What an awesome weekend - I spent both days in a workshop with Lee Carmichael in Fort Worth working on a list of things I've been wanting to learn for some time: working with my new Deardorff 8x10 view camera, using the zone system and evaluating negatives, split contrast printing, and contact printing. When I bought the Deardorff (from Jeremy Moore - he put together a complete kit for me, camera, tripod, film holders, dark cloth, lens, literally everything, thanks Jeremy), I was a overwhelmed and considered taking one of the Weston workshops in California. It never occured to me that Lee might be willing to give a workshop, but my husband, Kevin, suggested checking with him. I'm glad I did.
I went to Lee with no formal training, and no darkroom skills other than developing my own b/w film and making a few prints on POP. On Saturday, Lee gave me some tips on how to use the view camera movements, how to run a film test, how to evaluate the negative. Photomc also stopped by in the morning and gave me some tips on using the view camera. Film tests are time consuming and that's where a 1-on-1 workshop is really valuable. Today (Sunday) we spent the day on split contrast printing and contact printing. I was blown away by how much control I have over the final print. We don't have plumbing in our darkroom yet, but I can't wait to use what I learned - I'll have to use buckets until we get the plumbing in place...
All in all a valuable and very enjoyable workshop!
I went to Lee with no formal training, and no darkroom skills other than developing my own b/w film and making a few prints on POP. On Saturday, Lee gave me some tips on how to use the view camera movements, how to run a film test, how to evaluate the negative. Photomc also stopped by in the morning and gave me some tips on using the view camera. Film tests are time consuming and that's where a 1-on-1 workshop is really valuable. Today (Sunday) we spent the day on split contrast printing and contact printing. I was blown away by how much control I have over the final print. We don't have plumbing in our darkroom yet, but I can't wait to use what I learned - I'll have to use buckets until we get the plumbing in place...
All in all a valuable and very enjoyable workshop!
s
