The last dark room class

That was fun! 

So this piece isn't about photography, or printing, exactly. Or else it would be on the other blog.

Those 12 weeks went by very quickly, heading up to SAIT on Thursday evenings. I would think about which negatives I'd want to print, and sometimes that meant bringing the same roll several times. A few times I would take another run at the same negative if I'd run out of time the previous week. 

One of the fun things was the other people and the group vibe. Some of the people had done the class several times, and just dived into printing. The rest of the class were learning from scratch. As we walk back and forth from the print dryer, we all look at what the other people are doing. People would bring prints out into ordinary room light to look at and think about what was needed to make it better. More or less exposure time, or some contrast, or dodging or burning. We could consult George, and get an expert opinion on what to try next.

And when I say expert opinion, I mean exactly that. George Webber has been doing this most of his life. He is so generous in sharing what he has learned.

The last class in the semester was a chance to show off what we'd been working on. We took turns putting things up on a whiteboard, and letting people take a close look. We'd talk a bit about the work. The variety was incredible! I won't say I was the star of the show; that would be unrealistic given my lack of experience, and the experience of the other photographers. Still, Some complementary things were said about me and my work.

I thought we'd be doing the review in the darkroom area, but no. We were taken up to the 12th floor penthouse meeting room. Wow! I thought the view of downtown was nice from just above the parking lot I used. The view from the room is stunning. Here's a cell phone photo.

There's a saying in photography that the negative is the score, and the print is the performance. I get that a whole lot better now. There's things showing up in my prints that I've never seen in the digital versions. Things look entirely different. This is one of the reasons I'm liking creating prints.

I've mostly got a handle on how to do a basic print now. Part of the trick is remembering all the steps. I think soon I'll start to try to express some creativity in the prints.

In order to share them, I need to figure out how to take photos of a glossy print without a camera reflection.

This will probably show up as a print sooner or later.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Film

Curtis

Linda

Newfoundland

Polar bears

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did