Week of 05/27/13: Ernest Expectations

Location: 4^th St. off of Bainbridge

Image Size: 16.5 x 22 @300 dpi

Print Size: 11.25 x 15.25

Camera: Fujica Gs645

Lens: Nikon 75mm f3.8

Film: Tri-X 120 @ISO 200

Develop: HC110 B 1:49, 6.5 min @68F

Scan: Epson V500

Print: Epson 3880/ Piezography K7 Inks/ Moab Lasal

I’m a huge believer in constantly raising the bar. It keeps things fresh and prevents boredom and burnout. The only problem is the work often starts consuming more and more time, which seems to be the natural progression of any passion. One ends up just a hair’s breath from being completely consumed, while the rest of one’s earthly existence goes to seed. Perhaps this is a good argument for having few needs and living simply.

After last week’s image, which I reprinted, yet again, this one was a walk in the park. Although this print racked up twenty-three iterations (I now number them for reference), it went relatively smoothly and directly. The negative was close to ideal and needed just one special scan so I could lighten and increase contrast in one area. The results are significantly cleaner if I re-scan directly from the negative rather than applying a strong adjustment in Photoshop.

I’m looking more and more at the surfaces of things: leaves, rain-soaked car paint, stone, water, etc, and being more and more careful to maintain a sense of the physicality of things but also to preserve the photographic qualities of black and white film. I want both the darkest areas of the print and the lightest to have tone and detail. This makes the whole process much more less forgiving (and rewarding), especially since I’m printing sans color on matte paper that gives less contrast than gloss and semi-gloss papers.