Does printing make anyone else a nervous wreck?

removed account4 · Apr 1, 2011

to quote ben franklin - no gain no pain ..

don't let the darkroom stress you out ...
it's supposed to be fun

Dan Henderson · Apr 2, 2011

Like others, I find printing enjoyable. I am a naturally impatient person with a quick temper, and sometimes when I make a stupid mistake I feel the anger rising. If I am quick enough to recognize the futility of this emotion, laugh and call myself a dumb ass, take a deep breath and move on to make another print without the mistake, I find satisfaction in controlling my emotions. After all, as someone pointed out, a wasted sheet of paper is the usual worst outcome. Why worry over that?

Any nervousness that I have is at the negative exposure and development stages, since a mistake there can be unrecoverable. As Bob Carnie stated, consistency and routine is key for me. I set up my camera, organize the composition, and make all of the exposure calculations the same way, every time. Same thing with developing film and printing in the darkroom. I also use checklists as well. Orland and Bayles write about the importance of rituals to artists in their book, "Art and Fear." By developing and following my own rituals, I can be confident that I will have a printable image on the negative.

ChuckP · Apr 2, 2011

Reprints are hard. Especially if the old print is done on a paper no longer available. You may have to accept a slightly different look. But it's not brain surgery. There is some slop built into the process. No one except you will ever see slight changes in a print in the 30 seconds they look at them. And in 6 months even you will find it hard unless you view both prints side by side. Mistakes do happen but you have to feel that it's not the end of the world. Just reprint it. But if you are up against a deadline you just have to do the best you can, accept it and move on.

Bob Carnie · Apr 2, 2011

This is a good point,

I am working on a project right now that I feel will exhibit internationally in a few years, over the next couple of months I am making portfolio prints so that I get to know each negative, when the show is confirmed then comes the exhibition prints.
The fact that I have processed the film, made contacts, made port prints before I actually make the wall prints is very good .

winger said:
I have days when nothing goes right, but it's usually my best stress relief and has been for over 10 years. In fact, without it I'd go nuts. I never try to make a perfect print the first time I print a certain neg. I count on it taking at least another session once I've decided that neg is worth printing. Some of my negs are tougher to print than others, but I approach them as a challenge, not a cause of stress.

photoncatcher · Apr 2, 2011

Printing is my Zen place. A place where I totaly escape from the rest of the world, and my problems. If it ever becomes a stressful place, I will get rid of my film cameras, and start watching the grass grow. I personaly can't figure out why it would stress anyone. But that's just me.

brian steinberger · Apr 3, 2011

Bob Carnie said:
This is a good point,

I am working on a project right now that I feel will exhibit internationally in a few years, over the next couple of months I am making portfolio prints so that I get to know each negative, when the show is confirmed then comes the exhibition prints.
The fact that I have processed the film, made contacts, made port prints before I actually make the wall prints is very good .

Bob, can you explain the difference between a portfolio print and an exhibition print? Is it just a smaller version?

Bob Carnie · Apr 3, 2011

Brian

In my world a portfolio print is usually the first real print made of a negative.
This print is then shown to gallery's ,or possible for commissions, It also is my first real chance to make a full on print and usually for the exhibition print I will make subtle changes. It is a marketing tool for the photographer.

An Exhibition print is one that is made for gallery walls, this print is the best possible version that I can make with the clients approval or supervision.
Though both should be of high enough quality to hang, the portfolio piece is moved around a lot, we usually matt these for handling but after a lot of hands and eyes seeing the print it is sometimes not at best level/condition.
Also this portfolio prints allows the artist, to see and decide if it meets their expectations.
This IMHO the difference between the two , others here may see it differently.

brian steinberger said:
Bob, can you explain the difference between a portfolio print and an exhibition print? Is it just a smaller version?

Sirius Glass · Apr 3, 2011

I have reduced the stress by working a consistent way so that I can repeat something that I have done before. By having a repeatable process, at any particular point I can vary one thing and select what I think is the best, write the details down and proceed.

Steve

ooze · Apr 3, 2011

It's never been stressful for me. I've enjoyed it from day 1. Of course there are occasional frustrations, but that doesn't stress me out. If I can't pull a good print from a negative during a particular session, I just leave it at that and reconsider it after some time.

If possible, I prefer to start a session with what looks like an easy negative, so that I have at least one print in the bag.

Bill Burk · Apr 3, 2011

ooze, last time I printed I took the opposite approach and picked the difficult neg. I am satisfied with the prints I got. I have to throw them out. But what satisfied me is I know exactly what's wrong and can fix it.

brian steinberger · Apr 3, 2011

ooze said:
If possible, I prefer to start a session with what looks like an easy negative, so that I have at least one print in the bag.

I frequently do this as well. If possible I like to work on two negatives per session and if I start with the easier one first and it works out well for me and doesn't take too much time it makes me feel "adventurous" to tackle the tougher one. Sometimes I even leave the negative in the enlarger after a session to re-join my efforts a few evenings later. Which brings me to another question. Is it in any way bad to leave the negative in a glass negative carrier in the enlarger for days?

Shadowtracker · Apr 3, 2011

I used to be a perfectionist, now I just have high standards.

Sometimes it's pretty easy to get some 'good' prints, but there is almost always room for me to improve them. That being said, I have also learned to just 'relax into it', take it one step at a time, know that I will forget something sometimes,and other times everything will go the way I like it. It's just life. If it's fine prints I'm after during a printing session, I will be doing good if I get one fine print out of a days work. That includes refinements of filtration, time spent burn/dodge, tweaking time of development, taking notes on each change I have made, making a final work sheet for when I do reprint in the event someone wants to actually buy my print, etc. But generally, even then, it's therapeutic for me; working with computers, the last thing I want to do is go home and work on digital photos on a computer. Music helps, or like someone else said earlier - no music until a certain point of washing, whatever works best for you. The most stress is when I have a deadline, like finals time portfolio; then yeah, the "i'm pissed at my self for not starting earlier" begins....

Bob Carnie · Apr 4, 2011

Very good point,, start out a day with an easy one and then build on your first success. I also try not to jump all over the place with film from different shoots , locations or lighting. The repeatability of filters dodges and burns has a good flow over a day of printing.
Whenever I print by direction for others and they are in the darkroom with me, this is the number one point of contention, I usually stick to my guns and start with easy negs and then follow with similar negatives. Your chances of keeping more winners is high this way.

ooze said:
It's never been stressful for me. I've enjoyed it from day 1. Of course there are occasional frustrations, but that doesn't stress me out. If I can't pull a good print from a negative during a particular session, I just leave it at that and reconsider it after some time.

If possible, I prefer to start a session with what looks like an easy negative, so that I have at least one print in the bag.

brian steinberger · Apr 4, 2011

Bob, is it in any way bad to leave a negative in a glass negative carrier in the enlarger for days?

Thomas Bertilsson · Apr 4, 2011

I only feel pressure when I have a print to make for a trade or a sale. Printing for myself it's just pure satisfaction and joy to see my work come to fruition. The best part about that is that I only have to satisfy myself. I know what I'm capable of in the darkroom, and I enjoy trying to push those boundaries farther out with each printing session.

The only frustration I feel is that I want to go back and re-print something I printed years ago, and the paper I printed on back then isn't available anymore, AND I have also developed as a printer, so I want to go back and re-print the old stuff.

But no nervousness. No anxiety. Just pleasure and enjoyment to see the prints coming out of the final toner tray, ready to rinse, and then picking them off the drying line the day after.

I hate spotting prints, though. With a passion. It really stinks to high heaven.

Bob Carnie · Apr 4, 2011

Only if the bulb is on:munch:

I have set ups that do last over days so no problem.

brian steinberger said:
Bob, is it in any way bad to leave a negative in a glass negative carrier in the enlarger for days?

M Stat · Apr 4, 2011

It is probably OK to leave a negative set up in the glass carrier, provided that it had not been developed in a pyro staining developer.
Recently I had a problem printing a negative and finally discovered that, over time, the pyro negatives were imparting an invisible stain on the glass of my carrier. When I switched out the glass, the problem disappeared. As I had the habit of leaving negatives in the carrier for extended lenghts of time, I concluded that it was not a good idea to do that any more.

M Stat · Apr 4, 2011

As for all the stress that some seem to experience in the darkroom, think about how much stress comes from chiseling marble, as Michaelangelo did. One bad hit and the whole piece is ruined, and marble is nowhere near as cheap as enlarging paper. So just relax and have fun, that's the whole idea anyway.

softshock · Apr 4, 2011

Can't stand it... I outsource my printing.

Toffle · Apr 4, 2011

Thomas Bertilsson said:
I hate spotting prints, though. With a passion. It really stinks to high heaven.

Spotting prints is like crack cocaine. You (I) can't do just a little. I can go weeks or months without touching a print, then one day I will see my spotting kit sitting on the shelf. Next thing I know, I've missed a meal, and my table is littered with every print I've done since I first got my hands wet. Before the weekend is over, I'm searching the wallpaper for blemishes.

Edward_S · Apr 4, 2011

When doing FB printing, I typically get the print to a certain point and then leave it, so that I can think about it the following day, or look at it in proper daylight. Then I'll finish that print at the start of the following session before tackling the next print. There's also a purely practical reason for this: if I end up with the final version at the end of the evening, I can't wash it for long enough before going to bed, whereas the final version can have a good long wash if I do it at the start of the following evening.

Also I think it helps to be really critical about one's own work. Sometimes I'll start to print a picture and find my heart just isn't in it; if I feel that the picture will be rubbish no matter how long I spend then I'll try something else.

MattKing · Apr 4, 2011

brian steinberger said:
Bob, is it in any way bad to leave a negative in a glass negative carrier in the enlarger for days?

Only if you forget that it is in there, and then go looking for it.

Don't ask me how I know this

Maris · Apr 4, 2011

For me darkroom work is a pleasure. It is the culmination of all the activity that has proceeded it. It's the pay off.

The other stuff, finding subject matter, facing subject matter, lugging cameras, fussing with exposure, handling film, developing negatives is a series of nuisances that have to be endured to get where I want to go: the final gelatin-silver photograph itself.

Ronald Moravec · Apr 5, 2011

No, all errors are recoverable. Developing film must be perfect, fortunately it is a robot job but does require you to pay attention.

stillsilver · Apr 5, 2011

one word - bourbon

Mike

Does printing make anyone else a nervous wreck?

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