Ok, you have produced two useable test strips/prints – one of Grade 2 and another of Grade 3 equivalents on VC paper (or with graded paper if you use that). Now the real creative process begins!

Take your two wet prints and look at them under the viewing light. Really study them carefully! Sometimes this takes a while to get it right. You’re looking for good blacks, good shadow detail, proper tonality and whites that are not blown out.  Once you have determined which is the right print exposure time for each grade of paper you can now make a “pilot” print for each grade. I find it useful to write Grade 2 with its exposure time on the back of one print and Grade 3 with its exposure time on the other using a #2 pencil.  Note: Throughout the printing process I always write what I am doing on the back of my papers so I won’t get confused or loose track of what I am doing. So should you!  Now into the developer!

Again, look at both prints under the viewing light. I have two Zone VI Plexiglas print viewing stands that stand side by side and always are in the same spot in my sink. This arrangement allows me to compare prints in the same light.  I find it very useful to look at the two prints next to each other and again study them VERY CAREFULLY.  The goal is to pick what print/paper looks the best in terms of contrast and overall atmosphere and discard the one that doesn’t. You have to take your time!

Sometimes it’s obvious which grade is correct and which print is the one to toss. Other times after careful examination, I may discard one of them and then decide to make another pilot print using a higher contrast or lower contrast of the print grade I selected.  For example, if I chose to stick with Grade 2 but think it is a little too contrasty I might try a Grade 1.75 equivalent. It is easy to figure this out doing some quick math and I adjust my color head filtration accordingly. If Grade 2 needs some additional contrast I might try a Grade 2.25 or 2.5 equivalent. Now I will make that print, develop it and examine that against the original Grade 2 print. If still not happy with the contrast, I can make another. Get it right here and you will not be unhappy latter!  Once satisfied I discard the other pilot print(s) and I am ready to proceed knowing my proper exposure time and overall print contrast.

The final pilot print is your starting point to making a truly fine print. Given the effort you’ve put into it, it is likely better than most others finished product!

One final note here – I write everything I’ve done on my print recipe sheet. Then I cross out all the exposure/contrast combinations I didn’t like, leaving the one I chose to go forward with.

Now on to making the best print you can!

Stay safe,

Michael

Now the real creative process in the darkroom is about to begin!  You have carefully examined your proof sheet to determine if there is a negative(s) worthy of printing, and happily there is.  In determining basic exposure and contrast my approach is to use an entire 8×10 piece of paper rather than a small strip so I can get as much information as possible. I think this very important and definitely not the place to pinch pennies!

I use variable contrast paper but still think in terms of paper grades after many years of using graded paper.  So I start with a grade two “normal” contrast test strip/print (I use a color head but paper manufactures provide the color setting information you need for each grade).  I set my timer for 3 seconds and using a piece of mat board move from right to left, uncovering about an inch of the paper for each exposure.  If the paper is in landscape position in the easel the first exposure on the very right is 3 seconds, and the last exposure on the very left yields a cumulative of 30 seconds.

I then repeat this process and make a grade three strip/print to see what things look like with added contrast. Now into the developer, stop and fix, and finally onto the viewing stand illuminated by a 150W bulb. NOTE: It is essential that you examine print test strip/prints, pilot prints and working/final prints during various steps of the printing process while wet (because of paper drydown) and with the proper illumination … otherwise you will be disappointed later!!!!

I want at least a fifteen second exposure. This will give me enough time to comfortably do whatever dodging manipulations may be necessary to make the final fine print.  And even if the print turns out to be pretty straight forward, what’s the rush? If the print exposure is too short, then close down a stop on your enlarging lens and redo your test strip/prints. So, for example, if you have started using f/8, stop down to f/11 on your lens and repeat.

You are now about to embark on a journey that will end with a fine print!

Stay safe,

Michael

Now I have to rearrange my bookshelves where I keep my precious photography art books. I was already running out of space but now I am getting close to crisis alert. I’ve already had to move my other photography works down to my workroom in the basement. Now what?  So here’s the deal, as a particular candidate for president that I like would say … there are a lot of great books out there containing work we can admire, and most of all, learn from. They often can give us something to aspire to and even help us when we have hit a roadblock.

So this week I found out about someone that was moving and had a tone of classical vinyl records they wanted to get rid of.  Naturally I wanted to get over there as quickly as possible. Seventeen boxes later it turned out to be a pretty good haul! On a hunch I decided to ask if there were any photography books. I’ve learned that audiophile/music lovers also tend to have cameras, which means they may have photography books (note: they also seem to collect fountain pens and watches, but that’s another discussion all together!).

Bingo! I was directed to an entire shelf of books. Most were the standard how to books that are pretty common, but there were also some photo art books. Now were talking! Here are a few from the large boxful I snagged for seventy five dollars: Paul Strand, Sixty Years of Photographs; Walker Evans, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Ansel Adams and Nancy Newhall, This Is The American Earth; Ansel Adams, In Color, and Eliot Porter, Appalachian Wilderness.  I know the last two books are color work, but they’re Adams and Porter …OK?  I can gladly live with that! But perhaps the crown jewel of my excellent treasure hunt … Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art. It’s a massive two-volume box set containing the so-called “key set” of over 1600 photographs given to the museum by Stieglitz’s wife Georgia O’Keeffe.

I am truly looking forward to the many hours I will be spending with these and the other books I brought home.  Every serious photographer should have library of wonderful books like these. We all have different tastes and there are enough quality books out there to satisfy all of them. Some to be had for peanuts if you’re lucky like I was. Be on the lookout and you may find some!

Make it a point to build your own library. That’s a far better investment than that uber wide angle or big honker telephoto you really don’t need … you’ll be a better photographer for it!

Stay safe,

Michael

So I was out photographing during Labor Day weekend and had an interesting experience with a couple of women.  I wrote about this but failed to mention while driving back home I saw a fascinating scene in the front yard of someone’s house. Signs for a presidential candidate and some strange items placed around them. The guy putting together this strange photographic scene was out there digging or doing something. He was about half my age, tattooed and about twice my size. I slowed down a little more to take a look but he gave me one back that was not very inviting. Another time, with other circumstances I would have got out, tried to engage and hopefully would have made the picture, but I have been to this rodeo before and know when to back off.  So I kept on driving. About a half a mile down the road I executed an important photographic maneuver – the all-important illegal u-turn. I drove back and slowly took a long look.  The glare I got convinced me that the picture was meant to be … just not that day!

So I did another u-turn, drove a little ways down the road, pulled off to the side and wrote down the coordinates so I would know how to get back another time to make that photograph.  It turned out to be a beautiful fall day this past Friday (I know its technically not fall but it sure feels that way here in Bucks County) so I carved out some time around work and headed back hoping the scene remained as I remembered it, minus the unfriendly looking fellow.

As I drove by I quickly noticed one of the most important elements of the picture was missing. Nevertheless I drove around the location several times and finally found a somewhat precarious location to ditch the car. I grabbed my camera and light meter and proceeded to walk. As I was getting closer, the chap from the last go around hops out of his pickup truck and walks up to me … but this time he has a friend with him.

$#@%^&*(!

“What are you doing here?”

NOTE: I’m not as young or as fast as I used to be, but better not to panic — “Hey man, how you doing? Where’s the mannequin?  I was driving by last time and now it’s gone! I take pictures; do you mind?  This is really cool but where’s the mannequin?”

“It fell down; you want me to get it?”

“Yah, that would be great; I’m just going to take a few snaps, OK?”

“No problem, I need to go to work now … take as many as you want but don’t let my wife see you out here!”

“Hey man … really appreciate it … thanks!”

So I hung out awhile, walked around and made a few pictures. The other good news was my car was still where I left it.  I look forward to developing the negatives soon and seeing how things look on the proof sheet.  So all in all a very nice outcome, and one that would not have been possible if had given up on the picture … if had not gone back for it.  Things were a little dicey for a brief moment, but we talked.

We live in strange and difficult times, and we’re not very good right now at communicating with those with whom we may disagree.  We need to get beyond that, and fast, if we are to move forward and make things better.

Oh … and don’t give up on your picture … not if it means something to you.

Stay safe,

Michael

Several years ago I wrote an entry entitled Finding Your Passion.  More recently I wrote another called Passion or Hobby … Are You a Photographer? And I have touched on the importance of passion in other entries as well.  If you think this means I believe that passion for the images we make and for the finished prints we produce is essential, you’re right!

This week I discovered a YouTube video made by photographer Kyle McDougall. I’m sure he won’t mind me paraphrasing some of the key takeaways combined with a few of my own thoughts. He said he used to make landscapes using digital cameras and essentially hit a brick wall with his passion and creativity. Then he discovered analog photography and it changed his whole focus.

Now here’s the kicker; he was worried that those who knew his work would not accept it for what it was, but was gratified to learn that they thought it was the best work he had done. He knew that it was and thought there was an energy and authenticity to the work that only comes when your passionate about what you’re doing.

That this happened for him with the switch to analog is wonderful but what’s really important is the passion you have, whatever medium or format you are using. Create whatever interests and excites you … what you are passionate about, regardless of what others may think – that’s what counts … follow your own path!

Thanks Kyle!  I couldn’t agree more with everything you say, especially concerning energy and authenticity to the work that only comes when you’re passionate about what you’re doing, and the necessity of following you own path.  When you think about it, one leads to the other! Otherwise, what’s the point of it all?  Finally, and perhaps most important … yes, I believe others (and you) will notice the quality of the work that is the result.

And if they don’t it just means they don’t get it.  What do they know … follow your own path!

Stay safe,

Michael

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and enjoyed it in a responsible manner. It was a little strange celebrating Labor Day this time around; I haven’t met with anyone for my day job since March. And I wonder how many people actually bother to think about Labor Day. Just another holiday weekend and a good time to buy stuff on sale.

During the summer I’ve spent a lot time in my in my darkroom, which turns out to be a great Covid-free environment. But this weekend, after a lull in the action, I loaded my cameras up with film and started photographing again. Don’t worry; I made sure I had my mask with me just in case.  Turned out I needed it.

I was going to publish some thoughts surrounding the Fourth of July, but never did.  Wasn’t ready. Not sure I am now. Given the meaning of that holiday and what we were facing as a nation, I tried to think about what is good about America rather than what divides us.  As the weeks have gone by I’ve kept trying to think about this, but sometimes it’s hard to do. Just this Saturday I was about to make a picture of a couple of elderly women sitting outside a general store in one of the small hamlets that dot the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.  Chatting over cigarettes, one thought to ask me if I was “part of that BOM thing”? I hadn’t heard of BOM, but then she corrected herself and said “BLM”. “You’re not part of Black Lives Matter”?  Wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.  So I just made the picture and walked away. We’ll see how it turns out.  In the meantime, I’ll keep on thinking, because the good is still there, even when it seems to be overwhelmed by the fog surrounding us.  I know it’s true because I saw it in my Covid-19 pictures, and I see it every day.

Labor Day signifies the end of summer and the beginning of a more serious time of the year. The leaves have already started falling here in Pennsylvania, vacations, for those that took them are behind us and kids will be going back to school … albeit in unusual and different ways.  It was a summer I’ll never forget … just part of a year I’ll never forget.  In many ways it has been the worst year I’ve ever experienced, but in some ways it’s turned out to the best.

So guess what … I’m not giving up … there’s a lot of pictures yet to be made!

Stay safe,

Michael

By now most interested photographers have heard about Vivian Maier. I even wrote an entry that discussed her … There Is A Lot of World Class Work Being Created We Will Never See, But That’s Alright. She was a fantastic street photographer, whose work was destined to remain unknown were it not discovered by John Maloof in 2007.  Now I have learned about Jack Sharp, thanks to one of my former students.  Thanks Susan!!!  She sent me a link to an excellent article by Michael Zhang that appears on the PetaPixel website https://petapixel.com/2020/08/24/man-inherits-treasure-trove-of-unseen-street-photos-from-his-grandfather/

Damn … another great, unknown photographer no longer with us!! This time a Brit, who made most of his black and white street photographs in Switzerland between 1950 and 1970.  Discovered by his grandson, Dylan Scalet, after inheriting and examining a treasure trove of over 5000 negatives, it’s an important discovery … “Man Inherits Treasure Trove of Unseen Street Photos From His Grandfather”.

Jack Sharp is a great street photographer, whose work can be compared to Maier’s. There is now a website published by his grandson that is devoted to his photography. See it here: https://www.jacksharp.co.uk. 

As I have discussed before, how many other great, unknown photographers are out there waiting to be discovered, whose work may never see the light of day?  Part of the issue is that they simply are not driven to be discovered or to even promote their work. They just want to photograph for the love and passion of it. My guess is that Jack Sharp felt that way, and good for him! But I’m sure glad he saved his negatives, made sure they were passed on, and that his grandson happened to be interested photography and knew some great images when he saw them!

In yet another example of the many small miracles that have occurred during Covid-19, Dylan received the negatives in 2014 but hadn’t examined them until now.  Like most of us he probably now had a little extra time on his hands. Great! I’m thankful for his discovery and doubly thankful that I can now enjoy this excellent body of work.

So how many Vivian Maiers and Jack Sharps are out there … past and present?  We will never know, but I am deeply inspired by their work that I will likely never see and their passion for what they deeply love/loved. It is that love of photography itself and the doing of the work that makes what they do/did so special.

So to all the unknown’s out there doing great work for the love and passion of it … keep at it … you’re an inspiration to us all!

Stay safe,

Michael