Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/11/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:40 PM 11/20/2004, Marc James Small < wrote: >If you don't do darkroom, you're not a photographer. Agreed. My first darkroom was in a closet, in my bedroom, in 1950. A few years later I built a darkroom in a corner of the garage. I now have a well equipped modern darkroom and I do not do digital other than snapshots that my wife takes with her Sony DCS-W1. You shove the memory stick in our printer and it pukes out 4x6 prints for her. That's the extent of digital in this house. I make mostly 20x24 Cibachrome prints. Currently I have a couple of hundred sheets of 20x24 Ciba paper and enough P3 chemistry to last a couple of years. This chemistry lasts like there is no tomorrow. Mixed in my processor, it's good for a year. Unmixed... who knows. I do 75% Ciba and 25% B&W. Again 20x24 is my standard size. I process all of my film here, B&W, C41, and E6. I even do some custom processing/printing for a few folks, when I have time. There's nothing like walking into the darkroom and closing the door behind you. It's a sanctuary. The world cannot come in. And to produce fine photographs for yourself or someone else, you have to actually think about what you are doing. THERE IS NO UNDO BUTTON! In this computer world, where everything is on, in, or by computer, it is oh so nice to do things the old fashioned way. The real way. Real photography. Silver. Chemistry. Timeless. Unchanging. The stuff legends are made from. If you are interested in B&W photography and B&W darkroom processes, join the "pure-silver" list. http://www.freelists.org/list/pure-silver JB