Trius
Waiting on Maitani
I don't think that's Ruben's point. And for him, "will feel like a breeze" is obviously not true, or else he would give it a higher priority when he apportions his time. I think he's done a lot
of darkroom work in his time, is accomplished at it, and now the methods he's used seem to be a burden in terms of time spent.
David & Keith: Thanks for the kind words -- yeah, it was bleedin' obvious to me, of course there may be folks who are in some whole other space-time continuum and have more time than the rest of us.
What I find is that if I am clear about what I want to be doing (ignoring the fact that there ARE things that must be done whether I want to or not,) I actually get "more" done. At least it feels that way, but even if it is just more satisfaction rather than more quantity, that's a good thing.
Back in the day, when I had a very workable darkroom, I used to churn out work with ferocity. Some of it was good, maybe one or two prints a year were extremely satisfying. When I re-establish that darkroom, I hope I'll be even more productive because I'll have had that past experience, plus the perspective of being older and clearer ... if not wiser.
I think Ruben's point is he wants input on how to be more efficient in the craft of producing the photos, thus freeing up time for other activities, such as, oh, shooting.
Dave: I don't make tortillas, but I do eat 'em.
But if I were into making my on tortillas, I'd certainly dive right in break some eggs, grind some corn (I prefer corn to flour,) whatever it took. :angel:jja
Well-known
I agree, a good corn tortilla can't be beat, and you don't need eggs to make corn tortillas.
FrankS
Registered User
...No new tortilla without breaking more eggs.
i get it, this is a koan.
i get it, this is a koan.
Gabriel M.A.
My Red Dot Glows For You
I wonder what oil-on-canvas realist painters have to say about all this hellish technology.
Painting, now there's a true unplugged image-making process. Try doing a "wet print" without electricity and timers and thermometers and plumbing and fancy red lights. Come on, I dare you.
Painting, now there's a true unplugged image-making process. Try doing a "wet print" without electricity and timers and thermometers and plumbing and fancy red lights. Come on, I dare you.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Gabriel M.A.
My Red Dot Glows For You
Now I dare you to do it with your rangefinders' film ::ducks::
Al Kaplan
Veteran
I think that there's a major disconnect between the newcomers to photography who are looking at wet printing as only a way of making a fine artistic print, and those of us who spent many an hour in the wet darkroom doing what digital today excells at: making decent quality prints as quickly as possible. There was a time when people had no choice in the matter, but they did have to knock out those prints, and it is possible to print 30 different negatives and get 30 pretty decent prints in a couple of hours. They might not be hang 'em on the gallery wall grade prints, but they'll reproduce just great in a newspaper or magazine.
Making all of those quick prints taught us to eyeball a negative, or the image on the baseboard, without first going through the make a contact sheet stage. We learned to read the negative (now there's a phrase I haven't heard in ages!), decide on a contrast filter, know what needed dodging and where there was some burning in to be done. We might or might not have made a test strip first but the first full size print was usually the only one we needed to make.
http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com
Making all of those quick prints taught us to eyeball a negative, or the image on the baseboard, without first going through the make a contact sheet stage. We learned to read the negative (now there's a phrase I haven't heard in ages!), decide on a contrast filter, know what needed dodging and where there was some burning in to be done. We might or might not have made a test strip first but the first full size print was usually the only one we needed to make.
http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
When I eventually get around to having a darkroom for wet printing, and I think it may be inevitable, I might need to pay you a visit first Al!
Al Kaplan
Veteran
Any time, Keith, but I can't guarantee that I'm still that fast. I've gotten lazy and out of shape? Or perhaps just old. The darkroom is still set up to knock 'em out fast when needed. Let me know when you're heading this way. Do some googling and you'll probably be able to find a couple of shots of me in my darkroom. One was with a 19mm Canon in the late sixties, the other with a 15mm Heliar a year or two ago. Same sink, same enlargers, same me.