When I turned 66 last October, a few things finally dawned on me…that, nope - I wouldn’t be climbing Everest. Not owning that 911. Not getting that Guggenheim…

But…who wants to stand on that rediculous Konga line anyway? And I’m perfectly happy with my 944, thank you. That Guggenheim? Well, to be honest….(sigh)

But there is something that might still be in the realm of possibility - which is to give unsharp masking a try. Yeah…I know - just go ahead and TRY it, you doofus! But it looks like a lot of work (time, materials, learning curve)…and although I’m retired, I still have quite a bit on my plate as it is (loads of printing/re-printing to catch up on…and the 944 is still in pieces).

And to be honest, I also find something a bit unsettling about some (much) of the actual, unsharp masked work I’ve seen “up close and personal” in galleries…that, although yes, while the degree of enhanced sharpness can indeed be fascinating - the prints themselves can, overall, look just a little too “harsh” for my tastes - with the erstwhile balance of sharpness and softness…that magical “glow” to which many of us aspire in our work - having been sacrificed to the gods of “detail at any cost.”

But…if I have a specific issue which still might be addressed by a bit of unsharp masking - it would be related to my current scenario of creating large (40x60”) prints from 5x7 negatives. Don’t get me wrong - the overall balance I feel I’ve been achieving with these large prints has, thus far, been to my liking. But I feel like I’m working right on the edge here…and there are times when some of the finer details in a given image, such as tree bark and rock faces - could be just a bit sharper. But, to the extent that my work often combines such “fine” details with much softer elements (like ocean surf and/or fog), well, I’d truly hate to sacrifice the wonderful subtlety in this. Still…

So I’m trolling for opinions here, as well as seeking some sage advice regarding the two currently available approaches (wet vs scanned interpositive) to creating the masks themselves. My only past (like 30 years ago) experience with anything close to this had been with using pan masking films in making interpositives to enlarged negatives for use in creating platinum/palladium/albumen prints…and my tendency, as one committed to “the old ways,” would be to go this route and give Bergger’s “Printfilm” (continuous tone ortho) film a try.

So…Opinions? Advice (sage or otherwise)? Thanks!