Tips from the Darkroom

[Tina Kino]

Lots of great advice in here @Bob Carnie - thank you very much, it's appreciated!

Best from Berlin

 

[cliveh]

I would suggest that from a teaching point of view you are far too over complicating the procedure. Teaching in small steps would be far better.

 

[pentaxuser]

I'm fortunate to be a member of a photography club that focuses on film and the darkroom. There are about a dozen active members, and their experience varies from extensive to near-beginner.

Are things still as bright as they were in 2013, Matt? How many in the club are still focused on film and darkroom as opposed to now being hybrid or solely digital?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[MattKing]

Sadly, we have lost a few active members.
But we have gained a couple in their place - including @Andrew O'Neill !
I don't think there is any members who don't have some involvement with digital and/or hybrid work - that hasn't really changed since 2013.
But all of us still have some involvement with film and either classic darkroom printing or hybrid traditional process printing or both.
We are keen about film, darkroom and traditional processes - but aren't interested in excluding other parts of the photographic world out there.

 

[GregY]

"I do not like printing foreign film"......

?? Since we're both in Canada..... Kodak and Ilford are foreign to us.
What am I missing Bob?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

@MattKing love our darkroom group!

 

[Carnie Bob]

"I do not like printing foreign film"......

?? Since we're both in Canada..... Kodak and Ilford are foreign to us.
What am I missing Bob?

It means I do not like printing film produced by other people, I prefer our own process.

 

[GregY]

It means I do not like printing film produced by other people, I prefer our own process.

Ah..... understood. But sometimes it's a thrill to print some else's negatives.
I had the privilege of printing a negative for a Bruno Engler book.

 

[MTGseattle]

Another way to look at the "no perfect print" idea is to think about how many photographers out there have talked about revisiting an old negative and printing it in a completely different manner or not at all because they no longer view that scene in the same way. Great fun for collectors and gallerists.

 

[Chrstphrlee]

Bob,
Thanks for your original list and the follow-ups you did for others. Very kind.

 

[Pieter12]

Another way to look at the "no perfect print" idea is to think about how many photographers out there have talked about revisiting an old negative and printing it in a completely different manner or not at all because they no longer view that scene in the same way. Great fun for collectors and gallerists.

I love all the talk about collectors and gallerists. Have you or anyone else here had issues with either concerning deviations in their prints overtime?

 

[MTGseattle]

Not me personally, and I was mainly referencing times I have heard about the pitfalls of releasing an edition and then not keeping good notes. I kind of doubt this happens very often with the big names. One just hopes that the estate or trust or whomever has good records.

 

[Pieter12]

Not me personally, and I was mainly referencing times I have heard about the pitfalls of releasing an edition and then not keeping good notes. I kind of doubt this happens very often with the big names. One just hopes that the estate or trust or whomever has good records.

First, that assumes the images have some value and need to be reproduced. Most contemporary phootgraphers produce limited editions and unless they are quite well-known and collectible, there is little need to make any additional prints.

A couple of exceptions come to mind: Vivian Maier and Diane Arbus. In Ms Maier's case, there weren't any prints to match, it was up to someone else (mostly Jon Maloof and the printer Steve Rifkin) to determine what the prints should look like and their consistancy. In Diane Arbus' case, there were prints to match, but no notes. Printer Neil Selkirk to laboriously try to reproduce Arbus' somewhat unorthodox methods to match her printing.

But none of us are any of them or probably anything remotely close.

 

[Carnie Bob]

First, that assumes the images have some value and need to be reproduced. Most contemporary phootgraphers produce limited editions and unless they are quite well-known and collectible, there is little need to make any additional prints.

A couple of exceptions come to mind: Vivian Maier and Diane Arbus. In Ms Maier's case, there weren't any prints to match, it was up to someone else (mostly Jon Maloof and the printer Steve Rifkin) to determine what the prints should look like and their consistancy. In Diane Arbus' case, there were prints to match, but no notes. Printer Neil Selkirk to laboriously try to reproduce Arbus' somewhat unorthodox methods to match her printing.

But none of us are any of them or probably anything remotely close.

I printed a show of 46 Vivian Maier images about 10 years ago for a show . I was basically interviewed by the Chicago printer Ron Gordon who was a printer of note in the area as well the only printer who worked on the Goldstein collection. I spent about 1 hour in a show of the prints he made and together we discussed the style of printing he had established with John Maloofs printer ( they are using the same paper and developer and mainly keeping to the same basic size). After that initial meeting , the owner of the collection Jeffrey Goldstein, Ron Gordon and the print retoucher visited my shop and viewed my space and spent more time discussing the printing. Ron is 10 years older than me and I asked him why I was being considered , basically it was because his health had deteriorated to a point that he could not lift his arm to focus and look at the focusing device on the baseboard.
I can say no notes are needed for a printer who has done over 10k prints, basically its all about judging the original scene and keeping the print in the same printing style. It is obvious to a printer where dodge and burn is required, specifically with street scene imagery where all one has to do is go for a walk on different days and observe how light and shadow work in a complex concrete world.
I cut my teeth printing wedding packages by hand using an chromega enlarger and did all the 8 x10 , 5x7, and wallet prints. My boss was old school and wanted all custom prints for his clients, imagine 120 weddings a year, large large albums all custom dodge and burn under all kinds of lighting conditions. Its like riding a bike you never forget.

 

[Carnie Bob]

This thread keeps on popping up and I am glad some viewers like my points - I see 80 thousand views wow, its now 15 years later, since then I have done a few thousand Gum Bichromate over Palladium prints and will one day do another thread based on all the tricks I have learned, I am now teaching a young woman (Anam) how to do all the printing methods, funny enough her favourite job by far is when we print silver gelatin on enlarger, she had cut her teeth on Magnum Photographer Larry Towell's museum project where we are making over 400 prints for distribution world wide, a collection of 20 x24 inch prints and 30 x 40 inch prints. So imagine the first job you work on is a classic Magnum series of what Larry considers his favourite work, it is now 2 1/2 years into production, along the way we have exhibited test prints in two solo shows for him and her enthusiasm for working in overalls and a stinky darkroom for 4 or 5 days in a row gives me a bit of pride as I can see she actually is having fun. Her next fav job which I find really amazing is hand processing film for a specific client we have been working with over the last period of time.
It has to be the seclusion, warm light of the safelights, her music playing and seeing prints emerge right in front of her eyes and know that she is responsible for making it all happen correctly. As well I think as a society we have gotten away from working with our hands with tools and producing things.