During the days of what I would call the time of
analog photography, that period where film and photographic paper was used to
produce images - there was a group of men and women who were a very important
part of this period. So this post is to
honor these forgotten wizards, called darkroom men. They practiced their craft
in rooms lite by a single 10-15 watt red and sometimes a green light depending
on the processes that were being performed. These were the wizards that were relied
upon by many photographers to sometimes correct their mistakes and bring their
ideas and images to life through the many tricks and skills they processed.
Their negative print machine of choice was an Omega
enlarger or a contact printer with a series of switches that controlled the
exposure in printing. Their magic wands included small cutout pieces of
cardboard of various shapes taped to a piece of thick wire, which they used to
dodge in (lighten) certain areas of a print. Likewise, large pieces of
cardboard with different size holes cut into them could be used to burn in
(darken) an area of a print. This was a skill that took time to perfect. Their magic
potions went by such names as Dectol and Selectol, which were used to produce
images on a sheet of light sensitive paper that was graded from 1 through 5.
The magic required a series of trays containing developer, stop bath and hypo
-and the smell of these chemicals seemed to permeate their clothing and stain
their hands. If you could imagine it, a
good darkroom man could create it in this darkened room. His value to a lab or studio was based on his
skills and in some cases his ability to produce volumes of prints per hour.
Of course in this digital world -this process has
been replaced by computer software such as Photoshop and Lightroom - there is
no need for chemicals since the digital printer uses a series of inks to
produce a print. These are the new group
of wizards. So here’s to those wizards
of the past, the wizards of the dark –which I was one of.
