PlanetStarbucks
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
- Messages
- 406
- Reaction score
- 55
- Location
- Salt Lake City
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
Hello everyone. I figured I'd put a post up with a little hello and chatter a bit. I've been away from photography for years at this point and recently decided to get back into it. There was a time when I would eat sleep live and breathe black and white photography. Whenever you saw me, you'd see my camera too.
I fooled around in high school and college darkrooms for years. Once I graduated though, I didn't think I had the time for it anymore. I was buried in the trappings of career. For as much as I love the work I do, I just realized that stock trading has no creative outlet. I needed something that would get me away from screens with endless bar charts and moving averages and chaikin money flows. And then I remembered how much I loved this art.
So I went looking for a place. I knew it had to have two things: an epic kitchen and a bathroom big enough to double as a darkroom. I found it. Then I started scouring for an enlarger knowing that this was the biggest step forward. I found a guy on Craigslist who was selling his old Beseler 23CII. It had been sitting in a storage shed for 20 years, but was in perfect condition and was complete. It had the lens, the carrier...even the lamp still worked. All it needed was a cleaning. I feel kinda bad for how cheap I ended up getting it, particularly considering the condition. This morning I got the timer off ebay, and I have the chemicals and other equipment in the mail to me as I write this. Now I just have to find a way to lightproof the bathroom.
It's hard to describe how excited I am to be back. I figured it would be good to have a place to tap into the intellectual resources I need get my art back, and that's what brought me here. Love the site already...and I'm really looking forward to throwing down some pics in the contests.
I fooled around in high school and college darkrooms for years. Once I graduated though, I didn't think I had the time for it anymore. I was buried in the trappings of career. For as much as I love the work I do, I just realized that stock trading has no creative outlet. I needed something that would get me away from screens with endless bar charts and moving averages and chaikin money flows. And then I remembered how much I loved this art.
So I went looking for a place. I knew it had to have two things: an epic kitchen and a bathroom big enough to double as a darkroom. I found it. Then I started scouring for an enlarger knowing that this was the biggest step forward. I found a guy on Craigslist who was selling his old Beseler 23CII. It had been sitting in a storage shed for 20 years, but was in perfect condition and was complete. It had the lens, the carrier...even the lamp still worked. All it needed was a cleaning. I feel kinda bad for how cheap I ended up getting it, particularly considering the condition. This morning I got the timer off ebay, and I have the chemicals and other equipment in the mail to me as I write this. Now I just have to find a way to lightproof the bathroom.
It's hard to describe how excited I am to be back. I figured it would be good to have a place to tap into the intellectual resources I need get my art back, and that's what brought me here. Love the site already...and I'm really looking forward to throwing down some pics in the contests.
