The Sorcerer
Here’s the pic I promised to show you yesterday. I call it ‘the sorcerer’ because of the way the man is looking at me, the way he is leaning into the photo, the way he is holding out a mysterious object. His eye seems to be drilling into the viewer, ala Rasputin, trying to control thoughts and desires. “Yes. We have mystery here,” was my happy thought.
I’d been working all day in the darkroom hoping for some shot that would make the hours worth it. As I exposed the paper under the enlarger, I could see from the shadows that this might be the photo of the day. The ‘geometry’ of it was there with the ‘c’ curve formed by his head and hands, the chech adding fluidity and motion. Oh, goodie! But when I held the print, dripping with developer, in my hand, I noticed that the shot was out of focus. My heart sank for a long moment and then it hit me. The soft focus actually enhanced the sense of mystery. This did turn to be the best photo of the day and it is still one of my favorites. This sense of Eureka! Doesn’t happen the same way when you use the computer but it is satisfying in that you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and I love that.
I used to shoot 90% black and white. It was the way we learned. We took the shots, sometimes rolling our own film as we saved money this way. (I ended up scratching my film so badly that I had to give up this economy). We developed our film and printed it in the darkroom at school. It didn’t take too many disheartening sessions in the darkroom to teach you not to do certain things and to be sure to do others. My biggest epiphany came as I tried to burn in hot spots. All I could do was to make a white blob into a gray blob. I learned to look at the background and if I saw a blinding spot of light in a dark room, I changed my viewpoint.
Now I only use my ‘electronic’ darkroom and it is much easier and quicker. I’ve lost my ability to print in the darkroom, I’m sure. But I still have my fully equipped darkroom. Maybe someday…