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Starting Over with the Darkroom

· 2 min read

Starting Over with the Darkroom

Looking back, the patient approach was the right call. For a long time I treated long exposures as an afterthought. The result is not perfect, but it is candid.

The setup

Overcast days are underrated; the light wraps around all of it. You can get unexpectedly far with a medium format camera and some a steady hand. The first two weeks were mostly about unlearning. Film forces a pause between seeing and pressing the shutter. Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years.

I shot most of this series on a single roll, half of it in fading light. You can get unexpectedly far with a loupe and some a steady hand. The best frame on the sheet was the one I almost did not take. A light meter is a good teacher if you let it disagree with you. Every summer I revisit the same questions about light.

What I would do differently

There is no single right way to approach walking with a camera, but some ways are kinder than others. This is less a guide and more a record of what worked for me. The small things matter less than the routine of paying attention. I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things quickly.

  • Leave room for grainy mistakes
  • Do less editing a series, more walking with a camera
  • Revisit long exposures after a week

A few details

I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. It is not glamorous, but it holds up. I print modest first, then decide what deserves to be larger. Good shadows is mostly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions. The best advice I got was just to slow down.

The trick, if there is one, is to leave enough room for slip-ups. I like street corners that shows the marks of how it was made. Most problems with overcast days turn out to be problems with time. Good overcast days is mostly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions.

Scanning is tedious, but it is where the series takes shape. The first six weeks were mostly about unlearning. Looking back, the quiet approach was the right call.

  1. Ask someone at the north coast
  2. Revisit shadows after a week
  3. Note the date and the weather
  4. Budget twice the time you expect

coastlinesstreet cornerslong exposures