Detail of an 11x14 fiber print of this image.
Setting content aside for a second, there is absolutely nothing like a well printed glossy fiber print from the darkroom. As objects they possess a sheen, a depth, a luminescence that is unmatched. This beauty is something that precisely due to its physical composition and existence as an individual object can’t ever be truly experienced via a monitor online. A digital snap like this image above attempts to suggest these qualities but even it isn’t enough. You have to see one in person.
I’ve not seen any black and white digital prints that weren’t flat and dry. Neither the prints nor any amount of Photoshop can help this. It’s just how it is. Darkroom prints retain a “wetness” that Epson and Canon printers cannot match. I look at a lot of prints- digital and traditional. They do and always will, look different. This is not a statement against “Digital” nor is it a pretentiously sentimental defense for outdated technology. What difference they might have is for the viewer or maker alone to come to terms with. It’s simply a matter of an aesthetically minded preference.
Listen, I like how gelatin silver prints look.
My preference for working in the darkroom however is in part for the experience that careful hands-on craft-making encourages.
Look, I like making gelatin silver prints.