Dividing time between Darkroom and Shooting Film

I am finding that I am shooting more film than I have time (or inclination) to print. Years ago, when I shot a lot of colour film I would just send the films out to be developed and printed in high street labs. Slide film was usually process paid too so that was sent away as well. When I shot black and white films (which was probably a roll a week) I had time to spend hours in the darkroom but now much less so. I am also solitary in the darkroom now whereas years ago I would have company and it was more fun.

So how do other people manage the divide between shooting film (which I particularly enjoy) and actually printing the film (which I sometimes find a chore)? I have become very selective in the frames that I will print. Sometimes I might only print 3 frames from a roll of 36 exposures even though there are other frames that are worthy of printing. More recently, I have a backlog of developed films that haven't been printed at all which is perhaps a bit pointless!

It might be that I am too fussy when printing which slows everything down a lot. I usually like my prints as 8"x10" but perhaps I should print smaller prints but more of the frames on the film. That might speed things up and at least I would get to see the photographs.

Winter is a bit grim in the UK so I usually spend much more time in the darkroom then. Maybe I will catch up. It seems wrong to be indoors in the dark on the (rare) sunny days when there are months of grey cold ahead!

It takes me at least an hour of darkroom time to print a single frame, so I am in the same situation as you. Because of my limited darkroom throughout, I am more selective of what I l print. Now, I print with a portfolio or a print series in mind. I think this results in better end product.

Your last statement... Summer is for shooting, winter is for printing.

I am in the same position. From about a hundred of films exposed this year, I have only printed a few. Previously I scanned each negative film to get an idea of what could be further printed, but now just make a contacts as it is much faster for me.
I hope to spent the rest of the year in my new darkroom, intend to print more rather on smaller sizes (7''x9.5'' and 5''x7'') but for many shots.

iakustov said:

I am in the same position. From about a hundred of films exposed this year, I have only printed a few. Previously I scanned each negative film to get an idea of what could be further printed, but now just make a contacts as it is much faster for me.
I hope to spent the rest of the year in my new darkroom, intend to print more rather on smaller sizes (7''x9.5'' and 5''x7'') but for many shots.

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Yes, I have the equipment to scan film but it is quicker for me to make a contact sheet and I like to file the contact sheet with the sleeve of negatives so that I can see at a glance what is on the film. I usually wait until I intend to do some printing before I make the contact sheets for several films. It isn't worth mixing up the paper processing chemicals just for one contact sheet. Whilst I am very behind with printing, I do develop the films promptly. The reason for this is that my cameras are getting old and I want to know quickly if there is a problem so that I don't waste multiple films. I recently had a light leak in one of my OM4-Ti cameras but I discovered that after just 2 ruined films.

I strive for a balance in my workflow, which means I shoot at the pace of my developing and postprocessing capability. The dev/PP steps are the bottlenecks in my process. I am not darkroom printing at the moment. That step was always my least skilled in the chain.

This is why large format for me is great. Shoot, develop, postprocess, publish.

Client work gets done asap. Even so, scheduling gigs or sessions is a way to control the flow and avoid getting backed up.

I am not a proponent of shooting all summer and souping all winter. Some of my better work is done indoors during winter with natural light and a north facing window. I like to do portraits and still life in the winter, and if I am processing beach and flower images from the summer I am not able to do this.

My personal work and approach is probably quite different than most of the people that frequent Photrio.

I consider the actual photographic shoot the least creative aspect of my work, I see the act of photographing image the ability to gather INVENTORY for future printing.
10-20 years ago I would take out a rangefinder medium format camera and try to find images in Nature. I think I have some good stuff from those days but frankly I think there are many here
who have much better images of rocks , trees and water.
I gave this idea up and decided to work on Still Life with large format and film and try to do something Unique to me in homage to the great Man Ray and Lee Miller.

I will set up projects for my homemade studio I set up over a long weekend where everyone stays home and I can have as much free time over a three day period,
I use simple light tent setups or simple background with side lighting using hot lights I can muster. I will then expose hundreds of images, of selected series.. for example my next series is dog bones , with a series of military hats and ladies hats on mannequin heads. For this I will have over fifty source images of each subject and will load up 100 sheets of BW and 50 sheets of colour negative for each series. I will take three exposures of each image one colour two black and white, and while the weekend goes on I hand process them downstairs , with one set of BW neg's for straight process , the other set and the colour I will solarize.
Two setups of chemistry's , actually three, ID11 for BW on Jobo, Solarol and C41 for the neg's to be flashed.

Over the years I have done this on many long weekends and now have enough source film to last me the rest of my life to print.... So I consider the act of taking the photograph the INVENTORY stage.

Years later I will print each series as I get shows to exhibit in. I never print out a series (thankfully) as I find over time my tastes change in how I want to present the work, lately I have become convinced that duo tone gum for the black and white negs and tri tone gum for the colour are the type of prints I like to produce.

I print in series now of 5 and looking back I have about 2000 source INVENTORY large format negs to play with ,understanding very few actually turn the crank of potential buyers of my work.
My hope is to make the complete set of 5 of what I consider over time my very best images... so for me its a very long game and I let time and circumstances of life dictate how I work on my personal projects.

Lately I have been thinking about what advantage I have over others chasing the dream of being an Art photographer and actually creating some income.. the fact that I own a 11 x14 enlarger and I have the set up to print, puts
me at a distinct advantage over many with the mere equipment setup. So I have been thinking about borrowing or trading for a good quality 11 x14 camera to produce film that will fit into my enlarger and make 2 x magnification Silver
prints.. The problem is I like many here am having trouble thinking of what to photograph.. The Idea will come , it will just take time.

These days I tend to print this time of the year (Summer) as I find the autum/winter light just so much better, I try to have 2 or 3 sessions a week in the darkroom, in the autum/winter if the light is just great I will grab a camera, either MF or 35mm, depending what the subject is likely to be or the mood I am in, get in the car and drive, living where I do and in the center of my island I an never more than 15 minutes from the coast, which is my favorite location, and walk, if the light is bad, it is raining/grey/dull then it is into the darkroom, but my thoughput can be small, in 3 or 4 hour sessions I may only print 4 or 5 negatives to what I want, sometimes less depending upon the negative,I do know that I have far more negatives than I can ever hope to print in my lifetime even if I never took another photograph and spent every day printing, My main photographing during is Heritage, sites, re enactments Ect, I reckon 90% of what I take during the summer is heritage related, we have a 1000 years of history here and I have always enjoyed it, so my printing is divided between heritage,found still life, and coastal shots, one session a week or two to each,
Richard

Vivian Maier is my hero.

I shoot and develop.

After that things get a little sketchy. Once in awhile, I am taking a series that I know I want to see in print so I will do simple 4x5 enlargements.

Even more rarely one of my 4x5 enlargements excites me so I go for the gusto and do something larger.

I have studied Ansel and others. Though I know what I want to see on paper it rarely cooperates.

I probably should take a good darkroom printing workshop from someone. Maybe if I get better at printing I will enjoy it more.

The majority of my work happens when I scan something to share on a forum. Then I'll try to do enough work on it to make it presentable. But I seem to have even less time for photoshop then I do for the darkroom.

You know that Vivian did print her work as she could and had friends that she worked with, as well she would have a french lab work on her images as well, People think that she just photographed and rarely processed her film and or printed it, that was indeed not the case. She was also keen on warm tone matt prints rather than glossy which is a hidden little known fact.
In later years of her life I do think she hoarded the film and could not afford the processing and therefore there was a large amount of unprocessed film in her storage lockers.

I save up until I have a full evening's worth of film to develop. My "darkroom" is a bathroom so it takes me a good while to get everything set up, and I have to be doing a bunch to make mixing the chemicals worth it. From there, I usually just develop the film. Later on, when I have some more free time, I'll spend an evening scanning my film. Once again, it takes a while to get everything set up, but I can scan pretty quickly once I get into a groove. That serves as my contact print, digital upload, and I can print digitally from those too, if desired. From there, I may pick a few out to darkroom print. Once again, I'll usually save up until I have enough to make it worth my while.

I rarely print things the old fashioned way. It's expensive and a hassle, and doesn't offer much over a fine digital print. I generally only print the shots that are going to be on display somewhere, like a gallery, my wall, or a photo contest. I only make a small handful of prints each year. For the majority of my work, a digital copy to post online is good enough. For a few that I want to see on paper, a digital print will suffice. For the small handful of shots that I really love, I'll go through the hassle of making a darkroom print.

As for being bored in the darkroom, that's what music is for. Find something new to listen to. It's rare in this modern world that we get the time to sit down and actually pay attention to music.

I like to print by myself, but I physically and emotionally capable of dozen of prints maximum per one time. I like to expose for prints, not for scans as I used to be. And it cut film waste significantly.

Printing is no problem in relation to shooting. Wait for November. Light is gone and until March. No light to shot, plenty of time to print, then. So, during this time, I enjoy to print without hassle and bustle. Dozen of prints, not staying late and listening music while I print. Tea or cider while I print. I could print on larger sizes, re-print and lith. No rush. It is dark after five. It is coming.
This season I would like to try bromoil kind of prints. With black newspaper paint rolled-washed multiple time over the matrix.

I shoot until I have enough to develop and print. Color print film I tend to send out for the developing and first set of prints.

Pioneer said:

Vivian Maier is my hero.

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Just be sure to write a Will, and keep track of your siblings.

Efficiency is the key. In the darkroom that means using a meter so you don't waste time with test strips. You can get a lot more done that way. If you just want to get them printed, then print on RC paper. Again, it is more efficient with your time. Smaller prints are also easier to deal with. I like to print small at first, just to see what the image will look like, so I will sometimes go into the darkroom and print a whole bunch of images 3x5 or 5x7 in a short time. If you use a meter, you can expose a bunch of prints before you develop them and they will all be good enough. That saves a ton of time. Use a glass carrier too. You won't need to refocus, again saving time.

Since you like to make contact sheets, just wait until you have a bunch to do. Personally, I've found them to be a waste of time. I scan everything anyway just to catalog it which is how I decide what to print. Scanning doesn't take any time since I do it while I am doing other things on the computer. 35mm goes through a Nikon scanner that will scan the whole roll in one shot. 120 and 4x5 is done with a flatbed. I organize everything in Lightroom, then when I am going in the darkroom I print a contact sheet on a laser printer. All my negs are organized so it is easy to find a particular neg. Again, efficiency is the key.

MattKing said:

Just be sure to write a Will, and keep track of your siblings.

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It funny how so many photographers I meet do not have a plan for their negatives ... my buddy Nigel Dickson has one of Canada's most wonderful archives of images and he and I are working with his wife
to make sure a legacy plan is in place for him... I work with many photographers that will come to this idea.. Millions of negatives are actually unprotected and this is an area of business I plan to work in to secure
good photography for future generations to see.

The horror storys are so close to home to me when it comes to peoples life work and passion and to see it all go to the wrong hands is very disturbing. I have seen it with my wife's fathers work first hand and its painful to see unfold.

I have a will and a trust but the negatives are not covered explicitly in the documentation. I guess that I will have to take them with me.

I shoot and print on a project by project basis. I rarely work on more than one project at a time.

bvy said:

Your last statement... Summer is for shooting, winter is for printing.

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That's kind of what I do. Darkroom time is for bad weather. That means when November rolls around I have a big backlog. When the weather is really crappy, I love putting on some good music and spending all day in the darkroom.

Thank you for all of the replies. I don't meet many film shooters in person so I don't have much of an idea of what other people do these days. I do have a friend (another doctor) who shoots film. He develops his own film (so that he can control the developing to his satisfaction) but then sends the negatives out to be machine printed as small prints. I suppose that saves a bit of time but I wouldn't do that myself -I don't need 36 small prints when lots are bracket exposures, repetitive or just not very good.

@Patrick Robert James Yes I have an analyser. I rarely make test strips now and since I have had the analyser it has sped up my work. I feel I have lost my "eye" a bit and I did like arriving at the exposure entirely by my own efforts but it is more efficient with the analyser and there is less wastage of expensive paper. I always use RC paper, never fibre. I'm not familiar with hybrid things and the only reason I would scan a negative is to share it quickly electronically. I prefer to scan the finished print to scanning the negative if I do choose to scan. I also do not print anything other than by wet printing.

@WilmarcoImaging Yes it does make sense to try to keep a balance. I am not sure what post processing is though. I think my removing dust from scans counts as post processing but that is all I ever intend to do or learn how to do.

@faberryman I don't really have projects. It's just a hobby for me and I am never really sure when I will be taking pictures. Sometimes I can predict when I might take more pictures than usual. I am posted to Gibraltar 4 times a year. Usually I have time to wander with my camera but it often rains there for days on end! On my last trip I went out with the actual intention of taking some really good pictures and it worked (for once). I managed to sell some of those prints. If I was more organised about photography and more targeted in what I do I might actually make enough to pay for some of my materials.

It seems I am not alone in having a backlog or having a view that Winter is the best time for printing sessions. Perhaps that is something that only makes sense in high (or low) latitudes that have long, dark Winters! Of course there can be lovely sunny days in Winter but you have to be quick because the light doesn't last long and even though it looks bright the light is weak.

Music sounds like a good idea. I haven't devised a way to do that with no light as yet.

@Ko.Fe. Tea or cider? Haha. I used to like a drink in the darkroom when there were 2 of us in the darkroom but the work would get predictably worse and worse and inevitably something would get spilled or ruined (like turning the lights on with a box of paper open). I stay sober these days and have more respect for an environment with chemicals around than I once did! However, I do sometimes accept payment in gin for prints.

Moving to a larger format helps. You shoot less so develop less. Due to cost you likely get more selective about the shots you take and therefore tend to produce more printable work.
I develop film inside at 70* and process a single sheet at a time so can do that over a few evenings.
I experiment and print more when it gets cooler since my garage can reach 90* in the summer. I may work on 1 or 2 images a session burning through about a dozen sheets of paper.
Toning is still an ongoing experiment but I tend to save up images to do several at a time.

esearing said:

Moving to a larger format helps. You shoot less so develop less. Due to cost you likely get more selective about the shots you take and therefore tend to produce more printable work.
I develop film inside at 70* and process a single sheet at a time so can do that over a few evenings.
I experiment and print more when it gets cooler since my garage can reach 90* in the summer. I may work on 1 or 2 images a session burning through about a dozen sheets of paper.
Toning is still an ongoing experiment but I tend to save up images to do several at a time.

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Yes I can imagine large format photographers are very selective in comparison to 35mm. Large format film is very expensive for one thing! I do find I shoot far fewer frames on MF than I do on 35mm. That is probably because it is more hassle to re-load the camera and I know I have fewer shots.

Svenedin said:

@faberryman I don't really have projects. It's just a hobby for me and I am never really sure when I will be taking pictures. Sometimes I can predict when I might take more pictures than usual. I am posted to Gibraltar 4 times a year. Usually I have time to wander with my camera but it often rains there for days on end! On my last trip I went out with the actual intention of taking some really good pictures and it worked (for once). I managed to sell some of those prints. If I was more organised about photography and more targeted in what I do I might actually make enough to pay for some of my materials.

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I am retired, so I have a little more control over my time. I give myself projects to stay engaged in the process. Otherwise, I would flounder around. I have been focused on developing cohesive series of images rather than "happy accidents", and found it more satisfying.

faberryman said:

I am retired, so I have a little more control over my time. I give myself projects to stay engaged in the process. Otherwise, I would flounder around. I have been focused on developing cohesive series of images rather than "happy accidents", and found it more satisfying.

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That makes sense.

I've learned to ask myself "will I really really want to spend hours printing this image?" as I look through the camera. 90% of the time, I put the lens cap back on and move along.

But, I have gotten to where I know what I want an image to "say" I suppose, and I can tell through the VF if it seems like I can get it there in the darkroom. (I'm a lith printer and lately been getting into masking, so one print can take quite some time - days even, to dial in. That's just my thing, very happy with it, YMMV of course).

My last road trip, I street-viewed some of the route and found some things to check out. Shot very few frames, and my print backlog right now is maybe 6-7 images, including stuff I've test printed and put aside to think about.