Lucky 8 ball - Analogue Edition

Like many photographers out there, my love affair with image making came to fruition in a dark room. Whilst digital cameras were still a thing of sci-fi, film was king of the imagery and the stink of developing solutions occupy many of my favourite memories.

Film came in many forms, each owning a distinct look, meaning decisions had to be made before you started shooting. Then there was the fun you could have whilst developing the films, playing with temperature and time to manipulate the process, before all the choices available to you via an enlarger, the final steps of the image making.

So many steps involved to make one image, so many stages for things to go wrong, for worse or the occasional 'happy accident', each decision shaping the end result.

Image creation is now swifter and more accessible, yet the process feels less organic with much of the decision making, happening after the image is made rather than throughout it's creation. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the digital age, but manipulating an image in Photoshop will never satisfy me as much as seeing an image apparate on a sheet of paper swimming in a wash of chemicals.

Luck 8 ball

I made this image in 2002 (yet another self portrait) shot on my Mamiya 654 1000s, using slide film which I cross-processed to enhanced the colours and contrast. I then spent some time in the darkroom getting the colours to look how I wanted for the final print, which was used in an exhibition.

I was often asked by people how I managed to get the '8' reflected in the eye, something I was quite proud of and was happy to share. These days people assume that the image was created digitally and that the '8' was dropped in afterwards. I find this to be a double edged compliment  :)

Thanks for stopping by :D