Alone in the dark
I spent several hours yesterday in the darkroom by myself trying to do some reprints to sell this Christmas. Of course I had to do some of “Perfect Flight“. I realized a couple of things:
- That was my first time being in the darkroom all by myself, so I ended up feeling rather accomplished even though wasn’t doing anything that difficult that I would have needed help. Felt good to get into that groove.
- The silence is comforting. There was a radio in the other room but I decided to leave it off so for hours all I heard was the trickling of water from the wash tank and the beeping of the timer. Was able to deeply focus.
- Such deep focus is exhausting. Even though I wasn’t doing anything particularly complicated, by time I was finished I was really drained. Of course, the cold helps too.
- I really do love darkroom work. Part of me still gets so fascinated with the magic of seeing the print appear under the chemicals. It amazes me every time.
- Being an “artist” is fulfilling. I was thinking about people actually paying money, wanting to buy those prints that I put my time into preparing and I felt all warm inside (and no not cause of the money tho that helps). It’s more of “they like me, they really like me”.
Right now I am feeling kindahungry and
tired (yawn)...
