First Place Documentary Book * Lucie/International Photography Awards 2022
Film Processing and Printing the Images in the Home Darkroom
The photographs in the Hidden were taken with Kodak TMAX 400 ASA film processed with TMAX developer. At times when existing light was low, I pushed the film to 800 and 1600 ASA and increased the development time accordingly. All the editing was done by looking at the film through a loupe. The images that have paper punched notches on the bottom, are the ones that were printed for a preliminary edi
When I was searching for a publisher back in the mid-1990s, I had designed the book with 63 images. Some of the photographs were published by Aperture, but I could not find a publisher who shared my vision of layout and design. I put the project on hold for decades and concentrated on other areas of my life. However, in 2020 during my Covid downtime, my colleague, Leo Hetzel, inspired me to work
This is me printing in the images for Hidden during the summer of 2020.
During the printing process, a negative is exposed with light through the enlarger, which projects the image onto photographic paper. I used Ilford Multigrade IV RC (Resin Coated) paper. Once exposed, the paper is passed through a series of chemicals starting with developer, stop bath and finally the lights may be turned on when the prints are in the fixer tray. This process is done in the dark wi
I unscrewed the showerhead from the hose and washed the prints in a large tray that I placed in the shower. Excess water was removed by using an artist squeegee that I purchased on Amazon.
I hung the prints on my back porch to dry.
The prints always dry a little darker after they are printed.