Never been in a darkroom

[Colin Robertson]

gbunton is right. Listen to a pro. I shoot for fun, and although I love it, I have no client, no master, no judge except myself. For years I worked with temporary darkrooms. The worst was a closet-I could only print in the middle of the night. Now I have a permamnent set-up and it's no accident that my prints are the best (I think) I've ever made. It's about time and committment. Learning printing, learning Zone, are all so much easier when you can devote time to it.
Holy God! I only just realised- a darkroom is just like a woman. Give her your attention, spend lots of time with her, and things will go well. Boy, are you in line for some fun. BUT, neglect her and things are gonna be miserable. So, Norm, get printing, but treat your baby right!
By the way (if you don't mind) what flavour of physicist are you??

[Maris Rusis]

I guess this will seem out of kilter with the rest of the photographic world. I go into the darkroom to make photographs; to actually do photography.

Sure I perform the usual camera work, expose and develop film but most of the photography I have done in the last few decades consists of photographing film negatives with large pieces of paper-backed photographic emulsion. Instead of a camera this process involves an enlarger or a contact frame but it is still photography and the results are definitely photographs and not prints. Photographers sometimes forget (and the public never know) that the photograph on the gallery wall is not a photograph of what was in front of the camera but a photograph of what was in the camera.

The use of the word "print" in connection to paper backed photographs (but not film backed ones, why?) is an unfortunate misnomer that is probably too entrenched to eradicate.

It does matter because if you say "print" you eventually think "print" and sooner or later see "print". In the picture business prints have connotations of effortless mass production, indistinguishable replicas, low unit values, and sheer commonness. Real photographs are not like that at all. To get another photograph one has to photograph again not just prod the print button one more time. To borrow a musical analogy from Ansel Adams a photograph is equivalent to a live performance while a print is merely playing air-guitar to the CD.

If the aim is not just any picture fabricated by any convenient means but rather a real personally expressive photograph then the darkroom is the only practical place where this can be done. It is absolutely central to the art of photography.

[Norm Buchanan]

gbunton is right. Listen to a pro. I shoot for fun, and although I love it, I have no client, no master, no judge except myself. For years I worked with temporary darkrooms. The worst was a closet-I could only print in the middle of the night. Now I have a permamnent set-up and it's no accident that my prints are the best (I think) I've ever made. It's about time and committment. Learning printing, learning Zone, are all so much easier when you can devote time to it.
Holy God! I only just realised- a darkroom is just like a woman. Give her your attention, spend lots of time with her, and things will go well. Boy, are you in line for some fun. BUT, neglect her and things are gonna be miserable. So, Norm, get printing, but treat your baby right!

By the way (if you don't mind) what flavour of physicist are you??

Hi Colin,

I don't mind at all, I am an particle physicist. Actually, due to the fact that I have a profession that absorbs MUCH of my time, I have to choose carefully what I get myself into. Having said that, photography has become my one true love (aside from my wife of course) so I am willing to sleep less to expand on it.

I was leaning away from going into the darkroom due to time and other reasons, but after following another thread on the forum (Pricing Inkjet Prints) I realized something - there is something to be said for a one of a kind print. As someone who would like to sell prints I like the idea of being able to easily reproduce results; as someone who occasionally buys prints however, I like the idea of a one-of-a-kind print hanging on my wall. Hmmm, the plot thickens...

Norm

[Ron Marshall]

Norm, the last time I was in a DR was 25 years ago. When I began LF I didn't have sufficient space so I went the PS scanning route. I refrained from buying a printer until very recently because I was stuck on the fence. I like the look of silver prints and I'm not satisfied with the B/W output from the most recent Epsons that I've seen at Calumet.

I finally went for a factory refurbished Epson 2200 @ $445, and NK7 Piezotone inks. The look is different from silver and does not replace it for me, however I like the look even more than silver. With seven shades of neutral gray the tonality is very smooth and the detail is striking.

Now that I have discovered Piezotones I no longer miss the darkroom. PS gives me complete control over my images.

[John Kasaian]

I didn't read all the responses---there are so many of them this thread must have struck a collective nerve, as it did mine.

What you've missed is this: Seeing an image of trees or rocks or people or ? appear magically, under a safelight, on a sheet of paper sitting in a tray of chemicals you've mixed yourself.

That alone is worth it for me. Watching something spurt and grind out of a machine dosen't even come close.

If I were a chemist and knew all about silver halides and such, maybe I'd confuse this "magic" for a cold sterile laws of physics but I'm not and I don't.

If I were a control freak and wanted to manipulate an image to suit my own whimsey I'd consider the pros and cons of a digital versus a traditional darkroom and which means would best justify my ends with deadly seriousness, but that is really the farthest thing from my mind. Watching a "mirror image" of a time and location appear on an 8x10 (or 5x7 or 12x20) piece of magic paper is enough for me. :-)

Cheers!

[Richard Ide]

John

Well said.
The insights I have gained from this forum and the knowledge are difficult to describe in finite terms , but appreciated continually

Richard

[CXC]

John's right, it's magic when the image appears on the blank sheet of paper. But the thrill has worn off for some of us. And for $20 you can get a Polaroid camera and get it in the broad daylight by pressing a button...

[Randy H]

Blah, blah, blah...
My darkroom is my escape from reality. Lock the door,turn out the lights, put in the classical music, and produce something with MY hand, that I have shot, that looks the way I want it. I do own the digital, the courses I took in photojournalism was all done with digital and PS, and when I completed those courses, I still have my darkroom, the stinky chemicals, the screwed up negatives, the piss-poor prints... GAWD, I love my darkroom. As stated earlier, try it. You will either love it or hate it. But until you try, you will always wonder "what if". The digit has its place, and no doubt will take over eventually. I guess that is the reason I am now attempting old alternative processes. I like the way Barker put it. Next best thing to sex is a picture coming out of the final rinse that looks the way you want it to.