Well, it's been an interesting week here in Lake Wobegone...
Since my last post regarding Multi-Media in Des Moines, IA, I've had quite
a busy week buried in my makeshift darkroom soaking my fingers to the bone.
(Oh, you're supposed to use tongs?)
First thing I had to do was smulch through 20,000 pictures digging up all
of my B&W negatives. There were dozens of rolls of processed/proofed film
that I never even took a second glance at. What a shame, since there was
some decent stuff in there.
It just so happened that last Wednesday, Karen and I mosied over to Iowa
City and spent an afternoon in the mall there. We went into Barnes and
Noble bookstore and I picked up Ansel Adams "The Print". I did that because
I was planning on getting back into a darkroom sometime next year. Uh huh,
right! I got my money back from MM and went into Christain Photo (Des
Moines) and bought up their stock of darkroom supplies and proceeded to
spend three days buried up to my eyeballs in developer.
Again, I had no intention of getting back into the darkroom at this time,
so I was reading the book out of enjoyment. Enjoyment or not, it was the
most valuable $23 I probably have ever spent. I've grown up in the
darkroom and have made at least a thousand prints, but NEVER truely knew
what I was doing as far as contrast control was concerned. Mr. Adams wrote
probably the one thing that turned me around, and it is so crazy basic that
you all are probably gonna think I'm stupid or something: He said to
expose the paper for the high values (Zone VII-VIII), and use paper grades
for the blacks. Well, DUH!!! Within an hour, I was printing pictures like
an old pro. I even went after and attacked a negative that was so soft
(foggy winter day) that I figured would end up being a throwaway. I went
up to grade 4 and found textures and gradients that I never knew existed.
This one is a work in progress, though, as there are scratches from
processing on the neg that need additional nosegrease.
I printed up a snowscape (stream, trees, fresh snow) that is gathering much
interest. (OM-1, Tokina ATX35-70/2.8, handheld through the jeep's open
window with engine off, but heater running) I've been advised that at a
dozen 11x14s of it should sell by Christmas. I hope so, I've gotta feed
the kids somehow.
What is interesting about all this, is that eight pictures (most of which I
also have Fujichromes of) have gotten more interest, oohs and ahs, than all
but a handful of my color shots. I haven't even started yet!
So anyway, I feel like I'm being brought back into the fold. I had pretty
much abandoned B&W or relegated it to "whatever" shots, but now I'm all
excited about it again. Best of all, since it is getting wintertime, I'd
rather shoot B&W than Provia/Velvia. I'm kicking myself for not shooting
B&W religiously alongside the color stuff all these years. I have a couple
thousand shots I'd love to do up in B&W right now. No, I won't abandon the
slides, but will retarget the B&W as possibly a great marketing tool for me
right now.
An interesting aside, regarding optics... Over half of my negs are medium
format (645, 66, 67) and the rest primarily shot on the OM-1. The center
sharpness of the Mamiya optics are incredible and you could cut atoms with
the enlargments, but overall sharpness is slightly better with some of my
zuikos. The Mamiya Super-23 (press) that I currently have is producing
exceptionally good B&W negatives and its "dry", non-saturated look from the
lens is quite beneficial with the B&W film as the gradients are much
smoother. Lenses that produce highly saturated colors (wonderful for stock
photography and magazine covers), don't do so well with B&W film. I'm
learning that the 100/3.5 lens on my Super-23 can be stopped WAY down with
minimal diffusion. F32 really is usable on that lens. (Must be the single
coating that makes it better)
Regarding negative films... In the OM's I've mostly shot Ilford Pan-F (ISO
50) film. It's grain is nearly identical to TMAX 100 in medium format.
The 11x14 prints in side by side comparison are a hard draw to tell the
difference, although the tonalities of the medium format are a shade
better. (that contax is looking awefully good again...)
Ken (yellow fingers, red eyes) Norton
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