In the Dark

The photographic darkroom - a place where magic happens.
"I then thought of trying again a method which I had tried many years before. This method was to take a camera obscura and to throw the images of the objects on a piece of paper in its focus - fairy pictures, creations of a moment, and destined as rapidly to fade away. How charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably, and remain fixed upon the paper."
~ William Henry Fox Talbot, October 1833

Haiku
Photographing a haiku... maybe this is too tricky? If photography is already poetry, how then to create the rules of five, seven, and five? This is my first attempt. Here is the result of using 35mm film in a medium format Holga camera. Perhaps the evidence of sprocket holes gives a sense of timing and rhythm. Like writing on college ruled notebook paper, the format of the film is structured while the words (images) are symbolic. Well, as you know, this is just darkroom fun. I'll keep you posted... January 2024

Devil's Den at Gettysburg National Military Park
While visiting Gettysburg in September 2023, my point-and-shoot film camera and I photographed groups of rocks in Devil's Den that were made famous by photographers Alexander Gardener, Timothy O'Sullivan, and Peter S. Weaver. By using the 'Then and Now Pictures' tool on the National Park Service website, I was able to locate the exact rocks. My first printing session went well enough, though more hours are needed in the darkroom to produce a little portfolio of these images. ~December 2023

Lumen Prints
This process includes expired BW resin coated paper, items of interest, water, and Hypo mixed 1:9. It is mid-November and there is a cloudless sky - perfect for consistent exposures, however, the sun travels low in the southern sky. No matter - the exposures work. Each are exposed from 60 to 75 minutes. Objects used are primarily organic matter, but some sugary gel and paper snowflakes were also experimented with. After exposure times, prints go down to the darkroom with the safelight on, water wash for 30 seconds, Hypo for 2 minutes, then water wash for 20 minutes. ~November 2023