Mario states "I hated the darkroom, the wait, the smell of chemicals, the waste of paper........" I LOVED the darkroom but must admit that I still have one in my old studio which is now a film production studio. They took it over when I couldn't afford it any longer... Small town for such a large facility and I was traveling for work all the time anyway... They don't feature it on their website. http://www.bear-studios.com/index.html But it is still there. Black and white tile floor, Beseler 4x5 colour head enlarger, with all the doodads, stainless steel tanks minus the 15 year old and now irreplaceable D76, (didn't it just seem to get better and better and better with each replenishment!?!) and of course a stereo system that if turned up loud enough assured you of slightly blurry prints. Most of mine were. I should have made it my trademark style. Processing was boring but to print was to dance. Oddly some prints found their rhythm with a particular song. I once spent an entire night making prints of a particularly challenging image. In the end I had emptied a bottle and a half of red wine and had 22 16x20's of which only one was perfect. Of course no one but me could see any difference whatsoever in any of them. The only song I listened to that night was "Suzie Q" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Over and over and over again... Nothing else would work. There was so much dodging and burning involved it had to be done to a consistent beat. Start the song, tap your foot, start counting and make another print. Of course there was also dodging and burning in different contrasts. And the potential of ruining it all in the potassium ferrocyanide bath and rub at the end. Of course if I wanted it to look like a Gene Smith print I had to smoke a cigarette so that I could let the ashes fall into the developer solution. (I guess I can tell you all my secrets now, eh?) My only regret was that no matter how much I rubbed the developer into the highlights of my prints I never could develop that photographers badge of honor, Black Fingernails. Truth be told, it is way easier to do all of that with much greater precision these days in Photoshop but it is much less sexy. And much less fun. Getting a perfect dodge or burn in a tiny area is so much easier. And you don't have to burn large sheets of paper to do so. But, you know what??? Sometimes, when I'm working in Photoshop late at night, I'll pour vinegar all over my hands and computer just for old times sake... Usually after the second bottle of Château Margaux. Warning! After the third bottle it is not uncommon to wake up with a new tattoo or married to some French mime artist or both and still not have your work done. R
