Saturday, May 2, 2020

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Awry



It is the merry month of May. I had great plans for May. I had signed up for a photography tour In Oaxaca with Gary Goldberg. It has been 26 years since I've been there on another photographic tour with Geoff Winningham. This year the tour included visits with Mexican photographers and artists, time to photograph but also we were going to stay at Casa Colonial which is where I had stayed 26 years ago. I loved Casa Colonial, a huge garden, comfortable rooms, delicious meals, and filled with wonderful Mexican art. 

I was planning to go a few days early and stay a few days after the workshop. Unfortunately, the Pandemic changed those plans but I was thinking about the trip this morning so I opened the Oaxaca folder that had some scans of the black and white film I shot with my Pentax medium format camera. 

Digital Photography has brought many changes to the way most photographers work so looking at the scan of a film negative was shocking. Film had grain! And to print the negative you had to go into the darkroom, mix chemicals and spend hours on one image making test strips and multiple prints until you were finally satisfied with the resulting print. Then you had to spend a few more hours washing and treating the print for archivability. If you were able to finish two prints in one day, you had accomplished something. 

Looking at these negatives brings back some wonderful memories but I don't want to go back to the darkroom although I do want to go back to Oaxaca. 

This image was made just outside the village of Tlacochohuaya where we had stopped on the side of the road to look out across this wide valley with magnificent clouds hanging in the sky. 

6 comments:

  1. I have spent many years working in the darkroom. Fun times. But digital photography and "Photoshop" are here to stay. A much cleaner and environmentally friendly process. It's nice to see you writing again…

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    1. Hi Peter, I was hoping you would find me again. Looking back at some scans I made of negatives convinced that the digital workflow was better for me especially since I'm living in Mexico. But I have to admit that some of the alternative process or 8x10 format have something special about them that I have not seen in digital.

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  2. Back in 1974, just a few weeks after we moved into our first house, in Oak Park, Illinois, our friend Steve, a master builder, began work with me to convert an old basement coal bin into a darkroom (I say “with me,” but he did most of the work; I specialized in bending nails with my hammer). Once it was done, I proudly applied its name to its black door: Fuzzy Fotos. I spent a lot of time in there. Lately, as I’m trying to sort, delete, and organize a bunch of images while I still can (the lockdown gives me no excuses to avoid the job!), I’ve begun scanning a few long-forgotten “finds.” You’re right; I’d forgotten about grain! I recall what it took to learn the skills needed to shoot those cameras (hurray for your big Pentax!) and to master the darkroom skills needed to convert the images to prints. I’d certainly never go back to a darkroom, but it’s fun to see those photos again, and to remember how they were made.

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    1. Jim, Something else I've noticed is that because I have more options printing scanned negatives, I sometimes see them differently. I agree with you, lots of good memories but I'm happy where I am in the light room.

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