RE: [Leica] Why I want a wet darkroom

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

You're welcome, Adam. I obviously don't feel as you do about these aspects
of the photographic process, but I certainly understand how you or anyone
else could feel this way - and, to be perfectly honest, I remember a far off
time in a distant galaxy when I felt exactly as you do. ;-)

But I've reached a point in my life/photography where the only part of the
process about which I really care, or to which I attach any personal
importance/satisfaction, is seeing the image and capturing it. I certainly
want a well processed negative, but I don't much care who processes it, and
I want a great print, but it can be digital or wet. And if I could afford
to, I'd have someone else do the printing. (Hey, if it was good enough for
HCB, it's good enough for me. ;-) )

B. D.

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Adam Bridge
Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 1:47 PM
To: Recipient List Suppressed
Subject: [Leica] Why I want a wet darkroom


I'd like to thank everyone who replied to my request. And I'd like to thank
BD
for asking the hard question: WHY?

It IS expensive to set up a darkroom. Esp if I went the Jobo route although
I
suspect I might find a used one somewhere at a reasonable price.

I'll speak now for me: I want a darkroom because there's a direct
relationship
between what I make and what I do with my hands. It's all in the
time-domain. If
I want three identical prints, and there's a lot of doging and burning and
other
manipulation then I have to do things the same way. So I in the darkroom I
have
a work-of-hands.

My computer work - and I have everything that BD mentioned - is not as
satisfying to me. I work on a print in the digital domain. I can make print
after print on my piezo and they will all look the same.

It seems like the art has vanished then. I suppose you can reasonably say
that
it has moved to the manipulation of Photoshop. And that's true - and yet I
am
left with the feeling that the REAL art is in Photoshop as well as most of
the
craft.

There's something in the darkroom PROCESS that I like. The control. Heck I
can
make my chemistry from scratch if I want to. That seems to be a fundamental
part
of what I like about darkroom work - getting my hands dirty, dealing with
what I
have in my mind, the imperfections of the negative (and understanding them
so I
do it better when I take my next photos), watching the print develop,
thinking
about it, learning what is possible.

Maybe it's because I'm a rookie in the darkroom so every print is new and
different and a different challenge. The joy of making a mistake that leads
to
something new for me to explore.

It FEELS like art to me and when I work in the darkroom I feel like an
artist.
That's why I desire a darkroom.

Thanks for asking, BD, and for making me think about it.

Adam Bridge
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