mako2

Thank you guys,

Especially you, DJ, for the tip about Lloyd Erlick's technical page.

This really is a treasure trove!

Cheers,

As painting has coexisted, largely peacefully, next to photography,

so do I hope will be the fate of digital imaging with silver

photography.

<p>

Granted, it was commercial considerations (cheaper, faster, the quest

for new market niches, etc) that gave birth to digital imaging and

availability of cheaper hardware ment that more and more people could

afford it. The truth is that most people with a camera in their hands

just want to take snaps and to hell with technique. I'll go by it.

<p>

The real problem I see is the trend to compare just the end product

of the two disciplines, i.e. the print. But how can they ever be the

same? The silver photographer has to master technique first before he

can use it to express his vision. He spends hours in the field

waiting for the correct light before tripping the shutter. In the

darkroom he can spend many hours even days for an evocative print.

<p>

In contrast the digital imager may not even have to have a camera.

And technique? Well Photoshop can be used to correct the contrast,

balance the tones and add extraneous elements. Granted, the last has

been used by silver photographers but it requires extraordinary skill.

<p>

Silver photography produces unique images just like any craftsman

cannot produce identical products from the same draft. The love of

the artist for his image grows with the time he spends seeing it come

into being.

<p>

Digital imaging is an automated way of cloning the same image in

increasingly good quality and speed. Love? No _time_ for that.

<p>

Therefore it is only fair towards the artist who created an image to

clearly state if it is unmanipulated silver or digital. Unmanipulated

silver is a contradiction of terms!

<p>

In one way the digital imaging can be seen as a blessing. It has

separated the silver photographers from the rest. We are a much

smaller group now but we do what we do out of choice. As long as we

keep buying films and papers they will continue to exist. As simple

as that :-)

Comrade silver printers,

<p>

I am looking for an odourless fixer formula of the rapid type. I had a bash at TF-3 (see pp 106 in S.Anchell's Film Developing Cookbook) and such strong was its smell that it made my work in the darkroom intolerable.

<p>

I then switched to non-rapid Kodak F-24 (see pp 152 in S.Anchell's The Darkroom Cookbook) and the 5´ + 5´ fixing times were too long to bear.

<p>

If one of you could provide me with a rapid formula that does not smell you will help me sustain my tradition, namely, of mixing my entire chemistry!

<p>

Best regards,

Mako