Darkroom vs. Photoshop

I used to love spending time in the darkroom, making images magically appear before my eyes. I was so eager to get the whole process started that I often developed film (plastic reels not metal thank you) in my bathroom at home. I can still picture the 36 exposure strips of Tri-X hanging in my shower.

I've always been a big fan of photographers like Duane Michaels and Jerry Uelsman. While I appreciated the technical expertise of Ansel Adams and Ernst Haas, I favored the photographers who put a provocative spin on the ordinary. I gravitated toward this in my own photography. I spent many an hour burning, dodging, and combining negatives to bring forth my visions. The image below is one of a series I did in the early 80s. I was obsessed with swings as a metaphor for transendence, although this one is more about the nature of memories.


My photography teacher at ASU loved the series, but challenged me to do a powerful, 'straight-up' image of a swing- no darkroom magic. I went to a park the next day, and by that afternoon delivered my results. It was a wonderful feeling to grin smugly as he said "Wow! You really did it!" I'll have to dig up that photo. I know I have it somewhere.

Up until a few weeks ago I had never used Photoshop or any type of image editing software. Now that I'm learning it, Photoshop seems easier than the darkroom in some ways- but not most. I guess it will take time to master it. Here's some playing around I've done so far:



I posted an undoctored version of the pic below a while back. In this one I removed all the grey tones, which I think makes it look better.