# Darkroom Books



## vonnagy (Feb 24, 2004)

Have any of you learned anything about darkrooms from a book? I love learning stuff from books, i am hoping this a viable means of getting started in a darkroom. 

What are some good beginners books? 

keep in mind that my only idea of what an 'enlarger' is comes from the all the 'male growth' spam I get in my inbox everyday  :?


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## voodoocat (Feb 24, 2004)

I would check out "The Print" by Ansel Adams.  He was a master at the entire process from idea to print.  If you haven't read The Camera and Negative I would do so.



> keep in mind that my only idea of what an 'enlarger' is comes from the all the 'male growth' spam I get in my inbox everyday


My wife got this spam the other day .. it said "knock down trees with your gigantic manhood"


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## Dew (Feb 24, 2004)

you guys are a mess  :LOL: 

thinking about a darkroom hey vonnagy? ... do you shoot film?  :scratch:


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## vonnagy (Feb 25, 2004)

> My wife got this spam the other day .. it said "knock down trees with your gigantic manhood"



:lmao: and thanks for your book suggestions voodoo. 



> thinking about a darkroom hey vonnagy? ... do you shoot film?



I've shot film a couple of times, but because i had no control over the processing; that helped convince to go digital at the time. I remember taking a roll of film to 4 developers before i found one that i had liked, then that one developer moved away.  At least with digital I had the power to control it.

Now that i've done digi for a little while, I can see some definate advantages to the darkroom especially for b&w medium format stuff - where i want to head in the future.  And there is nothing like actually holding the physical print of the image in your hands - I wanna know how to do that


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## Dew (Feb 25, 2004)

funny u should mention that vonnagy ... the hubby brought home B&W Photography Magazine today (which is great btw) ... he asked me a serious question (which i never really have the answer for when he's in deep thought   ) 

... he says, "do u think people will appreciate a digital file 50 yrs from now as oppose to film?" ... now im looking around all nervous cause i know he's already made his mind up and there is no room for debate    ... he goes on to say, "to actually hold something physical in their hand... a hardcopy... can u actually say wheather the digital file is the "original" or not?" 

... i said, "well *deep breathe* .. in my uneducated opinion based on no facts, just a guestimate ... no ... i dont think people will appreciate it."

we were talking about galleries and industry people    ... i wish he'd pose that question here, cause hell if i know    ... perhaps i'll post it here.. u know how "post happy" he is


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## vonnagy (Feb 25, 2004)

> "to actually hold something physical in their hand... a hardcopy... can u actually say wheather the digital file is the "original" or not?"



i ask question that too...  if you think about it... books were supposed to be replaced in this digital age.. but people will still print them out (and kill trees )or buy the hard  copies from amazon.  Personally i think having something tangible is what people value.

It maybe that printing photos will eventually be so good that it will replace darkroom prints - but thats from a digital file that can easily be cloned and reproduced... I don't know if people would consider printing digital files the same as developing them in the darkroom.

When I went back to the states, i found this print of my my viennese grandmother taken by my father absolutely buried beneath a pile of photos:





The 'hard' print is what i cherish, not the digital. Even if i were to print this out, it doesn't have the same immediacy of developed print. When I hold this print I can see the twinkle in her eyes as if she was there - there's magic in it. It might be there in digital but not nearly the same level as the physical copy. 

Sorry I am being a bit whimsical here. back on track.. anybody got any other good darkroom books to recommend?


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## ksmattfish (Feb 25, 2004)

As mentioned before:  Adam's wrote the holy trilogy of film photography "The Camera", "The Negative", and "The Print".  Every serious amateur/pro should study these sometime.  

An easier to read warm-up though, would be Henry Horenstein's books "Black and White Photography:  a basic manual" and "Beyond Basic Photography".  Horenstein also has a book on color photography that's great.


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