WTF man. Blogging is becoming a social responsibility now, like attending weddings or giving gifts for birthdays.
Ok, here's something that i've been holding back for sometime now, for the simple reason that this shouldn't go down as a hall of fame for 'showoff'. (it may turnout to be one), but who cares. If honey is sweet, so is showoff. If beer fizzes, so does showoff.
Back to basics - You can get back to basics on so many matters. The coach of a soccer team goes to the drawing board after every match. Cricketers go to the nets. Here am getting back to the basics of Photography, the film, the negatives, the pinhole camera ,the chemicals ,the trays , the dark room and the red light. I know, at this point of my blog, it invites most of my readers to look at the 'back button' of the browser or at the "X" button on the top right corner of this page. Will cool it down for you folks and make it less technical :-)
just a couple of paragraphs on the lost art - "the Conventional non digital photography". if you find a suitable name for the above, please let me know and i'll get your name evangelized through my stale blogs.:-). I call it the Dark room photography.
I dont have a digital camera and i dont miss one. Digital photography has made life so easy for everyone with advancement is lens, the sotware used, the memory, the additional features etcetc. But as it advances, the conventional means of developing a photograph is slowly becoming extinct like the post cards /inland letters and fountain pens. You don't need computers, you don't need sofwares to crop, straighten, glow, tint and filter. You learn each one of them to do it yourself and enjoy the essense of dark room photography.
Even if you use a conventional camera, you end up processing in the lab for a few bucks. Why not process and print your black-and-white photos instead of sending them to a lab? Quality and control: both are diminished the moment you let someone else process your photographs. If you have the time and commitment, processing your own work will give you an amazing amount of control--and creativity. And here, "Creativity". Isn't this a word that every one wishes to be associated with? This is exactly why it kicked me to learn more about the LA (lost art) and as a result, the showoff started. Yes am setting up a dark room in my house. The equipments for film processing are on its way. Ill upload few snaps of the equipments (thanks to my grandpa, who is a professional photogrpaher) who is kind enough to hand over the baton to me and continue the legacy. Ofcourse those are digital snaps :)
It will be an overdose, if i explain the steps involved in film processing today, but will attempt to do each step as i learn (sometime in the near future). For those interested, I'll talk about
a) What you need?
b) What to learn?
c) How it works?
d) Where to buy
On the outset, Dark Room photography is simple and affordable and is a hobby well worth spending your time and money. I wish readers of this blog pick up interest in this and do film processing some day or other and keep the dying art alive for some more years. For the rest, good luck with digital photography and hell with all those softwares that can make crappy snaps looks like masterpieces.
