Digital BW, The Print

Martin,

I have a small framed picture of Gene Smith in his darkroom that I cut 
out from a photo mag in the seventies...and has been following me around 
ever since. Useful for times when one is feeling totally overwhelmed by 
the mess. One glance and you can say - ah, even genius can thrive in such 
an atmosphere. 

To give you an idea, there was a rumour floating around at the time that 
Smith got those incredible luminous prints (from his usually very funky 
negs) due to a secret print developer formula - his cigar ash falling 
into the developer creating a chemical reaction that improved the 
developing process. I kid you not. (g)

Cheers,

Nina 

>It is a great relief to know that I am not the only one afflicted! 
>How bad was Eugene's?
>
>Martin
>
>--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., ternahan <ternahan@s...> 
>wrote:
>> 
>> Martin,
>> 
>> Ah yes, but we are in good company...ever see a photo of Eugene 
>Smith in his
>> studio?

Nina,

I gave up smoking about 12 years ago but before that I generally 
smoked while I printed in the darkroom (or while I did anything else 
for that matter!) and I can assure from great first hand experience 
that the ash of the tobacco plant in developer, stop bath and fix 
seemed to do little for the quality of my work. <<G>>

Martin

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., ncm <ncm@m...> wrote:
> Martin,
> 
> I have a small framed picture of Gene Smith in his darkroom that I 
cut 
> out from a photo mag in the seventies...and has been following me 
around 
> ever since. Useful for times when one is feeling totally 
overwhelmed by 
> the mess. One glance and you can say - ah, even genius can thrive 
in such 
> an atmosphere. 
> 
> To give you an idea, there was a rumour floating around at the time 
that 
> Smith got those incredible luminous prints (from his usually very 
funky 
> negs) due to a secret print developer formula - his cigar ash 
falling 

> into the developer creating a chemical reaction that improved the 
> developing process. I kid you not. (g)
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Nina 
> 
> >It is a great relief to know that I am not the only one afflicted! 
> >How bad was Eugene's?
> >
> >Martin
> >
> >--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., ternahan <ternahan@s...> 
> >wrote:
> >> 
> >> Martin,
> >> 
> >> Ah yes, but we are in good company...ever see a photo of Eugene 
> >Smith in his
> >> studio?