Digital photography and the nature of an image going no further than a jpg, be that on your website or on social media, has created a fast food attitude towards photography. Too many times have we scrolled past an image that has taken hours or even days to create. I hated the idea that my images were trapped in their digital form.

But when I started printing again I found that my attitude to the way I composed and framed an image had changed. I was being more considered with my approach given that I wanted to print the end results. In the past I would shoot slower, mindful that there are only so many frames left on the roll. That necessary delay waiting for the film to be processed and printed made you appreciate the time you had to capture the image in the first place.

So knowing that I am going to go home, invest time in editing the images but also invest time and money into printing them has caused me to once again be more considered with how I take the images in the first place.

If you know me, or have read any of my past posts you will know I love to print my photographs. That all started in the late 80’s and early 90’s when photography was a day job and I had a darkroom at home. No SD cards or photoshop, the only way to see your images was to process the film and then print the image. You crafted your techniques and eventually got better and better at it, just like any other creative process. But today traditional darkroom printing has been replaced by a digital process that aims to emulate it.

My photographer friends each have different editing workflows but ultimately we are all trying to achieve the same thing, an image that best represents our own creative style. However, in today’s world it is rare that the image goes beyond its digital confines, we tend to share or sell our images on the internet in one medium or another and a printed version now holds a higher status. In many ways it reminds me of my son throwing money at buying vinyl records of music he already owns on CDs and can access anywhere via Spotify.

My first job in photography was working in a professional darkroom, printing other people’s photos. I later created my own darkroom in my parents garage and would spend hours in there perfecting my photos. I’ve always enjoyed the end to end process of photography, the pre-planning, the styling and makeup, collaborating with a model, lighting and of course the photography. But as soon as the shoot was over I would rush to process the film and then print off a few photos. It wasn’t uncommon for me to open the door to my darkroom to discover it was 3 am in the morning.