Day 2 B&W
04th November 2014
Day 2 of the five day Black and white challenge !
For many years I only made images in Black and White, using a medium format camera and a small outside toilet as a darkroom!! Many hours were spent printing pictures by hand, and even at the taking stage special care had to be taken to get the exposures right and of course you would then process each film differently to match the particular conditions you exposed the film in. It was a much slower process and in many ways I suppose it was also more fulfilling. Nowadays with digital the whole system is much easier, and I no longer banish myself for hours out to the cold darkroom. But the skills I learnt by printing my own images the old fashioned way are not wasted even in the "digital darkroom" its just easier to apply "dodging and burning " to make your finished image look the way you want it too,encouraging the viewers eye to travel where you want them to in the image. And of course you don't waste lots of paper and chemicals doing so !
For many years I only made images in Black and White, using a medium format camera and a small outside toilet as a darkroom!! Many hours were spent printing pictures by hand, and even at the taking stage special care had to be taken to get the exposures right and of course you would then process each film differently to match the particular conditions you exposed the film in. It was a much slower process and in many ways I suppose it was also more fulfilling. Nowadays with digital the whole system is much easier, and I no longer banish myself for hours out to the cold darkroom. But the skills I learnt by printing my own images the old fashioned way are not wasted even in the "digital darkroom" its just easier to apply "dodging and burning " to make your finished image look the way you want it too,encouraging the viewers eye to travel where you want them to in the image. And of course you don't waste lots of paper and chemicals doing so !