Darkroom Adventures:
This week’s verdict? Color is exciting, but flat out frustrating.
Feeling so comfortable with the way my hands move in a black and white darkroom - how robotic, yet creative the process is - has certainly shaken me with my first trip into the color darkroom. The mechanization of it is stark; while I’m thrilled to be going home not wreaking of fixer, it’s odd to think that once the print has been exposed, three minutes later poof! and done. It’s a different kind of magic in the color darkroom that doesn’t involve the thrill of watching an image come to life in a pool of developer. I don’t prefer one over the other yet, but the initial contrast and impression is very, very striking.
What’s frustrating about the endeavor into the darkroom is the fact that everything’s pitch black. With knowing the process so well in the other darkroom, it’s so, so hard to feel slightly out of control with something so seemingly second nature as creating contact sheets. And, I have a feeling that my compulsive quest for perfection will hinder me when it comes to printing and getting filters right. Of course, there is much to learn and much more time to go, but the frustrating is palpable. Once I can finally make that contact sheet - the images, little jewels, are so exciting when they finally materialize - I suppose I’ll feel a bit calmer about everything.
I refrained from shooting this weekend because I want to get more comfortable in the darkroom with the two rolls I shot last week and understand what works and what doesn’t in terms of subject and exposure. I’m used to looking at color photos through a digital lens, but a manual SLR approach to color, tone, and texture is becoming very different.
