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when to cut bait
Jeffrey wrote:
>I really suspect that you are confused. It seems you have tried
>measuring densities but have not really tried printing the negatives.
Last night I came to the same conclusion: the thing is just to make some
prints with these negatives and see what happens. Yesterday the box came
from bostick and sullivan with a cyanotype kit and a palladium kit, so I
processed six of these old negatives for twelve minutes just to see what
would happen. And maybe today I can print one.
I made some of the negatives last October, and somebody told me not to keep
them unprocessed for more than about six months, so I want to process them
asap. I wonder what others on this list think about holding unprocessed
negatives for several months?
>
>I have also surmised from your posts that you are trying to learn a new
>printing process and (it seems simultaneously) recover some work from
>negatives that may have been processed to less quality than that
>desired.
The negatives have not been processed yet. I shot most of them intending to
print them in silver gelatin, but then I got sick from the unventilated
darkroom at my university, and I had to quit using the silver darkroom. I
decided that when I got well, I would print them alt-process, because it's
easier to make an alt process workspace at home that is well ventilated,
since it doesn't have to be absolutely dark. I am processing the negatives
in a daylight tank at home.
If I process them for silver, as they were originally intended, maybe I
will be able to print them in the future at the university if they fix the
darkroom, which they are supposed to, but I have learned not to count on
such things. I guess eventually I could set up a silver darkroom at home
but it may be a while.
>Another possibility is to is to ditch the old work (like cutting bait)
>and move on to new work with a fresh begining. I have done this many
>times. It is a good way to mature in one's work. Is the main purpose
>to master photography or be historian of some treasure trove?
Well, these negatives are special to me, and like all negatives are in a
sense irreplaceable, but I could make them over, and I would like to make
some new ones with a better understanding of the process I'm making them
for.
In the meantime I decided to go ahead and develop six of them last night
just to see what they look like printed. Maybe they will be fine. It is
possible that I was being too obsessive about the densities of the
different zones on the negative, under the influence of some of the books
I've read.
--shannon
>