It’s All in the Details

Last night in my photography class we worked on printing and I made my first print!  Woohoo!  Going into this class I had no idea how involved it would be.  I thought that all the work was in the taking of the picture, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

We started out making test strips, and after making quite a few newbie mistakes like taking out paper while the enlarger light was turned on and accidentally moving the test strip while I was exposing it, I finally got a few strips that looked like the right exposure… almost.  My instructor thought I should up my contrast filter, but when I went to change it I found out why I needed more contrast.  I didn’t have any filter in at all!  So back to the beginning, making test strips and trying to find the right exposure.  It was really frustrating, like groping in the dark (well, okay, I WAS groping in the dark!) but when I finally got it right, and I made the print, it was so unbelivably satisfying.  All it took was one print.  I’m hooked.

After I was done, I sat and studied the picture and picked out quite a bit of detail that I hadn’t noticed when I took the picture.  It’s amazing what the camera picks up, and how by immortalizing a moment on film we can see what we missed.  Taking pictures makes me slow down and really see the world as an artist, but making the print takes it to a whole new level.  I can’t wait to get back in the darkroom!