It's too easy for my wife to find me when I'm sitting in front of this stupid computer! I'm a sitting duck. She's looking for someone to do the dishes as we speak. The nerve. Just because she cooked the dinner. Ahh.......but the dark room. It's mystical and remote. I can listen to MY music in there. I'm obviously doing something important when I've dis-appeared in there. And I can always yell "Can't come out right now" "Give me 10 minutes to finish this" See, you'll miss all that.
Erik, I agree that if you"re working commercially at it, digital is where the smart money is, but if your passion is the print then consider which method gives you the most satisfaction to work with. It sounds like you're taken with digital so thats probably where you should be right now. If you enjoy the wet darkroom like many do, then thats fine too. If you want to scan traditional negatives, then by all means go that route. What I'm trying to say is that you'll get better results and be happier if you do the things that give you the greatest satisfaction. If getting a print out of a printer gives you the same creative charge as pulling one out of the soup then so be it. You can catch just as big of fish with spinning tackle or a flyrod. It certainly doesn't matter to the fish, but the fishermen sure do have opinions about which gear to use. IMHO that applies to photography, too. Use the tools you love.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Eric, I agree with what has been said here for the most part. Commercial shooting yes, go digital but for the most part we shoot film and scan on our Imacon scanners. I feel that it is very helpful to have a wet process background but if your doing commercial you won't get paid enough for doing your own darkroom work, assistants, yes but you as a shooter, stick to what you make money with. On a personal note, for creative "battery charging" I'm persuing Kallitypes and Platinum printing so I suppose I'll keep my darkroom for the occasional fiber that I will print also. If you feel you are missing something, take a course if not for anything else but enjoyment! It won't hurt. Cheers, Scott
Yes, you can bypass the traditional darkroom and obtain your objective. Just learn everything there is to learn about the digital process and stay on top of the advancements. You'll do just fine.
At this point in the game I would believe it more prudent to "know" digital and play around in traditional at your leisure. Maybe a community darkroom or adult ed course for the ability to occasionaly use a traditional darkroom without incurring a large expense, and many peices of progressively diminishing valued items. Then again, scanners and printers fall by the wayside pretty fast. (:
Rather than an audio analogy, and keeping in mind that I am an amature, I'm reminded of my old cars... not the ones I have now, I don't have one, but the ones I used to have. I would be out every weekend with cut knucles and grease under my fingernails. I want to get from here to there at this point in my life. I don't need to know how to change points (what's that) or lube a CV joint to drive a car. I'd imagine that would be the same for photography. I don't need to shoot, so the mechanics are fine, but if I had to do it every day, I'd go with one of thoes lease jobs that you take in once a year. I think a contact print has a certian "rumble", but what is it realy worth? Dual carbs, or injeciton? Dean
Dean Lastoria
I'm not currently owning a LF camera but drools about getting one again: I'm not sure I'm qualified to open it up in this superb forum.
IMHO: On the commercial side: What has been said above is true for most commercial jobs. I'm not sure it's true if you sell 'artistic' prints. Last time I checked this, digital prints sold at a considerably lower prices than conventional prints. Probably due to concerns about digital prints permanence and uniqueness of conventional prints (ie. You can never exactly duplicate 2 conventional prints).
Digital prints sell for less than conventional prints? Where? Last time I was in the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite (a few weeks ago) the Lightjet prints were commanding the same prices as Ilfochrome prints.
The photographer's name makes a far larger difference in the price.
Erik, go digital and don't look back.
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