Do not forget

[gregory_c]

I am a old school photographer, started shooting when i was 12, "I

was raised on a waist level finder" is my saying.My last waist level

Hasselblad is soon to be on ebay. Manual cameras & film darkroom,

espically darkroom knowledge is a declining art. I have not printed a

picture in mine in 14 months, now days of CN film, digital labs that

can turn color negs into descent B&W,(I did say descent)digital

camera/computer that do color or B&W at one click,crop,edit etc.. So

I guess the days of dodging,dektol,photoflo,polymax RC,fixer,t-max

are soon to be forgotten, or never known by todays' photographers.

Learn the old things of photography, & apply it to the new things.

[berton_chang4]

totally agree with you dude. I spent most of my photography career with art students and people who could hardily imagine owning a digital camera. Now, especially since I've moved back to Hong Kong, you can't go any where without seeing someone or knowing someone who owns a digital camera. for crying out loud I did all my BFA with a mamiya 7.

 

what troubles me and hurts my critical photographic mindset the most is the thought that there is going to be a whole generation of photographers who won't be looking through a viewfinder but will be looking at a LCD screen on the back of the camera to determine the composition of a photograph.

 

yeah, I don't know if it troubles the rest of you guys, but it really bugs me. senseless.

[grahams]

The Chimps will never know what they have missed....

[tedharris]

Hmmmmmm ..... not sure I agree with most of the above. Speaking as a large format

photographer (both 4x5 and 8x10) who started shooting sports with a Speed Graphic in

Junior High School in 1954, I believe film in the larger formats will be around for a very

long while.

 

I too have fully embraced digital imaging. I no longer do any color wet darkroom work

but still do some black and white (but that may change soon too). I use a DSLR as well as

my LF and Noblex film gear and they all complement each other. None is a replacement

for another. The sales numbers support this position as well. Over the past few years,

while film and equipment sales in the smaller formats have been rapidly declining they

have been slowly growing in LF.

[paul -]

g cottis, look at the bright side: you were able to enjoy chemical process photography at its peak, and now have the opportunity to get into digital on the ground floor. The best of both worlds!<p>Having harsh sensitivities to darkrooom chemicals, I am thrilled to be able to pursue photography without having to deal with the toxic stuff. (Berton: but I'll never give up optical viewfinders!)

[hclim]

Berton,

 

Don't let it bug you. I consider how the photo was taken quite irrelevant. It is the final image, whether it is the print or the screen image that counts. As G says, don't forget it is the techniques and skills that should matter. Those who possess them will get the final image more efficiently and aestheically.

 

HC

[ellis_vener_photography]

<I>I was raised on a waist level finder" is my saying.</I><P>

You must be very small! :+)<P>

 

As Elliot Erwitt once said:<P><I> ?It's just seeing - at least the photography I care about.

You either see or you don't see. The rest is academic. Anyone can learn how to develop?

</I><P>

 

Technical details and capabilities change but the fundamentals only expanded on in new

ways . On the other hand your old Hasselblad can be updated to the contemporary era

with a high res digita lback and you can produce images whic h, at least technically will

blow away any images from any current DSLR - even the now discontinued 16mp Kodak

DCS Pro Backs easily out perform an EOS 1Ds mk. II if you know what you are doing and

are willing to work within it's limitations ( no 5 fps, no autofocus, no exposures longerthan

1 sec and keep the ISO to 200 or lower.)

[donald_choi]

What's dektol? Just kidding....

[blknwhtfoto]

Hey there guys, as an 18 year old kid, who still doesn't have any clue about digital, i think that especially among younger photographers there is somewhat of a rennisance(i can't spell for the life of me) in the darkroom. A computer screen doesnt have that same magic the a developer tray has when your image pops up. There is something very romantic about working in a darkroom. While i don't think that the wet darkroom will be on a huge incline, i don't think it will die, at least not in my lifetime. Americans love technology, until it becomes something we can't fix. Take cars for example, we were all about these crazy inline engines, until normal people couldnt fix them, no we have v-8s coming back and simpler things being produced. The wet darkroom will always have a fixer smelling place in our hearts.

[gregory_c]

hi Ellis Vener, "raised on a waist level finder" does not mean I must be small, it means I have taken pics for a long time & with some good equipment !!!

[beeman458]

Graham wrote<p>

 

<i>The Chimps will never know what they have missed....</i><p>

 

As an "old school" photographer, who developed film on the floor of the inner hallway of the house with all the doors closed and got a profesional photography degree in 1978. I know what I'm missing and I can only say; HOORAY!!!!!!!! Oh! And I'm proud to be a "chimper."<p>

 

<a href="http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/chimping/index.html">Chimping Exposed</a><p>

 

"Have you chimped your camera today?" :)<p>

[todd frederick]

Mr. G,

 

You give no dates regarding your experiences, but I developed my first roll of B/W film around 1958 in a food pantry using the "film in-hand and tray method"...no spools, no nothing...except me, the film and the tray, and just moving it through the developer.

 

Zoom to today: I'm totally into digital, and having similar challenges!

 

I do wish that many of our current crop of digital techies had to go through the horrid early experiences of closet darkroom processing and printing. They might be more patient with us old farts when we ask a few "stupid" digital questions!

 

We do need to adapt and I love digital.

[beeman458]

Todd wrote:<p>

 

<i>You give no dates regarding your experiences, but I developed my first roll of B/W film around 1958 in a food pantry using the "film in-hand and tray method"...no spools, no nothing...except me, the film and the tray, and just moving it through the developer.</i><p>

 

So you're gonna make me date myself, huh! :)<p>

 

The developing of the roll of film, in tray as you suggested by hand, no spool or canister with sisters trying to break the door down, took place on or about 1964 when I was twelve. Sent my very first roll of film to the drug store for development in or about 1962.<p>

 

What was so special about that roll of film? It contained a night time flash image of my sister and "I" made the capture:) Forty-two years later, I still remember what made that first roll of film so special:) What was I writing about again:) LOL<p>

 

<i>...and I love digital.</i><p>

 

Say Amen!, brother. :)<p>

[todd frederick]

Mr. G,

 

There was something special about that first roll of film appearing in the tray under the red light. I can remember it as though it was happing tonight. I eventually won a third place national award for a portrait of my cousing, still using that old "swing and dunk" method, by the Kodak High School Photo Contest. I tried contacting Kodak a few years ago asking for the negative, and they actually found it, and returned it to me. It is my most treasured negative.

 

No offense intended to anyone, but I think doing some primitive B/W processing and printing would be a good experience for anyone never having used a B/W camera or worked in a darkroom.

 

Times change, and I try to move with these changes. I now love digital, after much resistance, because I can be outside more, and less in the dark! Some love darkroom work...not me anymore!

 

Blessings for a very fine holiday and new year.

[beeman458]

Todd<p>

 

<i>No offense intended to anyone, but I think doing some primitive B/W processing and printing would be a good experience for anyone never having used a B/W camera or worked in a darkroom.</i><p>

 

Funny you should write what you did in your above. I currently read each day on photographic history and came across this piece of historical data.<p>

 

<ahref="http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/">Carlton Watkins</a><p>

 

One doesn't consider throwing twelve mules and a converted wagon into your camera bag as part of a reasonable equipment set as you had to do back at the beginning of photographic history:)<p>

 

Here's a more complete bio on Carlton and in the menu on the left side is a link to 140 of his images. Now his way was the really old way of doing B&W :)<p>

 

<a href="http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2x0nb5r3/bioghist/709311799">Carlton Watkins biography</a><p>

 

Wishing you well this Christmas Holiday Season.<p>

[beeman458]

D'oh! I goofed the first link up.<p>

 

<a href="http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/">Carlton Watkins</a><p>

 

That should be better.<p>

[beeman458]

Well that didn't work. He used broken links. Maybe this will fix it.<p>

 

<a href="http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/watkins.htm">Carlton Watkins bio</a><p>

[todd frederick]

Thomas...I get your drift but I would like to read the link.

 

I have no intention of getting involved with even one mule or any glass film plates or portable darkrooms or anything close to that.

 

I do think that some basic, traditional darkroom techniques are useful, however. It's just a good experience...like changing diapers!

 

Regarding digital and electronics:

 

In high school I had to build a radio with real tubes (you know...big glass tubes where electron actually jumped...like transistors but with glass and very big and you plug them into sockets and they actually glowed and you could see what they were doing...wonderful!) and with resistors! (they were color coded) and with capicators, and variable conpasitors so we could find the right station!, and with real copper wires, and with a metal base, and we actually had to solder the connections!

 

I even made a fine radio transmitter using a plastic sandwich box and contacted Alaska in morse code! I was Ham radio operator back then.

 

I also nearly electrocuted myself! Really! I forgot to turn the power switch off, touched two wires and my old Parker wet ink pen flew across the room.

 

Oh, those were the days! My first radio was a crystal set, and I'm on in my early 60's.

 

The Point Is this: Basics can be useful! They build a foundation of understanding.

 

Today's digital camera will be tomorrow's collectible! Buy wisely!

 

Happy New Year.

[paul -]

<i>Today's digital camera will be tomorrow's collectible!</i><p>These days that could (correctly) be taken literally! :-P