In my first post in the series of Darkroom experiences, I talked about buying darkroom equipment from the ads in photography magazines. Here is a sample of what those ads looked like.
To Be Happy or To Be Useful (Hint: Think Creativity)
I read an article recently that made the argument that the goal of life is to be useful rather than be happy.
Listen to your feelings. It’s amazing how accurate they are, but most people don’t listen to them. Be still and ask yourself - How do I feel when:
I neglect my family?
I argue with strangers about politics on Facebook?
I compare myself to others and find myself lacking (or even superior)?
After the initial thrill when I make a major purchase (like a car)?
I believe the goal in life or the way to happiness is to find peace and joy in life. I further believe that this can be found when a person is creating or expressing themselves from within.
Happiness is stimulated by experiences and producing
Back to the Fount
Life on the New River is the origin of my passion for photography.
My Dad was an avid canoeist. This was in the 70s when no one spent time on the river unless they were fishing. Occasionally a bunch of teenagers would get a wild hair and procure some tractor inner tubes for a day of drinking on the river, but it was unusual to see people out there.
Dad and I would put in the river on Friday afternoon and canoe all weekend. We would float a couple of hours on Friday, then find a place to camp. After a lazy Saturday morning at camp, we would pack back up and float down river all day, taking our time picking through the shoals. Saturday evening it was time to camp again. Up Sunday, and it was a few more hours on the river before going home.
Finding a camping spot was easy. There were few houses on the river - and most of them were abandoned. Most of the land was farmland and the farmers didn’t care if you carved a spot for a night on the riverbank. In fact, most of them lived so far from the river they didn’t even know we were there.
Dad loved the beauty of the river. He decided to buy a 35mm camera to capture that beauty and share with friends. It wasn’t long before I fell in love with the camera. I loved the way it fit in my hands. The images I produced with the camera seemed altered from the scene I had viewed when taking the picture. I soon learned how to produce an image which conformed to my vision.
I didn’t spend enough time on the river with Dad. I was a teenager. As quick as I got my drivers license, the river life became boring.
I am spending time on the river now. It’s different than it used to be. You have to get it out early in the morning to find solitude. I’m glad people have discovered the river, however. Every pretty weekend in the summer there are people canoeing, kayaking, and tubing.
Just Do It
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working” - Pablo Picasso
I read about art, photography and writing. I read books and articles on the internet. I listen to podcasts. I watch youtube videos. What they all say is that you should spend your time working (on your art, on your writing) and keep your brain out of the way. Don’t think about what you’re doing. Don’t worry about it. Don’t wonder if it’s good enough. Just do it.
All these pages, all these recycled electrons, all these hours of video can be summarized into three words - Just Do It.
I wish I could have trademarked that phrase years ago before someone else did. It’s amazing in its simplicity. It says it all.
Woody Allen is quoted as saying, “Eighty percent of life is showing up.” He was wrong. One hundred percent of life is showing up. The rest takes care of itself.
Darkroom - Part 3
This post is part of a series. To get the full story, read Darkroom - Parts 1 & 2.
After graduating from high school, I attended Emory & Henry College near Abingdon, VA. I used two darkrooms while at E&H. One was in the basement of the fine art building - Beyers Hall. This darkroom was maintained by the art department. There was little heat in the basement of Beyers Hall and the winters I was at E&H were very cold. The temperature in the darkroom would be in the fifties sometimes when I would work in it. I spent many a night working in the darkroom there.
I took a photography class through the art department at E&H. The instructor was Dr. Alfredo Castellanos. I was self-taught in the darkroom and he helped me refine my technique. The E&H darkroom was outfitted with stainless steel film processing tanks, whereas I had been using plastic tanks at home. As the year progressed from Fall into Winter, the film I developed started looking underexposed. Dr. Castellanos looked at it and diagnosed the problem immediately. He explained that since the darkroom was so cold, the developer was cooling off during the development of the film, causing it to be underdeveloped - which looked similar to it being underexposed. Film is processed at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. If the recommended time at 68 degrees is 10 minutes, it would be longer at, say, 65 degrees - maybe 11 minutes. I was developing film at the recommended time for 68 degrees, but by the time the development period was over, the developer might have dropped to, say, 62 degrees. This was exacerbated by using stainless steel tanks. Steel conducts heat faster than plastic - so the “heat” in the tank was being conducting into the colder room temperature. To combat this effect, I learned to warm the tank with my hands as the film was being processed.
The other darkroom I used at E&H was the publications darkroom. It was maintained by the yearbook, the newspaper, and the literary magazine. It was in the basement (yes, another basement) of the Student Activities Center (SAC). The SAC was interesting place. It was the old athletic building. When I was at E&H it was the building used for dances and it also served as a dorm. The darkroom was at the end of the dorm hall. None of the dorms at E&H were co-ed at the time. None of the rooms had showers - there was a common shower room on the hall. Women were supposed to shout, “Woman on the hall” when they went to the darkroom. Some didn’t know to do it or forgot, so it made for interesting situations.
I used these two darkrooms during the school year, and then returned to the darkroom at my parents’ home in the Summer.
Darkroom - Part 2
This post is part of series. To get the full story, read Darkroom - Part 1.
Shortly before Mr. Powell reclaimed his darkroom equipment, I realized I needed to purchase my own equipment. I was working in the textile factory in Fries after school and in the Summer, so I decided to take some of my earnings and purchase the equipment. I was still in high school.
There were no places near Fries, VA to buy photography equipment in the seventies. The closest place would have been Charlotte or Bristol, VA/TN. I didn’t have the resources to go to either of those places. Photography magazines used to have pages and pages of ads for photography equipment in them. They were full-page ads with hundreds of items listed. The description was a few words and the price - something like Beseler 67C…….$179. You had to know what you were buying. Most of the larger stores were in New York City. My favorite store at the time was 42nd Street Photo.
The only way I had to trade with these stores was by mail order. I would pore over the ads in the magazines for hours or even days and get up an order. I would type out the order on my manual typewriter and figure up the amount. I would then go to the bank in Fries and get a bank check from my funds in a savings account I had with the bank. I would then put the check in an envelope with my typewritten order and go next door to the post office and put it in the mail. And wait. It was about a two-week turnaround before I would get my loot.
I now look back on this process and marvel at it. I didn’t have a credit card. I just trusted the store to take my check and process the order. What if the check got lost in the mail? My first order with 42nd Street was about $400 which to a kid from Fries, VA in the seventies was an enormous amount of money.
The first order came as I had hoped it would. I was on my to outfitting the darkroom with my own equipment and I made the best of it.
Darkroom - Part 1
I recently posted a photo of my darkroom on social media. Friends have since asked about it. I love working in the darkroom. I don’t produce a lot of photos this way, but I find that it is therapeutic to work in the darkroom. It’s almost like a meditation. I have developed so many rolls of film, I can almost do it my sleep.
I first set up a darkroom when I was about 17. A teacher at Fries High School, Mr. Powell, had darkroom equipment he wasn’t using. He knew I was interested in photography, so he offered to let me use the equipment. I lived with my parents in a small 3-bedroom/1-bath house on a well and septic out in the country. I put the darkroom in the middle bedroom (the smallest bedroom). I took a piece of plywood and covered the only window in the bedroom. I put a curtain from floor to ceiling at the door.
I would go into the bathroom and mix the chemicals and then go back to the darkroom to work. Part of the process of developing film and prints is to wash them with running water at the end. So I would go back to the bathroom for this final step in the process. My Dad was very overprotective of the septic tank and the water supply, so I had to conserve water.
I can remember the first time I developed a roll of film. You put the roll in a light-proof tank and then pour chemicals into the tank through 4 to 6 steps. Once you start, you have to finish or you will ruin the roll. I didn’t have anyone helping me, so I had to learn the process from books. It was very intimidating starting that first roll. Actually it was a dozen or so rolls before I started to feel comfortable with it.
Printing is not as stressful. You can watch the process as it goes through the chemicals, using a safelight. If you mess up a print, you just start over and do it again. I am talking about the black and white process here, by the way. Color is more involved.
After a few months, Mr. Powell needed his equipment back. I am very much appreciative of him for getting my started in darkroom processing.
The Creation of a Photo
#Every84 - Mementos and Memories - Many of my photos look as though they are snapshots that I just grab and keep on going. Most are not that simple, though. Before the next #Every84 comes up, I would like to talk about the creation of this, the most recent #Every84 I posted.
This pic, like many, started with me noticing a scene that I thought would make a good photo. I saw Fawn's bronzed baby slippers sitting on our dresser in the sunlight. I wanted the shoes to be the most prominent part of the scene, so I grabbed a wide angle lens and got right up on them and focused on the shoes. The lens is a 16-35mm. Sixteen was too wide as it brought too much of the background into the frame. Thirty-five was just right. I framed the pic so that the shoelaces (in strong sunlight) were in the left third of the frame and the little spot of sunlight was in the top corner (I liked the mood that the spot of sunlight through the blinds created).
I made the pictures out of focus in the background so they would not overpower the pic. They are there as a hint.
The brightest parts of a picture get our attention first, so you want the brightest parts to be in focus. The sun was shining on the toe of the shoe and on the pictures in the background, so I put them in shadow by shading them with a piece of cardboard. Then, the sun was mostly shining on the lace and most everything else was in shadow. I still had that bright spot of sunlight in the upper left (which I had intentionally put in the frame), so in Photoshop, I darkened it and all the rest of the edges of the picture to confine the viewer's eye in the frame.
Finally comes the name of the piece - "Mementos and Memories". I started out calling it "Family", but I realized this was a little vague. "Mementos and Memories" calls attention to mementos - the shoes, and then brings out the pictures in the background as the memories.
Things I would do differently now? I think the picture would be better composed if I had put the shoelaces at the point where the left third and top third intersect (or maybe where the left third and bottom third intersect). I would have darkened the spot of sunshine in the upper left even more. I would also have darkened or shaded the glint of sunshine on the toe of the shoe. I'm never satisfied with my photos, but sometimes you just have to pull the trigger and publish.
There - aren't you glad you asked? (Nobody actually asked, you just find things to do when in quarantine).
#Every84 is a project I am pursuing in 2020 to inspire my creativity. I have pledged to produce and post an image every 84 hours - which is twice a week (7 days a week times 24 hours a day is 168 hours - half of that is 84 - thus #Every84). Do a search on #Every84 on Facebook to see past installments of this project.
