4 ms·
Darkroom printer here. This is one of my joys in life. Dumped all my digital cameras because printing my photographs gets me off the computer and the tangibilit
by piffey 6y ago
Darkroom printer here. This is one of my joys in life. Dumped all my digital cameras because printing my photographs gets me off the computer and the tangibility solidifies the work as important for me.
You can actually get away with printing without all of this equipment just to give it a try. I used to print 4x5 contact prints with nothing more than the light in the bathroom and a piece of photo paper.
To this day there remains nothing more magical to me then seeing the silver in the developer slowly produce an image on a page. Happy printing to anyone starting out.
Edit: Also of note that depending on your volume if you develop and print at home it can actually be cheaper than chasing the latest sensor every few years. I just barely crest what it would cost me with sensor upgrades to 2 bodies every few years this way because I am a pretty low volume shooter (2-300 rolls of HP5 a year).
- squidfood 6y agoIt's been over 30 years since I spent much time in a darkroom but just starting to read that article and my smell-memory conjured up that very distinctive developer/darkroom chemical smell and all of the associated memories - for me too it was always evocative of magic.
- ant_li0n 6y agoWhen my first child was born, I packed up the darkroom because I couldn't afford to set aside several hours in a shot for printing. Went to digital and it basically killed the love of photography for me. It's just too easy to take too many pictures, and then you're stuck spending hours and hours in photoshop or lightroom. I still have thousands of images that I need to cull through and sort. Probably never will. While I've gotten rid of most of my equipment, I still have my old 4x5 and I've been thinking of just making contact prints. Probably start this summer! Wish me luck.