Todays Darkroom Work

Am still struggling with the opening print of the show, this is my 5th attempt. I will have to redo it to limit visible burn lines and to adjust some areas up up and down in tone a bit (darken right bottom corner, light back girl body on left), hopefully by try 7 or 8 I should have a good enough quality photo. I need to move past this print and at least complete one more today.

Update* Lost count of the print attempt count, think its around 9 now. This is a very difficult neg so far I am up to 13 different exposure, burning and dodging steps. I think I will take a break with this negative and see how things look with a fresh head tomorrow. I will move on to my second neg before I get to tired, the clock is ticking on the deadline.

Every time I try to work on my blog this little creature (Leng Mao) comes for her pet, she sort of climbs all over me and demands attention.

Well another 12+ hour darkroom shift, this is the second and final print, it is a lot easier to print than the first one, only 3 steps so far. I will wash these 2 prints then put them to dry for tomorrow, when I can have a new look with fresh eyes. This shot is the interior of one of the more prosperous Klong Toey shacks. The photograph was made with a Fuji 6x9 camera, I really hit and miss with this machine, lots of poor focused/out of focus shots, but then I also got some wonderful images out of it. I hope to use 3 photographs made with this camera in the show.

I also plan to do an interior photograph of a poorer home that belonged to a motorcycle taxi driver his wife and young child (who was sick when I photographed the home, the father refused the money I offered for medicine, he said they had enough, he was proud and independent). I might try to do that photograph tomorrow.