I haven't been shooting much lately and it is easy to blame the equipment and look for the 'perfect' camera. I'm sure this has happened to others as well. I have a Shen Hao 4x5, with a 90, 150 and 210mm lens kit, I develop my own black and white, scan on an Epson 4990... I also just picked up a D90 for wildlife photography and as a scouting camera. I'd love to pick up Don's Mamiya 7II but more camera gear isn't going to fix the problem. I shoot both color and black and white and for the most part I send my image files out to be printed. I don't have that many prints made because I tend to be a perfectionist and can always find something wrong with my images. For a while I did do a lot of black and white prints on a letter size Epson printer with MIS inks and really enjoyed it but I ended up doing a lot of nozzle cleaning and it became so frustrating it wasn't worth it anymore.
I think the definition of a photographer should be someone who makes photographs. I guess the next question is: What is a photograph? Is it an image on a website? Is it an image in a magazine? Or is it a print? I have a website. I have had images published in regional magazines but for the most part I don't have a lot of prints made. I think I really need to learn printing (color as well as black and white) so I can have control from composition of an image all the way to a print I can hold in my hand and share with others. The other thing I need to do is set goals and come up with some short term and long term projects. But I really think that my ignorance with respect to the printing process is a block I must overcome. I have made prints in the 'wet' darkroom but I just got a black and white sample print from the Epson R2880 on a semigloss paper that looks absolutely great to my untrained eye. I must admit that the primary reason for holding off for so long was the cost of an archival quality printer but I feel like I really need to do something to get my creative juices flowing again. Is my desire for a printer, probably the Epson 3800, just another symptom of GAS or is it really a legitimate step in becoming a well rounded photographer? Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Scott Kathe
Bookmarks