

Yeah, we advertise it on social media, but also we've seen that many locals from Antigua come to the coffee shop being film photographers. 

00:00:37:21 - 00:00:59:04

Welcome to the Big Photo Hunt podcast to show where we talk with aspiring and professional photographers to help us all grow and improve our photography together. I'm your host, Ken Deckinger. If you're one of our community members and you'd like to be a guest on the show, please visit BigPhotohunt.com for more information. 

00:01:09:20 - 00:01:47:15

So the other day, a big photo hunt member emails me. They tell me that they are shooting film only and asks me if I know a place or a way to develop film inexpensively. I have no idea if it's expensive to develop film. I shoot only digital and I know nothing about developing film photography. But I remembered another big photo hunt member and I were chatting about how she shoots and develops her own film photography. So I sent her Dani Hurtado, who is based in Antigua, Guatemala, and email asking her if she had any tips for me. 

00:01:47:29 - 00:02:18:00

Dani responds and says, yes, we use coffee to develop our photos. So she sends me more information about how she and her partner literally own a coffee shop in Guatemala, where they serve coffee in the front and then use coffee in the back to develop photos. I'd never heard of this before, and when I sent the info to the other big photo hunt member, they hadn't heard of it either. So I sent Dani an email and I said, Dani, I've got to have you on the podcast. 

00:02:18:02 - 00:02:30:19

I want to tell everyone about how this works and how they can try it too. I have never heard of using coffee to develop photos, and I want you to tell everyone how it works. 

00:02:32:06 - 00:02:33:00

How are you? 

00:02:33:15 - 00:02:34:07

I'm good. Thank you. 

00:02:34:09 - 00:02:36:11

And you? I'm great. Thank you. 

00:02:36:21 - 00:02:38:11

That's great. I'm very excited. 

00:02:38:13 - 00:02:40:12

I am too. Can you hear me? Okay. 

00:02:40:29 - 00:02:47:24

Yeah. Although I do see that your camera maybe has a little bit of lag. Oh, no. Hold on, I think it's. 

00:02:47:26 - 00:02:49:00

Is it? Yeah. 

00:02:49:06 - 00:02:51:25

Oh, okay. Yeah. It looks it looks good now. 

00:02:51:27 - 00:03:20:27

Okay. The topic we're going to talk about when you first mentioned this to me, we were emailing. It blew my mind. I had no idea that this was even possible. And so I wanted to talk to you on the podcast because I think every big photo hunt member who wants to shoot film needs to know about this, to tell us about you. I want to hear about your coffee shop and how we wound up from a coffee shop to developing film using coffee. 

00:03:21:16 - 00:03:56:23

Sure. So I grew up in Guatemala City, and I always liked photography since I was a kid, so I studied graphic design in university. And then I went to this post graduate in Barcelona. And that's where I found out about this big thing that I'm doing now. Every day from that, my partner followed me to Barcelona. He has always been a barista and I have always been a photographer. And when we found out about this developing method with coffee is when we took it as a sign that both of our passions could merge into one thing. 

00:03:57:16 - 00:04:28:04

So that's how the idea of Cafegrafia our coffee shop was born. And so when we came back to Guatemala, we came to Antigua and we started looking for locations where we could open the coffee shop. And we did. And now it's cafe and it's this big combination of specialty coffee and analog photography. And so we have exhibit of photos from different photographers. Local, of course, but if anyone wants to join, that would be great. 

00:04:28:19 - 00:04:35:07

And we sell film and we develop film also with coffee, which is what brought us here. 

00:04:35:24 - 00:04:43:06

So Sebas is the barista. He's making coffee in the front and you're in the back developing photos using coffee. 

00:04:43:17 - 00:04:59:06

Sure. Yeah. And but now we both learned each other's things. So now I also know how to prepare coffee. And he also takes photos. He started using a film camera for the first time before a digital one. 

00:04:59:17 - 00:05:04:07

I'm a digital person because I don't know if I have the patience for film. And, um. 

00:05:04:09 - 00:05:05:19

We are a digital family. 

00:05:05:21 - 00:05:17:02

Okay, good. That's good. Okay. Before you started this process, which I want to get into so everyone can understand how it works. How were you developing photos? 

00:05:17:08 - 00:05:36:00

We were taking our photos to a local lab. But the thing is that all of our labs are in the city, and now we are the only ones in Antigua. So that gives us a little bit of an advantage with our Antigua clients, so that they don't have to go to the city to or send their film to develop to the city. 

00:05:36:02 - 00:05:42:03

So you would send it to a lab or take it to a lab. And is that expensive? I don't shoot film, so I don't even know what any of this costs. 

00:05:42:24 - 00:06:15:02

It is expensive. I mean, it is expensive if you do it often because it costs like, let's see, in dollars. It's maybe $10 to develop at Fujifilm, which is like the the love that has been there for the longest time. And then there are new labs that are emerging now and they charge like $20. So that's why we wanted to find a way to do it ourselves. And this process was the easiest one and the best one. And it gave us such great results that now we do it like that. 

00:06:15:04 - 00:06:17:03

Always. Only black and white though. 

00:06:17:09 - 00:06:25:19

And the main reason you got into this then was because of cost. You were looking for a way to do this. Less expensive to develop your photos? 

00:06:26:01 - 00:06:26:17

Sure. 

00:06:26:27 - 00:07:08:07

Also, it's a more natural process, like not using that many chemicals. And also it was just it started out as an experiment when we found out that we could do with coffee as being huge coffee fans or whatever. We had seen results of other people doing caffeine and it didn't look as great. It looked very grainy and very dark even sometimes. So. So we thought that it was only going to be a fun experiment, but when it came out so good with the recipe that I found, we started doing it regularly and we offered it as a service, and all of our clients wanted to test it out because they were so shocked by the way that it could have been done. 

00:07:08:09 - 00:07:14:23

And you have a client base, people that actually come in just to do this. Yeah, that is so cool. 

00:07:15:17 - 00:07:36:29

Yeah, we advertise it on social media, but also we've seen that many locals from Antigua come to the coffee shop being film photographers. And so when I told them that we do that they love the idea and, and now they take their film to us. And also at the cafe, we have like a under the bar where we serve the. 

00:07:37:01 - 00:07:37:16

Coffee. 

00:07:37:26 - 00:08:02:02

Under it, there's a big white wall. And so now as a way of advertising, but also as a way of showing results. I printed out some of the photos that I developed with coffee, and every time a client comes, I choose three pictures to add to the wall, and so it's really nice to see it. And when people that don't know see it, they're like, oh my God, I want to do that. So please develop my role. 

00:08:02:20 - 00:08:09:24

That is amazing. Can people send you their film and you could develop it and send it back? 

00:08:10:10 - 00:08:11:25

Yeah I could. I mean, I've never. 

00:08:11:27 - 00:08:15:04

Done it because so far all of my clients go to the coffee. 

00:08:15:06 - 00:08:15:21

Shop. 

00:08:16:00 - 00:08:19:04

In developing. But but yeah, I could. 

00:08:19:13 - 00:08:43:09

I'm sure it'd be expensive for someone because they've got to ship it to you and ship it back. But I'd imagine someone listening to this podcast may be intrigued by the process here. And the process. It's designed to be done at home. It's something that's using like coffee, what you have at home. Let's take a step back because I got so excited. I got ahead of myself this morning. Explain, like what caffeine is and how it's used to develop film. 

00:08:44:00 - 00:08:44:15

Sure. 

00:08:44:21 - 00:09:19:18

So the acidity of the coffee is the one that works as a developer. But it's not only the coffee, it needs other components, other ingredients. So we use water and then we start mixing sodium carbonate, which we don't have here in Guatemala. By the way you have it as washing soda. We don't have that. I mean there is in some detergents, but I don't think we can use the detergents because they have so many other things inside it. So I have to heat up some sodium bicarbonate so that it becomes sodium carbonate, which is part of the process. 

00:09:19:20 - 00:09:22:06

And I love it because I feel so, so like. 

00:09:22:08 - 00:09:22:23

A. 

00:09:23:01 - 00:10:00:00

Chemical girl I don't know. And so we also use vitamin C and a little bit of salt. And then the coffee, instant coffee. It has to be instant coffee. And then we mix it. And then that's our developer. So when we have our film we have to get it into this tanks for film development. And then we pour the developer and then when it's time, which is like 15 minutes, we pour it out and then some water to wash it. And then we have to use a photographic fixer, which is just so that the image stays on the film. 

00:10:00:10 - 00:10:06:14

And then they're ready. They, they are hung up to dry. And then we scan them and then magic happens. 

00:10:06:17 - 00:10:09:06

And do you have a dark room and everything? 

00:10:09:24 - 00:10:35:12

No, because now it's not necessary to have a darkroom. We have this changing bag which is shaped like a shirt. So it's like a big black bag which has like two layers of fabric so that no light can go through. And so we just stick our hands in it like a shirt. And then that's where I get the film into the tank, and then I can take the tank out and do everything in broad daylight. 

00:10:35:23 - 00:10:39:29

But it has to just like regular film development, it has to be in dark, of course. 

00:10:40:08 - 00:10:45:26

Only getting it into the tank, okay. And everything else can be in daylight, just as regular development. 

00:10:45:28 - 00:10:52:17

Yeah. Wow. And so does this offer, like a certain characteristic or look to the photography. 

00:10:53:04 - 00:11:10:18

I thought so. I thought they were going to come out like sepia or like with with a slight. Tone, but they don't. Which is good because I can offer it as a service because they're so sharp. I have some negatives here. Look, I mean, I know our listeners can't see them, but. 

00:11:10:21 - 00:11:12:16

I'll do my best to describe them. 

00:11:12:26 - 00:11:16:18

So this is one strip of film developed with coffee, Moll. 

00:11:17:00 - 00:11:24:12

So Dani's holding up a film, a negative with the developed images, and I can see them. 

00:11:25:03 - 00:11:27:04

That is our coffee shop, actually. 

00:11:27:10 - 00:11:32:17

Cool. And then what do you do with this? Negative. When you're done, you process it to turn it into digital images. 

00:11:32:22 - 00:11:50:11

I have a scanner here at home film scanners. I tried with a regular scanner. It doesn't work, but I have that scanner and so I just put the film strips inside. And so I scanned them with my computer and they're ready to be posted to social media or anything. 

00:11:55:16 - 00:12:29:27

I hope you're enjoying this episode of the Big Foto Hunt podcast. I'm jumping in here to take a moment to thank you for listening, and for being a part of the big photo hunt. Depending on when you're listening to this episode, we're having a birthday this month. The big photo hunt is one year old. It's been really cool to get to know you and build the big photo hunt with you. When we started 12 months ago, we had 43 members. Today we have many thousands and tens of thousands who receive our weekly newsletter celebrating our most upvoted photos. 

00:12:30:04 - 00:12:52:23

So thank you. I am so grateful and feel fortunate to know you. Of course, we've got a long way to go and so I'm super excited to continue to be inspired by your photography, connect you with each other, and help us all grow our photography together. I'm grateful. Now back to the episode. 

00:12:56:10 - 00:13:00:07

Actually, my last big photo picture was from Covino. 

00:13:00:12 - 00:13:01:05

I saw that. 

00:13:01:07 - 00:13:02:00

That is so. 

00:13:02:07 - 00:13:34:00

Cool. The way we even just for our listeners, the way we're even here today, is because a big Photo Hunt member and I were emailing, and he asked me if I knew of any methods to develop film inexpensively because he had roles and roles of film photos that he wanted to post in The Big Photo Hunt, but he just it was super expensive because he had so much film, and I don't shoot film and I don't know anything about this, and I'm learning a lot, just like everyone else's on the big photo hunt. 

00:13:34:02 - 00:14:07:25

And so I was like, I don't know. But I thought of Dani because I know Dani does. And so I reached out to Dani by email and I was like, hey, by the way, do you know how to develop film inexpensively? And it was a total off the cuff question. I didn't think you would have an answer, to be honest. Not that I don't think you're wonderful, but I was like, I don't know. And she came back with this whole process where she's taking caffeine and home ingredients and vitamin C, which makes you healthy and developing film. And I sent this all to this member who was emailing me, and he was like, wow, this is amazing. 

00:14:07:27 - 00:14:26:09

And I was like, this is amazing. And then I wrote back to Dani and I was like, Dani, I got to have you on the podcast. I want everyone to know about this. So that's how it's working and it can be done at home. Anyone? Right? Just make make sure it's dark and that is amazing. What is the name of your coffee shop? 

00:14:26:13 - 00:14:27:11

It's called Cafegrafia. 

00:14:28:16 - 00:14:31:19

So the merging of cafe. Yeah. 

00:14:31:25 - 00:14:32:16

Photography. 

00:14:32:18 - 00:14:34:04

Yeah. It's online right? 

00:14:34:17 - 00:14:43:00

Yeah. We are on Instagram and TikTok, which were we were reluctant to use, but now it's been a big hit. So now we have to use it. 

00:14:43:27 - 00:15:05:19

Yeah I've been reluctant to buy the way, but I'm starting to have. I have to use it. My wife is a brilliant marketer, and she suggested that I start doing some type of like reels that are a day in the life of starting up an online photography community or something. I'm going to do it because I think maybe people want to see that, I don't know. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. 

00:15:06:07 - 00:15:15:04

Like have like if you have this podcast, you could even ask different photographers to show you a day in their life and post it to your TikTok. 

00:15:15:06 - 00:15:20:09

That is brilliant. And you know what else I can do? I can film you right now, and I'll make this part of the day in the life. 

00:15:21:07 - 00:15:21:23

Yay! 

00:15:22:03 - 00:15:30:01

We're right now we're filming our podcast. I'm filming it right now. I'm filming Dani and I recording our podcast for The Day in the life. 

00:15:31:06 - 00:15:32:18

That's an honor. Thank you very. 

00:15:32:20 - 00:15:40:28

Much. Oh, please. It's an honor to have you here. This is so cool. All right, so I have a bunch of questions. I'm gonna dig in. Okay, so why film what got you into film? 

00:15:41:12 - 00:16:16:24

Before I went to Barcelona, I bought myself a little digital, I mean, a little analog camera, film camera. It was very inexpensive, and I just used to see it at this shop in a mall that I used to go to. And so one day I thought to myself, let's try it out. I mean, I had my big digital camera, but I wanted to try something else. And so I did, and I bought it and it was this really cheap, really easy to use. And it was just like, like a point and shoot, but I, I would just shoot and still rewind the film a little bit. 

00:16:16:26 - 00:16:47:26

So I had the like the startup experience of using film. And when I developed that role, I was so excited and I loved the results. Even if they weren't that good, it still gave me that grainy look. I don't know, I feel like it's magic using film more so than digital, because digital, I mean, you can see it right away and you can see if it's good, you can fix whatever is isn't good, but with film you shoot and you don't know what you're going to get. You don't know if it's going to be well exposed. 

00:16:48:02 - 00:17:26:26

So it's really fun. And it's a good way to learn photography because you have to know how to expose a picture. And so I took that little camera to Barcelona. And then when I was there, I went to study a photography post graduate and everyone was using film. Still, the teacher actually had to say that for the project, please use a digital camera because we have to see results each week and people wouldn't listen. I mean, they would still shoot, film and take it next week to class a roll of film and just show their pictures already scanned and everything. 

00:17:27:02 - 00:17:58:03

So it was so I was so mesmerized by that and by the culture having these. So I bought more film cameras. I found some developing labs there, which were great, by the way, and I developed with them, and I bought more cameras. And then I brought them back, and I had all this knowledge and all these experience when I came back. So I wanted to share that. And I found out that there are more people than I thought here in Guatemala that also should film. 

00:17:58:13 - 00:18:08:12

So we started creating this community and in the coffee shop now it's like a base for this community. So it's really nice to meet more photographers like that here. 

00:18:08:24 - 00:18:15:19

It sounds like it's more the process of the film than it is the the way the images look. Or is it a combination of both? 

00:18:15:27 - 00:18:42:13

It's a combination because also you don't control how the images turn out. I mean, you choose it from choosing the role. If you choose, for example, a Kodak Gold, it's going to be warm tones. But if you choose, for example, an Ilford, it's a black and white. So you choose first the aesthetic that you want in your film, and then you shoot it and you know that all of your pictures are going to have that filter. 

00:18:44:08 - 00:18:46:15

And you need to choose the ISO also. 

00:18:46:28 - 00:18:47:14

Yeah. 

00:18:47:18 - 00:18:50:06

So what do you what kind of ISO are you normally shooting at then. 

00:18:50:08 - 00:18:56:25

Just like 200 because it's like the most comfortable I can use it in, in different light situations. 

00:18:56:28 - 00:18:58:20

Can you use that at night too? 

00:18:59:08 - 00:19:08:01

Um, it depends on how well lit the environment is. But yeah, you can force it at night as well. 

00:19:08:24 - 00:19:13:01

And the film can all be bought in Guatemala, like in Antigua. You can find everything you need. 

00:19:13:19 - 00:19:45:19

Not really. I mean, it's hard to get film. So that's also what I had in mind when I started the coffee shop. Actually, I started that before starting the coffee shop. I had this online film store. So I shipped film from the States, and then I resell it here in Waltham. And I have different brands of film that we don't find in Guatemala, because before here we could only find Kodak and Fuji. That was it. And sometimes really expensive. 

00:19:45:25 - 00:20:07:04

And so now I brought some other brands. And first I sold them online. And I started creating this community via Instagram. And then when we open the coffee shop now we have like a space just for film. And so we have to keep our stock always so that people can come by. And what film do you have. 

00:20:07:06 - 00:20:27:03

So you've got coffee shop. You've got photographers coming in. They're buying film. They're probably grabbing a coffee, or you've got people buying a coffee and they're coming in and grabbing film, and you're in the back as a mad scientist, mixing all these things together, trying not to blow the place up, but developing amazing photos. 

00:20:28:04 - 00:20:28:19

Yeah. 

00:20:28:27 - 00:20:56:02

That's cool. I want to show you something. Can you hold on one second? I gotta get it. Okay. Hold on. My wife was cleaning out her mom's basement because her mom sold the house recently and in it found like ten cameras. They're all film. And so this is a Konica SAE 35. These this must be from like the 80s or something. Here. Wait. I'll show you what else we got here. There's. 

00:21:00:18 - 00:21:25:20

This is a Zeiss icon. I don't know again what these are. This. This must be from the 50s or something, huh? Wow. So they're all film? Obviously. And so I'm gonna one day buy some film and start playing with these and see what I can do. Oh, this is some Kodak from the 80s or 70. I bet you this is a 70s era. It's called a retina, a retina three. Oh, yeah. You know what that is? 

00:21:26:02 - 00:21:28:16

Those ones fold out. Actually, you can open it. 

00:21:28:21 - 00:21:29:21

Oh, yeah. There we go. 

00:21:30:19 - 00:21:32:10

You see, they're so pretty. 

00:21:33:19 - 00:21:34:10

It's so small. 

00:21:34:12 - 00:22:07:06

Yeah, it's so small. Right. What is this? It's like a spy camera. Oh, my God, look. It is like a spy camera. Maybe he was a spy. Oh, wait. That's it. It's not a spy. Camera. Minolta. 16. Oh, so anyway, I got all these, and it keeps going. It's not that I don't appreciate these. Just so you know. I just don't know what to do with them. Okay, wait one more. I want to show you what? This one. This is a minolta 16 q t this looks like late 70s or 80s. 

00:22:07:08 - 00:22:07:23

Maybe. 

00:22:08:05 - 00:22:09:17

I think it's also one thing. 

00:22:09:19 - 00:22:19:12

It is it's not a 35 millimeter. I wanted to show you all these because I figured you'd appreciate these. I got one more. This is a Konica. 

00:22:19:21 - 00:22:21:05

Oh, but it doesn't have a lens. 

00:22:21:10 - 00:22:22:22

There are lenses in the bag. 

00:22:23:11 - 00:22:23:27

Wow. 

00:22:24:12 - 00:22:29:11

If you press the shutter button, you can see if it has film, because it will. Oh, 

00:22:31:06 - 00:22:32:14

I can't see from here. 

00:22:32:18 - 00:22:33:23

Let me see. Hold on. Let me see. 

00:22:35:08 - 00:22:36:03

No film. 

00:22:36:24 - 00:22:39:00

We have a camera collection at the cafe? 

00:22:39:05 - 00:22:39:22

Yeah. 

00:22:40:05 - 00:23:13:06

I mean, most of them are analog. And I started those because the same thing happened. My grandfather had to see his sister's house, and so he started cleaning it out. And then there were, like ten cameras and then some from their parents. So my great grandparents and some from when they were young. So I cleaned them out and I started using them and they're so beautiful. From the 1960s, I think. 

00:23:13:10 - 00:23:25:11

And so now we have them all exhibited at the coffee shop. We have over 60 cameras and we have them in chronological order. Very cool. And the oldest one is from 1901. 

00:23:26:00 - 00:23:36:27

I don't know if you can see behind me. I have a chair back here. So next to that chair on this side, I am planning to get some kind of shelf or table to put these on to, like, display them, to have them there. 

00:23:37:09 - 00:23:38:19

They deserve to be displayed. 

00:23:38:21 - 00:23:47:00

They do right. They don't deserve to be in a big black bag. Don't tell anyone that they're in a. I'm storing these treasures. A dozen of them in a big black bag. 

00:23:47:17 - 00:23:49:28

If they are not clean, you should. 

00:23:50:10 - 00:23:52:17

How do I do that? Take them in. Or can I do it? 

00:23:53:00 - 00:24:06:01

Well, you can take them somewhere, but really, you can do it yourself. Just, you know, clean the outside. And with those lens wipes, you can clean the lens and the where you see the picture. I don't know how it's called in English. 

00:24:06:09 - 00:24:07:07

Viewfinder. 

00:24:08:01 - 00:24:10:09

Yeah. The viewfinder. Yeah, exactly. 

00:24:11:12 - 00:24:33:27

So I'm sorry to detour. Uh, sometimes these things distract me, but. So our listeners can know how to use this process. Where did you learn about this? And where can people go to learn how to do this? Because it really is an inexpensive, at home way to develop film using household ingredients. 

00:24:34:07 - 00:25:05:03

I mean, you can research Caffenol. And then there's a page. A web page. I think it's called cafe Caffenol.com. And you can find anything, everything there recipes and also tips and also like variations of the recipes depending on for example, if it's an expired roll of film or if it's a higher ISO or anything. I use the same recipe and it's all worked out really well, but you can do that. 

00:25:05:05 - 00:25:23:25

And I also found it in YouTube, the recipe that I found, and that's the one I still use. Sometimes I make some slight variations, but the base is the same one. And then if not, you can always contact me. And I'd be glad to share with you the knowledge that I have on this process. 

00:25:24:23 - 00:25:34:07

Okay, I ask three questions of all of my guests at the end of every interview. The first question is what camera system do you use? 

00:25:35:00 - 00:26:01:25

So with analog it's a little different. We have this. I've seen with analog photographers that we have this disease of collecting the most cameras that we can. And so they're never the same brand because they're all old cameras. So we just take whatever we can get. But I would say in digital, I shoot canon. In film, my favorite one has been Pentax number two. 

00:26:01:27 - 00:26:04:22

What's your favorite genre to shoot and why? 

00:26:05:29 - 00:26:18:10

It's been street photography forever. I don't know why. It's just draws me to the street and to the people we find in our way. I would say that's the one I shoot most. 

00:26:18:24 - 00:26:39:05

I love street photography too, and I don't know why, but I think it's sometimes I look at my photos and I'm like, these are so weird. And my brother looks at my photos and he says, Ken, you're so weird. I mean, you go out in the street and you just take pictures of random people and it's weird. And I'm like, yeah, it's weird, but I love it. 

00:26:39:18 - 00:26:51:06

Yeah, you never know what you're gonna find. Never been all day just with a camera outside and walking all over. I love about Antigua, by the way, because you can do that. 

00:26:51:12 - 00:27:03:12

I love that I love cities like that, too. That's why I have to come visit. Okay. And number three, on a scale of 1 to 10, how often do you get that burning itch to go out and shoot photos? 

00:27:04:13 - 00:27:29:13

I would say every day on a scale of 1 to 10, ten, even though I don't every day because we're at the cafe and working and everything, so I can't go out every day. Actually, I was telling us that I want to take at least 15 minutes every day to walk around with a camera just to see what I get, and also maybe get some exercise. 

00:27:29:20 - 00:27:53:07

That's a good point. I know you just put air quotes around exercise. But it's true, right? Because like, I'll go out and exercise, I'll go running or something, you know, or I'll just take my camera and walk like six miles through the city. And I'm getting exercise and having a really enjoyable time and not thinking about the exercise. Right. I'm not like, I'm not thinking about how much more I have to go. I'm just going. 

00:27:53:11 - 00:28:08:11

I mean, that happens to me that when I'm shooting or when I'm editing or when I'm doing something that I like, I don't feel the passing of time. So when I get back, for example, to the coffee shop after having a walk, I'm like, wait, I'm hungry. 

00:28:09:02 - 00:28:21:09

I do the same thing. I was in New York City this past weekend, and my wife and I, we walked ten miles and yeah, at the end of the day, I was like, pounding cheeseburgers. I was so hungry. 

00:28:21:29 - 00:28:22:18

All right. 

00:28:23:06 - 00:28:41:15

Dani, so I want people to be able to find you so they could see your photos so that they can see your Developed photos, and also in case they want to get in touch with you for information about how to do this process to develop your film. Where can people find you online? 

00:28:42:00 - 00:28:49:23

I'm on Instagram as film stories underscore Dani H so da and I h. 

00:28:50:06 - 00:28:52:11

And what's the Instagram for the cafe? 

00:28:53:00 - 00:28:55:24

It's Cafegrafia underscore GT. 

00:28:56:08 - 00:29:03:19

So that's Cafeg r a f i a underscore GT. 

00:29:04:05 - 00:29:04:27

Exactly. 

00:29:05:05 - 00:29:37:15

Check those out and contact Dani if you want information on this process. And if you just want to see what these photos look like when they're developed using this process. Um, Dani, I am so thankful for your time, and I'm just thankful that you're a member of The Big Photo Hunt, because I know over the past it's been almost like, what, ten months or so or so that, like, we've gotten to know each other and it's been so enjoyable. And I love your photos and I really appreciate you and having you here and here today on the podcast. 

00:29:37:17 - 00:29:38:09

So thank you. 

00:29:38:16 - 00:29:49:07

Thank you. I didn't know when I answered that first email that we were going to become this close, and how far you were going to get with the big photo hunt. So that's always a pleasure to see. 

00:29:49:09 - 00:30:03:14

Thank you. Yeah, I didn't know either. I was like, you know, that's the problem is, you know, we connect and then you're like, okay, I got this weird bald guy who now, like, won't leave me, leave me alone. And so thank you for letting me continue to bother you. So 

00:30:05:04 - 00:30:19:24

thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. Our next show will feature more valuable stories from our community members. If you'd like to audition to be a guest, please visit Big Photo Hunt for more information. Thanks again for listening today.