Reed in the Darkroom - 360 degree view

Check this out.  I just got a new Ricoh Theta V camera, which uses two ultrawide angle lenses and two sensors to capture 360 degree spherical pictures.

Bringing together the old with the new, I shot an image in my darkroom with it.

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Be sure to scroll and zoom! Look up at the ceiling! Pretty darned cool, right?

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Large Format Photography and Darkroom Printing - What an Education

 

 

Falls, Buzzard Hill, Appalachian Trail, Virginia, by Reed A. George

Horseman 45FA 4x5 Camera, Wollensak Raptar 135mm f4.7 Lens

EDU 100 film, f/22, 4 sec. exposure

 

I've gone back to basics for this phase in my photography. As I mentioned, a dear friend has given me his father's darkroom, which helped to set me on this path.

 

I'm making a lot of mistakes, learning about limitations, and really enjoying the occasional success.

 

This is a scan of a print I made in the darkroom, with my own two hands. It represents so much more thought, effort, and investment in the process than a similar image I'm sure I could have made with a digital SLR. In fact, I could've made hundreds of similar images with the DSLR in a fraction of the time. And that's just the point; that's not how this image was made.

 

I understand that viewers won't necessarily care, but I do.

 

So much left to learn about this craft...

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Checking in - after a long break

Image Source: http://stearmanpress.com/sp-445.html

 

My latest post, about shooting black and white film, specifically 4x5, is a reasonable hint at what I've been doing in my photographic life recently.

 

Spurred on by an incredible gift of a fully functional black and white darkroom, and the further gift of a place to set it up, I've been keeping my head down and practicing my large format black and white photography skills. I've come a long way quickly, but this style of photography does not lend itself perfectly to blogging. It's film, paper, and wet chemistry all the way.

 

For now, let me share a tool that's really helping me along, the SP-445 4x5 film developing tank by Stearman Press. (Click Here) to check it out. Once loaded, this is a daylight tank, and allows you to process up to four sheets of 4x5 film in 475 ml of chemical volume. It does a wonderful job.

 

I'm also still shooting digital and smaller format film, of course. But, the joy of printing great big negatives has had me focused on 4x5, and to a lesser extent, medium format. Lots to share, but it's going to take discipline for me to sit and scan images. I'll probably end up scanning silver prints to share my final products.

 

I feel that this is an important new phase in my creative development. I can honestly say that while it's much less forgiving, I really prefer darkroom work to post-processing on my computer. It's hard work getting a good print, but I think that makes it more rewarding, personally.

 

Of course, I'm not prescribing this for anyone else. I'm not sure that I'll always feel this way about going back to the basics, working with big black and white negatives and wet chemistry, but that is not what matters. What matters to me is that I'm learning new aspects of the craft.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com