24 June 2009
color burn
Whoa what a day was Tuesday. Up at 6:30 with the crows so I could shower, write and plan before breakfast, then right up to the studio to prep. The day was all about making enlarged film negatives for printing, and it was a real shame to watch the cool morning mist burn off into a gorgeous day, since we’d be spending much of it in the dark.
We don’t officially demo until 10, but soon after 9 the students start trickling in, some with questions, some with slightly lost looks in their eyes. I’m usually well caffeinated by then, and can count on Betsy to mix chemistry and straighten up a bit while I work the room, so to speak. I know I am going to spend a bulk of my energy just making sure everyone’s getting what he or she needs, if I can, but those needs are constantly changing. It feels a bit like hosting a party of strangers every day (and night) but no one’s sure whose birthday it is next.
We started the morning by talking about several ideas for making negatives for gum prints, using chemical or digital or even more low-tech ideas. I showed them examples of simple cliché verre on glass or acetate, quick digital waxed paper negatives, chemical negatives and direct duplicating film, magazine lifts and transfers and all sorts of combinations. I hinted at the plastic and pinhole cameras we’d be talking about on Friday, and tried to open their eyes to the wide possibilities of what we’re doing this session. I went over some of the particulars of gum bichromate, and the misinformation out there about what it could do. (It’s a much more versatile process than it ever gets credit for!)
After that we moved into the darkroom to make contact-sized negatives by enlargement. I knew I had a difficult job ahead of me, in that the level of darkroom knowledge in the class is so varied. Some have been printing chemically for years and years, some don’t even have a film camera… I always teach students to make a simple RC print as an interpositive step, since it’s cheap, easy to understand and allows for a great range of image control – they can dodge and burn and print like they’re used to, and even draw or collage or alter the image in its positive state with ease. (It also gives a very good continuous-tone when it’s contacted on to lith film.) Using paper at this stage also allows me to do a stealth darkroom-refresher course, and go over the basics of printing for those who feel rusty. I was, however, overly aware that some people were still in over their head while others were bored by the basics they knew so well.
Before we even moved to the film stage, I could see eyes beginning to glaze, and stifled yawns spreading through the darkroom. So, while we waited for my initial print to wash and dry, I set them about getting their enlarger stations set up, subtly moving myself into what became a day of one-on-one instruction. While I made sure each person had the right lens, and understood how the digital timers work, I figured out each student’s level of ability, and just how much guidance they’d need to get a negative done that day. With the advanced students, I spoke about developer options and they ways they’ve done this before. Others I urged to work from quick digital prints as their interpositive, if only to jump ahead to working with the film.
A few students had roll film to develop, so we had to go over that a bit (though not as much as I feared, in the end – they were just nervous that they’d forgotten how to do it.) One advanced student wasn’t quite sure how to work with digital images on a Mac, another had way too many ideas and needed reigning in. The printer needed a better profile for our interpositives, an enlarger needed fixing, the toxic waste needed managing, and so on. If I was tired at lunchtime, I was sore and worn out by 5, and there was still so much more to the day – an instructor exhibition opening at the school gallery before dinner, then three instructors’ (and their assistants’) slides after, including mine… Remember, this is just day two of the class!
After slides, I was back in the studio, prepping for the next day. We’ll be making digital negatives and three-color separations for full color gums, and I had a lot of testing to do just to make sure it would work the way I want it to… Most of the class was working right along with me, everyone swapping out our iPods (and finding more about what people were really like…!) While I waited for paint and paper to dry, I spent waaaaay too much energy making detailed instructions for doing Multi-Pass Gum Prints to post on the wall. By the time I was done with everything, I was alone in the darkroom, and it was 2:30am. My eyes were spinning for the dark walk home, and I kept stopping to stare at the million stars, twinkling and bouncing in multi-color.
