Reflection on darkroom practice - Colour Printing

Today I successfully completed my colour printing induction. I was a bit nervous and apprehensive about it beforehand because I thought it would be really difficult due to the darkness. However, when in there it's different.

As I did in the black and white printing induction I made some mistakes in this one during printing. I opened my lens to see my projection through the enlarger and to focus my negative but then when I came to do a test strip I ruined two by forgetting to close the lens down to f32 so the strips came out black. I also struggled to cut nicely sized test strips in the darkroom as a couple of times they felt big enough before I cut the paper but then turned out too thin.

After I'd got this out of the way I successfully made 5 test strips; adjusting my magenta and yellow levels along the way by using the filter kit to help me decide how and in what amount. I found this helpful to have at hand.

When I got to my 5th test strip I decided this was the one to go with but when I did a print it came out with the colour of my previous strip despite having changed nothing. This was strange, but I changed my numbers again and got my desired colour. The negative I was working with was taken with hard side lighting so it was a difficult one to work with but I got there in the end.

I ended up making 3 whole prints after my test strips because of the strange colour alteration that occurred and they all came out of the machine wonky because the slots in my easel I lined my paper up to were loose and moved around when I tried to line it up. This was annoying because there was no way I could fix it and couldn't see which position on the easel was right in the darkroom.

However, I am happy with the colour of my final print.

Details:
0    - cyan
49  - magenta
62  - yellow
f 32
8 seconds

Multiple/series of Environment Photographs

Other than the pastiche which we are required to first complete for the Environment Project, we have also been asked as part of the course to take a set of (at least 3) photographs "based upon [my] personal conceptual approach to representing the landscape."

Since my personal approach to representing the landscape is to portray it at it's best, my idea is to display the juxtaposition between the beauty of graveyards and cemeteries and their not so beautiful connotations. I want to demonstrate the beautiful side to this sorrowful subject and in a way, make it a positive thing or at least allow people to perceive it in this way because this is what I strive for in my photography: finding beauty.


I thought to make this series personal I would visit cemeteries and burial sites where someone I know resides. This ties me emotionally to these places and therefore to this series. Perhaps for this reason I will be encouraged even more than usual to be conscientious. I have plans in the near future to visit some places where family and friends of family are buried.

We have been given a choice to use colour or black and white. In my opinion this topic best suits black and white and is usually depicted in these colours due to the theme of death tired to it. However, to get across what I want in my photograph and show the beauty in the landscapes, I will use colour.

I have never really focused on this topic of landscapes before but I do have a couple of cemeteries in my area. These are some photographs I have taken of them in the past:

Before visiting the places I intend to take my photographs I plan to revisit the cemeteries nearby and get a good feel for my subjects, but look at them in the right context. This way I will be more likely to achieve my aim because I'll be better prepared. I will also practice taking (and maybe editing) the photographs in colour which I am familiar already with.