Working in the darkroom can be one of the most frustrating experiences or it can be one of the most rewarding. Seeing a picture come out well is very rewarding, especially after using about 8 test strips to figure out the right exposure time, f-stop, and filter. I am currently developing film I shot in New York and also still life
shots. The New York shots are coming much better than expected. I have four prints I have developed and am happy with. I ran into trouble with a few of them; when the final prints came out I realized I either dented the paper sometime in the process of lifting the print from one tray to another, or I may not have left it long enough in the final water wash. Something I had to do that I haven't had to in the past is dodging. It's the process of making a darker area lighter by covering up that spot for a few seconds less than the rest of the picture. This can be frustrating because only after you have printed many test strips do you realize that you may have to dodge or burn. Although we spent time in the dark room last year for photo 2 I feel like I am figuring things out much easier because I want to learn how to correctly print film as opposed to last year where I did it because it was an assignment. As I spend longer and longer in the dark room I am getting a better feel for what the settings need to be. The hope is to know what the settings need to be before the teacher tells me. In the future I hope to be able to develop film with no outside help. It's a bit of a bummer that I won't be able to develop film outside of high school.
