The other day I was printing a bunch of proof sheets I was behind on and am now fully caught up on year to date activity. To be honest it’s fairly mundane work.  Once you set the proper enlarger height and aperture on the lens it’s pretty much automatic.  Anyway I was thinking about other more interesting things like a couple of stereo projects I am in the middle of trying to get done, like having a custom made turntable made after sourcing all the parts mostly from overseas cottage industry operations.  It’s all finally coming together here in Pennsylvania where a true artisan is making a 120-pound Pennsylvania slate plinth that the turntable will reside in and my two tone arms will be connected to (I know it’s crazy … one for stereo and one for mono cartridges!).  And that got me thinking about black and white film photography and my vinyl record and tube electronics obsession.

Guess what. I don’t own a cd player, don’t listen to streaming music on my computer, and don’t use solid-state electronics. Gee what a surprise … black and white film and darkroom printing along with listening to great records on a tube based system. Truth is I also own fountain pens. There is something about the whole black and white analog process that is special – from making the image, to the production process, and of course experiencing the final result. Yesterday, at my Photo Chat Get Together one of the fine photographer’s in the group brought a new albumen contact print he had made from an 8X10 negative. The process dates back to the 1850s and the results were stunning! As with other wet printing processes the final image is quite special. You can really see into the print because there is a real sense of depth.  And of course when you view a contact print made from an 8X10 negative that’s a whole other world all together.

I think about some of the greats … Adams, Weston(s), Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Smith … I could go on and on … and then I think of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, Monk, the Beatles. I started making pictures when I was around ten years old when my parents gave me a Brownie. Two years latter I put together my first stereo, and my passion for images and music has stayed strong for over fifty years.  But the common denominator for me is how I participate in and with photography and music. To me vinyl is like film … black and white in particular. And even more so than film, vinyl was almost on its deathbed when people finally realized that there was just so much more to it than digital. Kind of like film vs. digital. Now cds are almost extinct and more turntables are being manufactured today than ever before!  But like using film and making traditional wet prints, listening to my favorite vinyl records through tube electronics is the ultimate listening experience. Warm, lush, and if done right very dynamic. Yes, the whole audio thing as enjoyed by me can be a pain (e.g., using the right tubes, making sure the record is squeaky clean, being careful not to damage the stylus on the cartridge). But when I sit down and listen to a good pressing of a Beethoven piano concerto or Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, turn the lights low and see the tubes glowing it’s sublime. Just like looking at that albumen contact print.