Simplicity and the Silver Process

[Jay DeFehr]

As Rick suggests, simplicity is not so....simple. Or perhaps it's often conflated with more descriptive terms like primitive, or unsophisticated.

When I left Idaho for Seattle I left behind a fairly well appointed darkroom/lab. Among the equipment therein is a Jobo ATL 3 film processor; complex, sophisticated, and simple. Shuffling sheets in a tray while watching (or listening to) a timer and checking a thermometer, and then moving the sheets from tray to tray is certainly more complicated than loading the film into a drum, entering a program, and pushing a button. I'm not making a value judgement, just pointing out a difference between complexity and complication.

Like automatic transmissions make driving less complicated while making the machine more complex, most of the technology we've integrated into photography is intended to make our task less complicated (simpler) even at the expense of making our machines/processes more complex. As I've said so many times, photography has always been a collaboration between man and machine, and a negotiation of autonomy. Should we assign the responsibility of determining best focus (the machine always does the actual focusing) to the machine, or reserve it for ourselves? How about exposure? Should we rely on our on-board opto-computational system (eyes and brain), or delegate that work to the machine, or share the task? The same collaboration and negotiation persists throughout the photographic process, and we each come to our own arrangements with the machines that are our collaborative partners.

It can get quite primitive-

When I left for Seattle, I wasn't sure what I'd find there, but I knew I was moving into a one bedroom apartment. I planned to make a second trip to move things, so on the first trip I took very basic photography provisions; just a few daylight tanks, trays, graduates, a scale, a liter of 510-Pyro concentrate, several cameras and lots of film and paper. There would be very little in the way of automation in Seattle, and I even forgot to pack my process thermometer. Oh, well, it's just temporary......

I have yet to return for that second load of items, and I've been getting along quite well. I use my phone for a timer, my finger for a thermometer, my eyes for a light meter, and rely on the latitude of my materials to keep everything within tolerable limits. I've even managed to make some carbon prints under these conditions ( I bought a spiral fluorescent black light and fitted it into a large reflector fixture from Ikea).

Given the option, I would delegate many mechanical jobs to reliable machines, and that would simplify my process, but absent that option, I stand in for the machines I used to rely on. I don't enlarge, and I don't do any real lab work (though I did experiment with quercetin as a developer), but I do make photos, and I enjoy it, however complicated my process has become.

[Vaughn]

Perfectly said Merg. I'm at the point where I just enjoy the quiet alone time in the dark room. The mechanical work almost does itself and I enjoy the 'me' time, listening, thinking.

I was quite please to get the Expert Drum 3005 to do my 8x10's in the light. This was after 25 years of open tray development (4x5/5x7/8x10)...usually one or two negs at a time -- lots of time to think! But I am finding it nice to be back in the dark again with the open trays developing my 11x14's.

While not the silver process, I find carbon printing to be quite "simple" (tho complex I guess compared to ordering silver gelatin paper from Freestyle). Spending 15 minutes sloshing a print in hot water, watching the unexposed gelatin melt and the image get reveled is very nice. No developer, stop bath or fixer to worry about.

[Drew Wiley]

The most difficult task in photography is deciding whether to head out with the 8x10
this afternoon or head into the darkroom. I'm weighing the options over a bowl of
soup.

[jayabbas]

Thanks for the correct wisdom. As a testament to simplicity I just look at all the gear I don't use that I thought would " get me there". An expensive pile that gets sold off. The tools that work are amazingly simple and straight forward. Now if my mind would go straight forward ...

[Terry Hayden]

Merg,
Sorry I didn't respond earlier, been away for a bit.
Yes, the Fresno Art Museum has an exhibit of Dick Garrod's work up now. There are at least 30 ( or more ) prints of his up. They are exquisite.
If anyone is passing through Fresno ( not that anyone would come here for a
destination <G>) - it's worthwhile stopping by the F.A.Museum and seeing this exhibit.

[Merg Ross]

Merg,
Sorry I didn't respond earlier, been away for a bit.
Yes, the Fresno Art Museum has an exhibit of Dick Garrod's work up now. There are at least 30 ( or more ) prints of his up. They are exquisite.
If anyone is passing through Fresno ( not that anyone would come here for a
destination <G>) - it's worthwhile stopping by the F.A.Museum and seeing this exhibit.

Terry, thanks for the update. I now recall Dick mentioning the Fresno exhibition. Lucky you are! His show a couple of months ago in Hayward was full of stunning images dating from 1955, with the most recent work from 2007. There were fifty-six silver prints in all. He ranks with the greats of the West Coast Tradition (the title of his Hayward exhibit).

[David Karp]

Perfectly said Merg. I'm at the point where I just enjoy the quiet alone time in the dark room. The mechanical work almost does itself and I enjoy the 'me' time, listening, thinking.

Hi Jim, I reached that point decades ago; we may be among the privileged few these days!

Hope you are well, and belated best to you and yours for 2012!

Merg

Absolutely. I love that time in the darkroom. Well, most of the time. There have been a few times over the years when I had to pack up and walk out. Everything I did was wrong. But those days are by far the exception. I can spend hours in the darkroom and it feels like no time at all. I like to keep the room dark too. I'm not one for those bright safelights.

[Vaughn]

...His show a couple of months ago in Hayward was full of stunning images ...

I spent a long time looking at Dick's work in Hayward -- wonderful stuff. Another good show there now (Charlie Cramer and others).

Vaughn

[John Kasaian]

I think you can make it as complicated as you wish, or as simple as you like. I prefer simple--which is a bit of a mental thing. We are programmed into believing we need X or Y in order to achieve Z but photographers long ago were achieving Z with far more primitive resources and often under more challenging conditions. There is a great deal of personal satisfaction in getting the job done with simple, basic equipment, either on the taking end or the printing end of the spectrum.