Tag Archives: Darkroom

And what calendar are you on sir?

27 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Humor, Observations

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For years, I’ve unknowingly been using the Julian calendar to plan my days, appointments, and whatnot to bring some order to my life. Until now, it’s never failed me. It’s orderly – seven days, always following the same sequence, starting on Sunday- ending on Saturday, only to do it all over again, fifty-two times each year. But at this point, I’m beginning to think it might be failing or at the very least conspiring against me.

Wonder if this one works any better.

You see, this week was supposed to be a big one. Arn? Narn. was supposed to be back from the printer. It isn’t. I was scheduled to do a live online webinar promoting the book. For what ever reason, I could not get in. My headset would not cooperate. It did on the test last week, but not this time. Interestingly enough, after we cancelled and rescheduled the webinar, I tested it again. Of course, it worked. And this week isn’t over yet. I must be working on the wrong calendar. What was supposed to happen on a given day, didn’t. My calendar must be broken.

I suppose I could try and use the Hebrew calendar, but then I’d have to reschedule everything and reapply for a new copyright date. That won’t work.

There are of course other options. The Aztec calendar comes to mind, but there are two versions of that one. Which one to choose? If I choose the 365 day version, I’d have to do a lot of rituals. Outside of the darkroom, I’m not big on that. There is the sacred calendar, only 260 days (maybe I’ve been on that one all along and things finally caught up with me) but then I’d have to learn all the different gods. That’s not going to work either.

There are also Egyptian, Egyptian Solar, Chinese, Roman, Greek – you name it, there’s one for every occasion except it seems for me this week. That is the only explanation I can arrive at to explain why nothing has been on time. Even my express packages aren’t arriving on the promised dates.

Time is running short. Publication date is only 4 days away and I’m getting antsy. I want that book in my hand now. Yes, of course I waited nine years to get to this point, hey wait, maybe I’ve been on the wrong calendar all along. That would explain so much.

Not the most portable but if it works…

But for now, I’ll just have to be patient and wait a little bit longer. Or I could switch calendars and blame it on the gods.

It brought her to tears…the fourth note.

09 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in Discovery, Photography

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Art is arguably a singular endeavor. The writer and painter, poet and dancer, composer and photographer, sculptor and weaver, almost always do it in solitary. There are, no doubt, studies of this peculiar trait inherent in the creative class. It goes beyond right brain, left brain. It is a need which manifests itself in the doing, the creating of our work by ourselves. This does unfortunately create times when we are removed from the everyday. We then reside in our own sphere of thought, often ignorant of the times and people around us. Admittedly, this is not very fair to them.

Georgia O’Keefe – singularly. (peggyoberlininteriors.com)

We may have a vision of where we would like to go. We will also need to be open to wherever that may take us. However, it takes us there alone. And while we see what is happening, those around us are often confused and skeptical, almost unsupportive. They do not, cannot, at that time, see what it is we see. That too is unfortunate. Sharing the bits and pieces already completed doesn’t really shed much light either.

Only when it is done, can it hopefully make sense to those not directly involved. In the creating, the parts individually do not add up to any recognizable sum. Consider Beethoven’s Fifth as a prime example of this. The first four notes are instantly identifiable. If he had stopped at three notes, it would not be very recognizable. It had to be complete. And so it is with our art. It has to be complete for it to make sense.

All four notes. (tuckerellis.com)

So as I printed and printed the photographs for “Arn? Narn.”, except for me, they made very little sense to others. Where was that fourth note? Was there a fourth note?

Fast forward a year or two later to an evening after my wife had returned from a powerfully emotional yet fulfilling trip. We sat down to catch up on each others work and activities during her absence. I was in the darkroom almost all of the time she was away. She had gone down to help in New Orleans after Katrina and came back moved, vulnerable, and a little raw. She shared with me her experiences, her thoughts, and what that tragedy looked like to her. How could she have returned any other way? We talked for quite some time about that.

She then wanted to know what I had been up to in that time. I told her I’d been in the darkroom almost exclusively and had finished the printing of the photographs for “Arn? Narn.”, would she like to see them? Yes.

I brought out the box of the 200+ photographs and gave them to her with the explanation they were as yet unedited and not in any proper sequence and then waited in silence. She looked at each one thoughtfully, pausing on some longer than others, making soft sounds of understanding. Her response was all I could have hoped for…they brought her to tears. I had found the fourth note.

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Now where’s that photo with the, the, you know…

25 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Music, Photography

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Even though there are many photographs to print, some are revealing themselves to be keepers right off the bat; others, ehhh, not so much. So the editing starts while I’m still printing. That should make things easier at the end, right? Not so fast, Bucko! Some become instant favorites while others are quickly relegated to orphan status. If they remain orphans at the end, I might be convinced to call in Sally Struthers for help.

If you’ve never been in a photographic darkroom, it is a place of miracle, wonderment, surprise, and frustration. Sort of like golf, but without the funny clothes. When printing an image, one doesn’t just make one print and that’s it. There is so much influence the photographer can have on the image, that the final realization of it may look entirely different from what was originally seen on the proof sheet.

The adjustments are innumerable. It can go lighter or darker all over; composition is always being fiddled with; one can make only specific areas lighter or darker; contrast is infinitely adjustable; developing techniques affect it strongly; and cropping can make it into an entirely different image altogether. With all that in mind, it doesn’t get printed once. It gets printed many times. All the generations printed of this image lead to the one that stands out; the one where you can’t see that it needs any further work. The differences between the last few generations might be miniscule and often are, but that little difference makes all the difference in the world.

It is not uncommon, rather it’s normal, to spend hours working on an image from just one negative. (The late W. Eugene Smith was known to work as long as a week on one negative!) Multiply that by 200+ images and it’ll be a wonder if I ever see daylight again. On the other hand, if I print at night, that problem is easily eliminated.

W. Eugene Smith in his darkroom. (oocities.org)

So, as preliminary editing begins, there’s always that moment (or moments), when looking through all those prints, you go, “Now where is that photo with the…”. Good times, good times.

This is what looking for that print is like, only cleaner. (the atlantic.com)

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Sometimes I feel like a mushroom, they keep me in the dark and feed…

21 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Humor

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An artist’s rendering of the photographer in his darkroom, not quite. (farmflavor.com)

OK, the only part of that title that’s true is being in the dark. Some people supposedly near and dear to me would agree that I’m in the dark about most things. And I would protest…somewhat.

At this point, I’m spending a hell of a lot of time in the darkroom, so yes, I am in the dark, literally. But, I’m also very productive. (Sidebar – the book “Arn? Narn.” was shot on film before I made the switch to digital. Therefore the images were also printed the old-fashioned way on photographic paper in chemicals. Call me a Luddite but please don’t call the EPA!) Each time I process my film, I’m seeing anywhere from 24-144 more negatives of the several thousand taken. I plan to wait until all the film is developed before I make proof sheets. Making proofs is tedious and I want to get it done once.

However, over the years, I’ve learned to “read” negatives and from what I’m seeing, I’m encouraged that the second trip to Newfoundland is yielding the desired results. Where once there were just my nice photographs of Newfoundland, there is now a cohesiveness to them including the ones taken the year prior.

Imagine reading several thousand of these, but at 1/20th the size.

That cohesiveness will allow me to select the best ones to print. It gives me an idea of how I want the visual narrative of the book to go. So when all is said and done, I will have many proof sheets with multiple images, some various versions of the same scene, to determine which to print. I know going into this phase, I will edit to a manageable 200-300 images to print. From those prints, I will start the actual editing to a more manageable number for the book. I’ve edited my work before, but never on a scope as large as this. I have no idea how difficult this is going to prove to be. Ultimately, this will be the book.

But, un-ultimately, this leads to a whole new other phase and once again my learning curve will be steep and long. Why didn’t I learn accountancy?

The damned awful, most sorrowful part of this trip…

10 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Observations

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A very famous, overpaid (but ungrateful) sports commentator was asked about the best part of his now-over job with ESPN. His too-quick response was “Seeing it in the rear-view mirror”! Obviously, things didn’t go too well for him there. Not to worry though, both he and ESPN have gone on to greater things.

Bye Newfoundland!

For me, the worst part of this trip to Newfoundland was seeing it in my “rearview mirror”. In this case, that was the window of the plane taking me back to the states. I did not want to leave…ever. But…

In front of me was another round of developing many rolls of film, making a like number of proof sheets, and then determining whether or not I had achieved what I had set out to accomplish. I would have to look at the photographs taken over this two year period to see how it all shook out. This would take many months of work in which I would constantly be reminded of the adventures written about in this blog. Alas, no scrunchions, no Quidi Vidi brew, no chocolate covered crackers to help me on my way. Travel is so hard and boring!

As I have a fine and loud stereo in my darkroom, I would play, among all the rest of my musical selections, my newly expanded collection of Newfoundland music. So often that when I go to my next kitchen party, I would be much better equipped to participate. Not that my singing will have improved, not likely, but I’ll be able to choose from a much larger repertoire of what Oscar my friend from St. John’s refers pejoratively (a $ 1.00 word here!) to as “diddly music”. (I loved “diddly music”, but  when you grow up with something so prevalent as did Oscar, you’re not much impressed with it any longer.)

“Close the door! You’ll let out all the dark!” (Old photography joke.)

So my immediate course has been set out in front of me: hours of wet hands, inhaling semi-noxious fumes, singing/screaming at the top of my lungs “diddly music”. Yes b’y! That’s for me. Now we’ll see what develops. (Groan – another old photography joke.)

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