This will be disturbing news for some, I'm sure. A few others
will be salivating at the thought of what's about to become
available.
My love-affair with the darkroom is coming to an end. It's time.
The house is for sale and once sold, there will no longer be
room for a darkroom in our lives. The biggest problem for me is
the emotional aspect of giving up something that I enjoy so
much. Seeing an image emerge from the paper under the red glow
of a safelight and the quiet chirp of the timer awakening you
from your journey to some far off land...
With the new scanner, I'm now able to digitize the negatives
well enough to print digitally without too much loss. NOTHING
beats a good fiber-glossy print, but times have changed and the
"standards" have been lowered. I'm doing this strictly for
logistical and consistancy reasons, not for any improvement in
output.
What to do with the stash of paper? Well, I've got three good
selling B&W photographs--one of which doesn't do digital yet.
I'm going to do a mass run of these photographs and end up
selling them as limited-editions. Hopefully, I'll be able to buy
time enough to be able to get them into digital output.
Will I miss the darkroom? Absolutely. Yesterday, I spent most
of the day in it and enjoyed every second. The creative process
in the darkroom is totally unlike how we go about it in the
digital darkroom. I'm not sure how to translate everything over
quite yet. But I asked myself almost the entire time whether or
not I could give it up. Can I REALLY give it up?
Yes, and not just because I have to.
Three reasons why.
1. My new scanner,
2. Canon iPF 5000,
3. My aching back.
By bringing all of my output back in-house again, I can actually
justify the purchase of this printer. Having it should
adequately address B&W output and actually give me some options
which I cannot do today. But the size and weight! It almost
dwarfs my entire darkroom! It looks like I'll need to bolt it
down to one of my steel workbenches.
Anyhow, to get the vultures salivating: The prized items in my
darkroom is the RH Designs StopClock Professional and the RH
Designs ZoneMaster II. These, folks, are THE reason why it's so
difficult to give up the darkroom. They are the OM-4Ti of timer
tools. Lots and lots of other stuff--a brand new easel, three
enlargers, trays, developing tanks/reels, etc. Lot's of "etc."
I'm projecting that everything will hit the market about the end
of September. With the upcoming workshop/Zuikofest, I probably
can't get everything done in the next month. Printing up the
remaining paper--even with just three pictures, will probably
take around 150 hours. Fiber takes FOREVER to process.
Yes, this means that I'm also shutting down the lab for customer
printing. If you want ANYTHING chemically printed, now is the
time to get it to me. Once the materials are gone, they're gone.
I've got a large stash of 5x7 fiber-glossy to use up. One
customer has requested a special run of 16x20 fiber-glossy, but
I haven't gotten the specific order yet to know how much will be
left over.
AG
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