John Kasaian
19-Jul-2013, 18:46
I've spent two evenings contact printing one very difficult (for me) 8x10 negative which I thought was reminiscent (stylistically) of Fredrick Evans---taken in a partially restored 10th century Carthusian Chapter House in the early morning, with light streaming in from the windows illuminating the vaulted galleries---lots of stone carving and textures with various shades of gray and streaming bright light, it wasn't an easy photograph to make nor to print but I did and I'm finally pretty happy with the results except--except--for what I thought was a terrible flaw. On the wall is a large white spot---not a dust spot but more like a star-ish shaped white blemish high up on the walls on one of the galleries.
What could it be caused by? Not dust, not uneven developing, and definitely not a light leak. It was well defined but too small to be anything but a distraction.
Could the print be saved? I thought. Maybe spot it out? No it was too large and there was a lot of detail on the wall--it would look like I was trying to hide something with a Sharpie. I could print it again, burning in the wall until it was in the shadows but then I'd loose all the texture and details as this was on the darkened side of the reading room which was so beautifully illuminated.
I thought of posting an image but the "flaw" I'd perceived would only look like a monster dandruff flake on your computer screen and nothing more.
So I went back and studied the negative and went back to the print to examine the "spot" closer, and...and...(building up suspense here)and...it was in the perfect shape of one of the tiny windows on the opposite wall, projected by the brilliant light of the early morning sun!
Whoa! That's detail!
So now I have this print with a not so hidden paradox---a projection through a window that looks to the unaided eye to be a monster flake of dandruff.
I find it charming. But I think a viewer, unless they went over the print with loupe, would merely find it distracting and perhaps even suggest a dandruff shampoo.
What could it be caused by? Not dust, not uneven developing, and definitely not a light leak. It was well defined but too small to be anything but a distraction.
Could the print be saved? I thought. Maybe spot it out? No it was too large and there was a lot of detail on the wall--it would look like I was trying to hide something with a Sharpie. I could print it again, burning in the wall until it was in the shadows but then I'd loose all the texture and details as this was on the darkened side of the reading room which was so beautifully illuminated.
I thought of posting an image but the "flaw" I'd perceived would only look like a monster dandruff flake on your computer screen and nothing more.
So I went back and studied the negative and went back to the print to examine the "spot" closer, and...and...(building up suspense here)and...it was in the perfect shape of one of the tiny windows on the opposite wall, projected by the brilliant light of the early morning sun!
Whoa! That's detail!
So now I have this print with a not so hidden paradox---a projection through a window that looks to the unaided eye to be a monster flake of dandruff.
I find it charming. But I think a viewer, unless they went over the print with loupe, would merely find it distracting and perhaps even suggest a dandruff shampoo.