Shooting or Developing?

cva6633 · Jul 21, 2010

I was wondering if anyone else was like me in that I enjoy developing and printing more than shooting?

Its not that I don't like shooting, but I enjoy doing the technical stuff more. I find I probably shoot more film to test cameras, film, and processes then I do for just shooting.

Im sure if I was born a generation earlier I'd be working in a photo lab

Whats everyone else like?

P.S. - Thanks for all the help, I just joined and have found lots of answers here. (and a cheap bulk loader)

Q.G. · Jul 21, 2010

I do like exposing film. I don't like the wet and smelly, time consuming stuff as such, but i do like the way it makes exposing film something that has a purpose.
I.e.: i like both.

36cm2 · Jul 21, 2010

I love shooting. Really love it. But then I develop and print and can't believe how much crap I've shot. So then I dislike shooting and wish I had something better to develop and print. Someday maybe I'll love shooting, what I shot, developing and printing it. That day may be far off.

While this probably doesn't answer your question, it made me feel better.

cmo · Jul 21, 2010

I love analog shooting though I would like to have more time for it. The other, bigger problem is that I have even less time to process my photos. A week ago I developed 40 films, all 35mm. I know that I will not have enough time to make prints in the next months. That is a real tragedy. If I had the money to give all my films to an excellent analog lab, get prfectly processed films and contact sheets, choose my favourites, get them printed by a gifted darkroom artist I would do that right away.

Adrian Twiss · Jul 21, 2010

I like both fairly equally. I enjoy just sitting waiting for the light to behave and all the decisions required in making the exposure. I must admit, the childish side of me sees the camera as an advanced toy that is a joy to operate.

In the darkroom I enjoy the thought processes and maniputations that go into printing. Developing is a chore but a really crucial one.

Ian Grant · Jul 21, 2010

I have to say I enjoy both, but do less of the printing & developing than I'd like at the moment as my darkroom's 3,000 miles away So when I do print it's intense but I'll already have selected & prioritised the negatives which I find far easier to read than a contact print.

Ian

cva6633 · Jul 21, 2010

Maybe its because I enjoy working by myself more, so I dont go out to shoot very much.

I love it when I get great shots and that makes me want to take more, but i just dont get around to do it.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 21, 2010

I enjoy the whole process, and it's because of the whole process that I love photography.

Holding the camera, aiming it, composing, metering - silently in my sub-conscience the numbers are being run for what I need to do with my exposure to make the print look what I see in my imagination.
To then have an opportunity to go make it happen in the darkroom is soul satisfying! I don't think of it as two separate steps, I think of it as one single drawn out experience between feeling the picture coming to me and the print.
Sometimes the whole process is a week, other times it's a few years, depending on whenever I can get around to print it.

Right now I'm suffering somewhat, because I haven't had a darkroom set up for a year. I really miss printing; there are so many negatives that just ache to be printed.

- Thomas

Rick A · Jul 21, 2010

I only shoot film to satisfy my DR jones. I can spend hours in the lab fussing over a print. I suppose I dont spend as much time in the field or studio as I should, I just feel more at home in the dark.

Rich Ullsmith · Jul 21, 2010

Wow, cva. I thought this was my own dirty little secret. I absolutely hate taking photographs. I do like making pinhole images. When I get talking about the pictures I have up on the walls, people think I'm joking or being a smart alec when I say how much I dislike taking pictures. I love developing and printing. It's like cooking a fine meal. Taking pictures is not like cooking a fine meal.

Love to hear some more perspective on this.

fschifano · Jul 21, 2010

That's kind of a hard question. I like going out and making photographs. It gets me out, walking around, and exploring places that I never paid much mind to in my own city. I like working in the darkroom equally well, but I'm starting not to like printing from 35 mm negatives that much. I'm spoiled by the quality I'm getting from large and medium format, that's lacking from my 35 mm work.

fotch · Jul 21, 2010

Its like two separate foods that you like equally. Maybe enjoy one more that the other, at different times, depending on your mood or schedule.

MattKing · Jul 21, 2010

I too like the darkroom work as much or sometimes even more than the shooting.

R gould · Jul 21, 2010

I like both shooting and the darkroom side of photography, but during the summer months I admit I find it very hard to take photographs,so I spend time printing, for me summer is the darkroom season, but come late autumn and winter you can't keep the camera out of my grip,Richard

RalphLambrecht · Jul 21, 2010

cva6633 said:
I was wondering if anyone else was like me in that I enjoy developing and printing more than shooting?...

As Thomas said, I like the whole process from planning the shoot to making the print. I like the creative bits the most:

coming up with an idea, sketching it out on paper, selecting the model and discussing it with her, setting up the lights until their just right, getting a first glimpse at the negs, emphasizing the visualized print in the darkroom, giving it warmth in the toner, removing minor flaws with spotting, making it presentable with mounting and framing

the whole process, it all belongs together for me.

fschifano · Jul 21, 2010

R gould said:
I like both shooting and the darkroom side of photography, but during the summer months I admit I find it very hard to take photographs,so I spend time printing, for me summer is the darkroom season, but come late autumn and winter you can't keep the camera out of my grip,Richard

That's interesting. For me it is exactly the opposite. I like the warm weather and I like the long days we have here. Besides, it gets too warm in my not air conditioned darkroom to spend any appreciable amount of time in there. Come winter, the days are short, often dark and it's cold outside. No, that's not for me. That's when I can spend some comfortable time in the darkroom.

ic-racer · Jul 21, 2010

There certainly have been great printers who printed others' work (I suspect because they liked doing it). So you would not be the first.

Dan Henderson · Jul 21, 2010

I am firmly in the camp of enjoying the entire journey of creating a photograph. Sometimes I will have a location or subject in mind that I want to explore further, sometimes I just go exploring and see what finds me. I try to identify and capture the essence of what drew me to the thing, and I work to get the technical details right when making my exposure. Then home and into the darkroom to develop the film, wait for it to dry, and make a contact sheet. At this point I can begin to see if what I visualized at the time of exposure is on the film, or whether the results deserve no more time and effort. If so, then comes a printing session with the negative where any needed final crop is made, the paper and developer combination is selected, and I use printing controls to achieve a fine print. If it really satisfies me it may become part of a portfolio and/or I may mat and frame it for exhibition. If not, then I consider it part of the work that I must do to allow me to occasionally make a good photograph.

Jeff Kubach · Jul 21, 2010

I kinda like doing both equally.

Jeff

Bob Carnie · Jul 21, 2010

I am with you, I enjoy the darkroom printing over the taking of photographs.

cva6633 said:
I was wondering if anyone else was like me in that I enjoy developing and printing more than shooting?

Its not that I don't like shooting, but I enjoy doing the technical stuff more. I find I probably shoot more film to test cameras, film, and processes then I do for just shooting.

Im sure if I was born a generation earlier I'd be working in a photo lab

Whats everyone else like?

P.S. - Thanks for all the help, I just joined and have found lots of answers here. (and a cheap bulk loader)

RalphLambrecht · Jul 21, 2010

Jeff Kubach said:
I kinda like doing both equally.

Jeff

I fully agree, but let's not forget: There is nothing wrong in specializing in shooting or darkroom work. Unfortunately though, pure darkroom workers rarely get the credit.

AgentX · Jul 21, 2010

Love shooting, love a lot about printing. Hate processing film.

removed account4 · Jul 21, 2010

i enjoy shooting but i also enjoy the alchemy
that converts paper or plastic into a negative
and a white piece of paper into a print.
i don't mind the light room either
and being able to leave what i am doing
at a moment's notice to clean up a mess
someone might have made 20 feet away.
i guess i am not supposed to mention that though...

cva6633 · Jul 21, 2010

Wow and I expected to get just a couple answers! I also expected to be called crazy

Its cool to see that there are others with my "condition" too. lol

2F/2F · Jul 21, 2010

I am basically in it for the shooting. It is the fun part for me. I feel that emotionally, the work is 90% accomplished once I take the shot. I know what I shot. I know what the print will look like. The rest is just the busy work of getting there. Home developing and printing is a craft that I practice out of necessity, economy, and dislike of what results the work of others has on my pix. I can surely enjoy printing (mostly the "crafting the image" part of it, not the trays, tongs, timers and what have you), but I would just as soon have someone else do it, if I was sure they could do it better than I could. If I won the lottery, one of my first investments will be an in-home lab tech, who does all my darkroom work for me, to specifications and under supervision.

Shooting or Developing?

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