Digital BW, The Print

Some words from the beginner perspective: 

In the film world I was a serious intermediate photographer (amateur) whose further 
development was hampered by lack of darkroom access. Living in an urban area I have lots 
of schools to choose from. Classes gave me darkroom access to further my B/W work. 
Six months ago I purchased a digital camera, began using Photoshop for the first time, 
and in June made my first digital prints—on a very inadequate HP 4-color office printer. I 
learned from that project that I needed a new printer and a better grounding in digital 
workflow. I purchased an Epson R2400. (Yes, the 2400 is expensive, and there will be 
ongoing paper and ink costs. But I didn't have to buy an enlarger or renovate  my 
basement. ) I am currently taking a class on Digital Workflow and reading a lot.

Reading this forum has helped me understand the diversity of approaches to fine art B/W 
printing today. I have learned, for example, that there are many different approaches to 
inks (BO, quadtone, and my own K3, among others). While I choose to stick with K3, at 
least for now, I am glad to be better informed about the existence, pros, and cons of other 
approaches.

I am glad there is room on the forum for beginners like me who, because of the timing of 
our dive into digital, are embracing printers like the R2400, and also for those of you who 
have long and deep experience with particular specialized B/W ink sets and other printers 
and need to share information with one another and troubleshoot. I can always ignore the 
posts that are not relevant to me, while taking what I need. I particularly enjoyed Clayton's 
article on 2400 printing, not that I plan to use ALL of his suggestions, but it helps to know 
that people are doing serious B/W printing with K3 and to see how they are approaching it. 
I have also enjoyed his article on papers, as it will save me testing time and $ once I begin 
using matte papers. And I have visited a variety of interesting websites I would not have 
known about without this forum.

Having worked in the software industry for 25+ years I know technology will change 
constantly and one must expect (and plan and budget for the fact) that the processes we 
use today may not be the processes we use next year or the year after that. More 
specifically, if we don't keep learning/innovating and changing our processes, we risk 
missing out on some important advantages, and it is better to make those decisions in an 
informed way. But we can choose when and how to change our tools and processes (based 
on cost/benefit tradeoffs), and the concepts don't really change. We want reliable, 
consistent, practical, and reasonably efficient ways to create rich, compelling prints that 
are archival and can be shared/exhibited/sold/collected. For myself I can see in the not 
too distant future a time when the technology will recede into relative routine and I can 
spend more time contemplating the images, which is a beginner's goal in laying all this 
foundation. 

Sorry for the long post – the bottom line is there should be room for many perspectives 
and approaches in this forum, and this beginner has found it quite valuable so far.

Linda