Friday, February 22, 2013

Another Night In The Dark

Went to a Oiler hockey game tonight with my friend Rob so had a delayed entry into the darkroom. I figured thou with the show deadline time ticking away I could not afford to not go into the dark tonight so I pulled up my courage, overcame the impulse to take a nap and mixed up my last 350ml of Agfa WA developer (now discontinued, along with Agfa's photography business).

Since I was tired and was using the last of this paper developer I thought I would just do some reprints. Reprints are easier because I have the printing instructions written up from my previous work on the neg. I reprinted a Ai 4x5 neg portrait which I had over bleached and a 35mm shot of a young boy with white face that I had printed to dark. With slight adjustments I was able to print out 2 decent looking prints of both negs rather quickly (3-31/2 hours). I will wash and dry them before deciding if I need to print more.

Since things went so well I decided I would also print up a new negative and selected a 4x5 portrait of a young boxer who I grew to like when I was in Thailand. This young man had a quiet dignity to him, he just worked hard and kept to himself mostly. He had a darker skin color than most of the boys and young men at the gym, a real beautiful smooth skin, in a way his look reminded me of a young Muhammad Ali. The portrait of this young man also  reminds me of a young monk head shot I did back in 2010 that was selected and did quite well in the provincial open a while back.

Beautiful skin can really stand out in 4x5 negs, I need to take this camera when I return to Thai soon, I want to use it to photograph the Burmese people who populate Mae Sot. I should be able to make some strong portraits with this camera of the children and adults at the Mae Sot dump site.

Fiber re-print of Ai and test trip of young boxer.
RC paper print of the young boxer which I will use for a burning mask,
Re-print of boy on the tracks, printed it lighter this time.
It's amazing what effect a strong negative will have on me, how it excites and encourages me to work harder, its like a shot of adrenalin. I was pretty tried after the first 2 re-prints but now I will work until I get the boxer portrait done. You got to love the natural highs photography can give you!!

Ain't Photography Grand!