I am not a complete Fred Picker fan boy, but I am not shy about saying that he had some important and insightful things to say (not to mention some very fine photographs he made photographic and many innovations he introduced). Recently I’ve been discussing my hit rate for 2018. I was going through my stash of Fred’s Zone VI Newsletters and found some of his thoughts that were highly germane to mine on keeper hit rates.  While he focuses part of his discussion on large format work, what he says is relevant to whatever format you may use. I really don’t think I could say it better then Fred did, so I will just go ahead and quote him! I’m sure if he was still with us he wouldn’t mind!

From Newsletter #47, June, 1986, pp. 8-10:

“I just finished filling work from 1985 and generated some statistics I found interesting.  I photographed 120 das last year of which about twenty were spent on commercial assignments and 100 were spent on personal work. I exposed 456 large format personal negatives (about 300 4×5, 150 8×10) or 4.5 exposures for every day I photographed. Some of the negatives were duplicates made either for backup or with different filters, different exposures, under changing light conditions, or made for different developing treatment, etc. There were about 300 subjects photographed. After proofing, I chose thirty-one negatives to print. That’s one negative printed for every fifteen negatives made, one negative printed for every ten subjects photographed, one negative printed for every three days in the field.

Because it took an average of three working days – twenty-four hours – to make a photograph that I thought worth printing and it takes me about two-and-a-half hours to print a new negative, I spent ten times as long making a picture that I thought worth printing than I spent printing it.

When you add to the printing time, holder cleaning, film loading, chemical mixing, negative developing, proofing, washing, toning, mounting, filling, cleaning up the darkroom, etc.; it comes to probably 35 hours or a five day work week per printable negative. The percentage is worse than that. Ten of the thirty-one prints were consumed during the traditional, painful, but necessary “New Years Day Edit by Wood Stove.”

Edward Weston said that if at the top of his form and if given adequate subject matter, (tow hefty “ifs”) he thought he could make one significant photograph for every day he spent in the field. Ansel said that twelve serious photographs a year was good output. To the hobbyist who fires off two 36 exposure rolls on a Sunday morning and prints half of them between cocktails and bed time on Tuesday night, his level of production will seem like pretty slime pickings. It all depends on what the individual photographer thinks is worth printing.”

And From Newsletter #51, June, 1987, pp. 9-10:

“There is an aspect of the Zone System that is usually regarded as vital. It has to do with the previsualizing of the print in all aspects. In my opinion, no one really can. Certainly anyone can visualize the print in shades of grapy and an accomplished photographer can note the most insignificant details of the composition but no one knowsat the time of t exposure the answer to the only important question: did he merely skillfully record what was there (made an admirable picture) or will he see in the print that subtle and evasive something wonderful?

Consider: any thousands of unprinted negatives indicate that anyone’s ability to visualize at the time of exposure in the most sophisticated terms, the emotional content of the future print, is pretty crude. If we could really do it, how come you, me, and the greatest photographers in history, take so many pictures that excite us at the time of exposure but the prints contain no more emotional wallop than a postcard? Even though the great get a higher percentage of “keepers” than ordinary folks, they also get a lot of near misses. The truth is that the balance and complexity of ingredients that make up and extraordinary photograph are so ephemeral they can be “previsualized” only up to a point. The transformation of real objects onto a two dimensional plane, rendering their colors in black and white, and radically changing the subjects’ size make it extremely difficult to foretell the emotional power, if any, the print will contain. So often the most exciting moments in the filed are disappointments in the darkroom. But sometimes you just know. Strand made about nine negatives of the wondrous cobweb in Maine. He knew.

What can you do? You have no choice but to be tough on yourself. Do a lot of work. Do it the absolute best you can regardless of the difficulties you may find. Photograph only what excites you (never what you think will “make a good picture”) and hope that the law of averages is operating.”

Take some time and think about what Fred said. Then go out and make some great photographs and prints you will be proud of!

Awhile back I wrote about not getting around to printing. I started thinking about it again because I sense there are a lot of folks out there who have darkrooms or access to them, but don’t print very much or just don’t print at all. Soon they are drawn by the allure of digital. So much easier and the gratification is almost in real time. You can figure out what you want to do in Photoshop then print the thing during the commercial break while watching television. Someone actually told me they’ve done that!

There always seems to be lots of excuses. Let’s face it – good craft is hard and time consuming. Well football season is almost over, so how about it?

I previously said that assuming you at least get your film developed; make sure to do your proof sheets in order to determine whether there is anything worth printing!  You don’t have to print right away.  Some people wait a certain amount of time and then print only what they consider the very best of what they have accomplished.  That’s pretty much what I do and what I’m in the process of doing now. Over the holidays I printed nine new images from 2018, but I have more to go. Then there are all the others I want to print from previous years that I have now decided to do after giving them another look. It’s a lot of work. But isn’t that what this is all about?  Why go out there in the first place and make photographs if you are never going to print them and bring your vision to fruition?

It doesn’t matter what your way of doing things is.  Just make sure you print.

Here’s my recommendation – if you have dropped out of the game for a while don’t put so much pressure on your self. Instead, take a deep breath, relax and do the following:

1. Photograph – try using one camera with one lens for awhile (e.g., a 50mm or its equivalent depending on the format)
2. Develop your negatives
3. Make proof sheets
4. Spend some real quality time examining them; be ruthless and determine which images are the truekeepers
5. Decide which picture you like best
6. Set aside some time from your busy schedule and only make a print from one negative; give it your best effort, taking as long as necessary to do what you have to do in order to say what you want to say
7. Mount your print and spot tone
8. Examine the results over some time to determine whether the print is good as is, needs further tweaking, or isn’t really that good after all
9. Reprint if necessary or move on to another negative if need be

Now if you have done all of this you will have accomplished what few are willing to do in today’s world – that is taking the time and making the effort to do the best possible job you can to see something through to its logical conclusion … instead of taking the easy way out by not doing anything at all, or just giving up and going digital.

Just get the first print completed to your satisfaction. Then how about putting a nice overmat on it and framing it. Now you can find a place on your wall and admire your achievement!

You are now ready to make more prints of your best negatives – and you will want to find the time to do it!  You may even be motivated to get out and make more photographs! You’re on your way. One negative and one print at a time.  No rush and no pressure to print a certain number of images. Remember – a small number of truly great images in one year really is really productive.

Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

A while back I wrote an entry called Revisiting Your Proof Sheets … What You Find Might Surprise You!  A couple of years ago I decided to take a look through my many proof sheets going all the way back to the beginning and found that there might be some gems that I missed for some reason.  I wrote that I found around a hundred or so images that looked like they deserved a chance to be printed and prove themselves. I said that I would be slowly going through the many flagged proof sheets and printing in between current work.  I knew that it would take a long time, but I was excited by prospects! Even though I haven’t done as much as I would like to I am still excited and have dedicated myself to doing much more this year and beyond.

The question in the earlier piece was why was it that so many images I revisited somehow now looked more appealing than they did at first glance?  I wasn’t sure.  Perhaps a different perspective, a new point of view, or the fact that I am older and hopefully somewhat wiser.  Or maybe I was too hasty the first time around.

I recently pulled out the excellent bookContact: Theorypublished by Ralph Gibson’s Lustrum Press (review to come) that contains proof sheets of number of well-known photographers, descriptive essays by the photographers, and the images they chose for printing.  One thing I noticed was the many near and not so near misses on their proof sheets. Not surprising at all (see last week’s entry).

The essay by the late great Mary Ellen Mark was particularly insightful concerning the topic of discussion and goes along way to answering my question:

“In reviewing this contact sheet I just re-noticed frame 24A—I think I’m going to make to print of it. This sometimes happens when you stay away from your contacts for a long time (I have not edited this sheet for three years).  You will often go back and find very good pictures that you missed before – I think often the distance of both emotions and time can give you a fresh perspective on your contact sheets.”

Great thinking by a wonderful photographer!  Thank you so much Mary Ellen – I think you nailed it!

So dust off those old proof sheets this year and take a fresh look at them. You may find some overlooked gems!

I finally went through my proof sheets for 2018 and spent some serious time in the darkroom during Christmas week. It was a great time to do this as pretty much anyone I deal with in my working life takes off just before Christmas and doesn’t return to their offices until after the New Year.

All of this activity got me thinking about the number of photographs I make, the amount that I select for printing, and the final number that survive. It turns out to be somewhat of a process. The truth is that I don’t go through a lot of film because I am pretty selective in what I want to photograph. If I’m not really attracted to what I am seeing I simply don’t push the shutter release. I am even more selective when it comes to looking at my proof sheets when determining those images I wish to print. I study them under the magnifier, and if I see something I like I take a red Sharpie and draw a frame around the image. If necessary I indicate where cropping is required.  Sometimes after further inspection I may decide that some of the frames I previously selected aren’t that exciting after all.  And even if printed, there is a chance that after further evaluation the print will have to be modified for some reason, or it may just get tossed because in the end the picture really wasn’t that good.

In earlier postings I pointed out that Ansel Adams said, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”  And John Sexton said, “I find the single most valuable tool in the darkroom is my trash can – that’s where most of my prints end up.”

Think about these two statements for a while. I have.

Maybe my approach is not what works for others, but I really believe that the key to stronger work is setting a high standard and maintaining it. That means being highly selective in what we see and print, and finally in what we chose to preserve.

I identified a number of pictures from 2018 that I had not printed during the year.  My hit rate was below 10% and who knows what the final number of survivors will be once they all make it out of the darkroom. But I am satisfied with those numbers, because I have some meaningful images I am excited about.  I have also gone back through my older proof sheets again and identified many pictures I will be printing for the first time.  I made a good start on the 2018s this past week, but I will be pretty busy this coming year and beyond!

Have a great 2019, photographically and may your hit rate be good.

Best wishes,

Michael

Recently I was offered an opportunity to be interviewed for Radius Magazine. Radius focuses on art, music and life here in Bucks County and Hunterdon County, just across the Delaware River in New Jersey.  This was the first time I’ve been interviewed for my photography and I have to say it was a delightful experience! I met Lela Casey at my favorite coffee shop here in Doylestown and discussed the magic of black and white film photography and the darkroom over some really great hot chocolate. We also talked about my approach to photography and why photography has been such an important part of my life for over fifty years.

Lela did a wonderful job capturing the essence of our conversation, and the magazine chose some of my favorite photographs for inclusion with the story.

All and all a great way to close out what has been a truly rewarding photographic year for me. Well almost.  Actually, I plan to be pretty much locked in my darkroom between Christmas and New Years.  Now that’s a good way to finish the year!

If you happen to be out and about in Bucks or Hunterdon Counties you should be able to find a copy of Radius, and the best part is that it’s free!  You can also find it on the Radius Magazine website at http://www.radiusmag.com Look for Issue #46.

I am not familiar with the range of Foma’s black and white papers; I only use one type – Variant III VC FB … and only one size – 8×10. I have also used what most believe is its rebranded sibling, Arista EDU Ultra, and I’ve been hard pressed to see any significant differences in the two papers. But now I needed to order more paper for what I hope will be a good amount of time spent in the darkroom time between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I noticed that Freestyle Photographic, Foma’s US importer, has lowered the price of a 100 sheet 8×10 box of Variant III VC FB from $126.95 to $99.95. Many of you may be aware of this – if not this is a sizeable savings! The person I spoke to on the phone said that this has been the price since the beginning of 2018. That happens to be the same price as Arista EDU Ultra, both at Freestyle and B&H!  Note, however that Freestyle charges for shipping and B&H does not.

I know this isn’t in the same category as world peace but it is interesting, and who knows how long this price will last – Freestyle would not say. As readers know, I love this paper.  Suffice to say, I just order 300 sheets of the Foma!