Confessional

[fhovie]

This thread is likely doomed from the start: I have been shooting LF for many years and I used to make a lot of art by accident. I would get out of my darkroom elated and singing and the sun was shining and the birds were tweeting .... But this year I have made a lot of bone head moves. I come out of the darkroom with one print that is ok and the rest go to the hall of shame. My processes have never been more controlled and I should be bulletproof.

So forgive me Ansel for I have sinned:
I handled film and left finger prints that developed on top of Bodie masterpieces.
I did a whole trip shooting falls at the Columbia River Gorge with a loose lens on my lensboard giving all my photos a kind of 60s look (can you say circular motion blur?)
I tried to get out of using a graduated density filter by burning in the darkroom.
I loaded film packs where there was dust.
I shot film where there was dust and failed to keep it off the film.
I tried to make FP4 do what only TRI X can do.
I tried to use one process for every situation and needed to use grade 00 VC paper. For which I have great shame.
I scratched my best 8x10 waterfall and stream negative.
I double exposed an 8x10 negative ruining it.
I did not use a long enough or floppy enough shutter release cable.
I left my Manfrotto ball head in a rental car; never to be seen again.

Well maybe some of these errors are from last year too but I was wondering if I was .... well .... unique in my ability to make blunders where I clearly should know better.

 

[keithwms]

Actually, St. Ansel committed an even greater sin that should make you feel better. As I recall, he incorrectly stored all his negs in an old wooden cabin which then caught fire....

 

[jim appleyard]

Is that all??? I thought you were going to confess to going digital!

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Is that all??? I thought you were going to confess to going digital!

No, but he did go Polaroid. He was at one time a spokesperson for Polaroid products, and used and experimented with them.

 

[Moopheus]

No, but he did go Polaroid. He was at one time a spokesperson for Polaroid products, and used and experimented with them.

Polaroids are a gateway drug. You start off innocently enough, Type 55, you want that nice negative after all, before you know it you're shooting packs, 3000 ASA because you can't wait more than 15 seconds, then you see that camera where the picture shows up instantly on the little screen...

 

[fhovie]

rumors of my poloroid activity have been over stated - and I never use anything but film for B&W.

 

[vdonovan]

Adams was a compulsive and a fanatic, but he wasn't a purist. He shot color, b&w, LF, MF, 35mm, polaroid. He shot with viewcameras, rangefinders and SLRs. He dodged and burned and moved the rocks around in his pictures and used his fingers to agitate his prints in their trays.

If he was alive today, I bet he'd know more about digital and make more beautiful digital photos than anyone alive.

 

[pgomena]

Learn from thy mistakes, brother Frank, go forth and goof no more.

Once took my 4x5 on location on a commercial job and forgot to pack the tripod.

Once loaded the boss' filmholders with Ektachrome duplicating film by mistake.

Murphy loves a party. He'll invite himself.

Peter Gomena

 

[Frank Szabo]

Polaroids are a gateway drug. You start off innocently enough, Type 55, you want that nice negative after all, before you know it you're shooting packs, 3000 ASA because you can't wait more than 15 seconds, then you see that camera where the picture shows up instantly on the little screen...

The people I ran with referred to them as "hemorrhoids".

 

[Paul Verizzo]

If he was alive today, I bet he'd know more about digital and make more beautiful digital photos than anyone alive.

You can take that to the bank. A friend of mine from Brooks told me that back then in the eighties, when digital was still embryonic, Ansel had made positive comments about it being the future. I don't recall my friend's source on that, live or otherwise.

No dummy, Ansel.

 

[keithwms]

There is this quote in Adams' book entitled "Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs", page 59:

"I am sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it. I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop."

Bear in mind that his good friend Land foresaw digital imaging much earlier, but then clung to his hard-won process even as alternative methods appeared.

 

[Wade D]

I have a copy of a documentary called Ansel Adams - Photographer, made in 1980. He alluded to the fact that electronic media would be the next logical step in the medium. I watch it often because it shows him working in his darkroom. Ahhh. To have a darkroom like that!