Becoming A Better Printer

The hard work I am putting into printing my solo show is paying off, I think I am becoming a better printer. The last print I worked on involved 16 different steps, mostly various types of burning, including 3 different burning masks. I am also learning to do more selective dodging, burning and exposures at different contrasts (on the multi grade paper).

The current print I am working on of a young woman worker in Klong Toey will have a 3.5 grade face exposure and a 1.5 or 1.75 grade main exposure, along with a background burn of some white areas using a mask at -1.

I find when I print now I am burning a fair amount, as I tend to overexpose and overdevelop (a tad) many of my current negs.  To often in the past I had difficulty with thin negatives, I have now decided to go a bit heavy with my negatives and then burn back detail. I quite like the resulting prints so that's all that really matters! The idea of technique is to get the final results your looking for, if your technique gets the look you desire then its done its job.

Printing has become more and more fun for me, I will try to print motor often even after this show is completed. I do not have any other shows lined up (might be some time till the next show) but I need to continue to improve as a printer so I will continue to work at my craft. I plan to print work for submissions to Pier 24 (they want work prints), my clubs and myself. Heck I have a darkroom full of paper getting older, I better use the darn stuff!