[Leica] OT: Darkroom & Nostalgia

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Philippe showed:

Subject: [Leica] OT: Darkroom & Nostalgia

 

No English version I'm afraid, but I think everyone can appreciate the 

poetry of simple and so familiar gestures inside.

 

http://www.laboratoire-tirages-argentiques.com/prestation.html

 

Philippe mon ami,

This brings back beautiful memories of the great moments of working in the
darkroom! Merci!

 

As much as most of us are now digitally and electronically wired into print
making, this documentary is a kind of emotionally moving film.

It brings back the high of seeing our very first image appear in the tray.
Think about it? Don't all of you have squiggles in your tummy from seeing it
happen? :-) Maybe I'm just an old emotional jerk, but damn, I can still feel
the excitement of the moment! The wonder as it appeared and the
disappointment as the print continued to become darker and darker,
eventually fading to black! OOPS! A tad too much exposure light! :-) But we
learned the more we made prints. And making 16X20's? Now that creates awe if
ever there was! 

 

I don't mean when someone else showed you in there darkroom. I mean the
first time ever in your own darkroom standing quietly in the dark watching
your photograph appear on paper. It was such a magical moment never to be
forgotten.

 

It was an unforgettable experience and over the years other moments when a
particularly successful image had been captured on film as it began to
appear on the paper under the safelight and wash of developer, you'd get
squiggles in your belly it felt so good all over because it was yours and
you had shot a neat photograph!

 

Merci,

ted