Write your own fucking Bible

In the last month I've talked to many people who were interested in printing, almost all were interested in starting to print black and white prints, which is the way most learn.

I think the biggest piece of advice I can give, is to throw out mister Adam's book, The Print. Let's face it, the guy was a complete fuck, yes he could make an image look nice, I love looking at nice landscapes, and he had some really lush prints of Yosemite and the southwest, but the guy was a complete fuck, and to learn that style is to pretty much put you on a road to boredom and complete meltdown due to being a fuck like him.

I have read his books, seen the archive, seen his restoration work, and noticed something, it was no different than some guys I know who do this for fun and have only done it for a couple years. Yes the technology has advanced, lots of nice gadgets, plastic, and en mass production.

I only mention the guy because old and new students, and everyone in between calls it a bible. Write your own fucking bible. I have recommended this book to quite a few people, easily an eye opener on the world of printing, but to follow it literally is limiting yourself to mediocrity.

If you want to be a craftsman, then by all means follow rules and become just like every other 50 year old darkroom specialist. If you want to expand and reach an audience who is more than ready to experience new things, then move beyond the simple nature of black and white.

Be prepared to fail, and fail, and fail. Printing is fickle, things seem linear till you realize that what you are doing is translating a single moment. Who says you have to do things a certain way? To crop, burn, and dodge are standard tools, but if you limit yourself to this than enjoy being boring.

Tilt your damn enlarger, lamp it on a pool of milk, print on something other than paper, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination, and when you finally think you've reached the maxim, learn to transfer your work to larger mediums, metals, canvas, and walls create another leap in how much a single image can stretch.

The digital darkroom is like a box, you have limits and what you see is just a representation. If you work with your hands, your eyes, your nose, your ears, you give that sense to the audience and they can experience it too. Instead of a print created with thousand dollar inks on some shit paper with a long name, share a print on sheepskin, introduce your latest series of metals, in which you take an image of nickel and print it on copper! Fuck, it's like people are limited in the way they see the world, there is no limit to what you can do if you think you can do anything.

Immerse yourself in your work, rest satisfied with the knowledge you do what you do because you have the imagination to create something with all your senses. When you limit yourself to a computer you shut yourself off from that which makes you special. That, above all else, limits what you can do with your senses.

Experiment, fail, get angry, and you'll realize that you are actually passionate about something, and it will only get better, you may actually enjoy it.




-k

My wife just flashed me

Yeah, I have a blog

I also moved to Henderson, Nevada for a spell, to have my wife meet my mother and father, and then who knows!

Since my wife is designing my website, it may take some time to complete, so in the meantime I have set up this blog to sit in till it's finished. I know my site has been down for idno...40 years, but it is a complicated process since my professional work is vastly different from my personality and my personal work and so forth. It is a fine balance to create a site that would be functional for me, since my clients prefer face to face presentation.

BUT, Katie is designing away, and someday soon I will have it up, chop full of fun tutorials and exciting porno.
Just remember, the work I do is not cheap, so if you are looking forward to a tutorial on something exciting like a plate or oil transfer, you should be ready to spend money.

On this blog I will also post our travels and some culinary adventures, and maybe recipes!

Let me know if there is something I should post here, maybe I'll do it.


-k