love/hate relationship with printing
i love printing. and i hate it. the difficulty of making hand prints is that time passes.... i shoot work and it may be months or years before i print. it depends on its priority. hand printing proves difficult when i have a deadline. i may be up at all hours of the night or as the case were today, while the kids watch cartoons in the morning.
that being said, the beauty of hand printing is that time passes. i shoot work and it may be months or years before i print. this is a good thing. perspective. if i look at a print in my darkroom and i am immediately transported to the time and place i made the image.... then i know it's a good photograph. if i look at a print in my darkroom and i'm astonished at what i did, then i know its a great photograph. this is true even with some of my most abstract work.
as long as i am able to get the needed supplies, i will continue to utilize a darkroom. printing is active and yet meditative. it's not hard, but a certain mastery is needed to keep the space clean the prints of good quality. my dna is in each print when i go through the trouble of handling a photograph.
the day may come when i can no longer purchase chemistry. most likely i will probably continue to make photographs, but sitting in front of a computer editing and clicking around in photoshop just doesn't sound like a blast to me. i suppose i should learn to paint.
{added later}
i have loads of photographer-friends who have gone digital. many of whom are trying to convince me to do the same (i'm lookin' at you barry). not me, not yet. i'm still really enjoying the hand process and i haven't heard a good enough reason to switch.... yet.
