The Case for Patient Light
· 2 min read
You can get unexpectedly far with a loupe and some a steady hand. Scanning is tedious, but it is where the series takes shape. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. A light meter is a good teacher if you let it disagree with you.
Notes along the way
Film forces a pause between seeing and pressing the shutter. I shot most of this series on a single roll, half of it in fading light. It is not glamorous, but it holds up. The best advice I got was just to slow down.
It took me seven attempts to see the pattern. Overcast days are underrated; the light wraps around all of it. The best frame on the sheet was the one I almost did not take. Somewhere between the hills and home, the thought finally made sense. You can get unexpectedly far with a light meter and some a steady hand.
The setup
Looking back, the patient approach was the right call. Good contact sheets is mostly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions. For a long time I treated the darkroom as an afterthought.
The first three weeks were mostly about unlearning. Every autumn I revisit the same questions about portraits. Every winter I revisit the same questions about light. The trick, if there is one, is to leave enough room for slip-ups.
Lessons
It took me four attempts to see the pattern. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. It took me six attempts to see the pattern.
the darkroomcontact sheets