Tagged: printing

8x10s

Large prints

On finishing the 5×7 test prints from my first folder of 35mm black and white negative film, I have started making larger 8×10 prints of the most striking tests. I have been making these on 8×10 inch sized paper.

The images are mainly from my locality, with which I hope to make a more ambitious photo zine than before, maybe A6 or A5 sized, but I won’t make any decisions until I’ve properly gathered all the images I want around a particular theme or sequence.

There are differences in method: after testing, I’m pretty certain of which filter grade I want to print with, which cuts time; but with a larger print I can do more dodging and burning to get what I want.

Now that I’ve learned to be less profligate when making test prints, I am making more large prints than before, especially in my second folder. Beyond the next photo zine, I’m not entirely sure of where these prints will end up, but it has been fun making them and watching the results develop.

Portraits: Alistair

Some time ago at my old workplace, I made a habit of taking film photographs of work colleagues.

These snaps found their way to the dark room, where I made prints, the best of which I would give to the colleague as a thank you for letting me photograph them.

After taking his photo at work, I asked my then-colleague Alistair, who is now an actor and educator, to work with me on a portrait session. Since we lived in the same area, we agreed to do the portrait session at my flat.

Relishing the opportunity to really spend time on a portrait session, I tried a number of set-ups, with Alistair sitting, standing and at one point singing around my flat, but in the end I found the most interesting place to shoot was outside in the summer light.

Alistair in west London

I loved the way the natural light caught the details on Alistair’s face and in his eyes. Making prints afterwards, I spent time on tones and highlights, dodging and burning until I got the representation I was after.

Later I saw a headshot Alistair had made for his acting work by another photographer. The quality was stunning and I was inspired by it. I was determined to take more portraits to get to that standard.

The Power of the Print

Some years ago, I was taught how to print black and white prints in a darkroom by the leader of our camera club. As I pulled my first complete print out of the fixing bath, he advised that I’d have to do about 200 prints before I knew what I was doing.

Over the next few years, I went past that amount in the gallery darkroom I’d been taught and in one of London’s communal darkrooms, printing images taken with SLRs and my preferred mirrorless 35mm cameras, along with the odd image taken with my medium format camera.

The time spent in the red-lit darkness was delightful: I’d get lost in print making and enjoy looking at the images I’d made on the tube journey home; the delayed gratification, of capturing, processing, developing and printing drawn out over days or weeks, added to the fun.

Until it didn’t. The allure of digital image capture, with its instant gratification of seeing precisely what one had photographed – even faster than a Polaroid – proved too attractive to ignore. I bought my first compact digital camera and used it with relish, along with my smartphone’s camera, supplanting both with my mirrorless digital camera which I use to this day.

I’ve since taken thousands of digital images, which currently reside on a number of portable hard drives. About half have been edited. Quite a few have been displayed online. None have been printed. Despite the time I’ve spent editing these images, despite the enjoyment I get from sharing these pictures with friends and the “likes” they get online and on social media, at times I feel that without being printed, these images don’t really exist. They feel ephemeral and fleeting, like superficial chatter.

Recently, I visited an exhibition space to enquire about exhibiting some images. As I was taken around the large space, the impact of a photographic print in such a space sank in. But it also sank in with my recent discovery of a plethora of family photos: envelope upon envelope of printed images; permanent representations of family life on celluloid and paper.

I’ve enjoyed sharing my photos and will continue to do so, but I shall be printing more in future. I want to see my images on walls and in albums and not just on screens.