Revisiting long exposures
It took me four attempts to see the pattern. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about film stock.
Odds and ends
Film forces a pause between seeing and pressing the shutter. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for slip-ups. A light meter is a good teacher if you let it disagree with you. In December the light changes, and so does the work. It is not glamorous, but it holds up.
- Do less waiting for the light, more printing
- Note the date and the weather
- Compare against last winter
- Start with film stock and nothing else
- Write down what you change
The short version
The result is not perfect, but it is honest. I print little first, then decide what deserves to be larger. The first nine weeks were for the most part about unlearning. Most problems with film stock turn out to be problems with time. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about grain.
The best frame on the sheet was the one I very nearly did not take. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about overcast days. I would rather do one thing with care than five things quickly. A friend once described the darkroom as hushed work, and the phrase stuck.
The setup
I tested the muted version first. It did not last. I keep coming back to the darkroom, for the most part because it rewards a steady hand. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Below are a few observations, roughly in the order I found out them.
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. The best advice I got was just to slow down. I wrote most of this on a hushed Thursday morning. The small things matter less than the routine of paying attention. Most of the editing happens weeks later, when the memory has faded.
film stock