Learning about the darkroom with Calvin was an experience. It was more of a “dive in and do it” sort of situation where Calvin basically gave us a mini tour and rundown of the darkroom and what they did there along with drilling into the essential rules for the darkroom:
1. No light of any kind
2. Try not to cross contaminate between baths
3. Don’t over expose your paper to light
4. Light is the enemy
After a quick tutorial on how to work the machines and the order and times in which we place the paper in the developers, we were left to play around. The darkness was at first unsettling and trying to position things in the dark was an adventure, but eventually I got used to it. What I found most interesting was the process of making the pictures and how it could be both mechanical and creative. The art of exposing the paper to light and deciding through trial and error on how long to expose it for, and then the methodical placing of the sheet from one bath to the other.The process of creating our photos reminded me a lot of the strategic research assignment we did with Casey Long in that both are methodical and creative. For both you have to understand what you are trying to achieve before adjusting your technique and trying it again.
Has one comment to “Liquid Darkroom with Calvin Burgamy”
Nell Ruby - October 15, 2018
“light is the enemy” and “light is the source”
; )