playing in the modern darkroom

It took me a while to get on board with enhancing my digital pictures. Programs like Photoshop felt like cheating to me, probably because I spent my adolescence and early twenties learning the craft of black and white film photography and darkroom editing.

I taught photography at summer camp for years, during which I spent countless hours in a dank, rank, pitch-black darkroom with behemoth black rat snakes and copperheads lurking in its deepest chambers. I pored over books and experimented with exposure times while standing for an eternity under an enlarger. I mixed noxious chemicals in old pots on 90 degree days in unair-conditioned rooms, with no shoes on and up hill both ways!

While it definitely had its downsides, I had a trade. I was an artist, at least in my own mind. And I had a dream that one day I would have a darkroom in my own house, where I'd continue to perfect my art. So I had to mourn the loss of my craft, and it's been a long, hard road to get back on board with learning a new one.

Well I'm back, baby! I recently got a thirty-day free trial to try Adobe Photoshop Elements. I'm enjoying the learning process so far, but I'm discovering as I go that it is much more difficult than I originally thought it would be to do. In a way, this makes me happy! I'm so relieved to find out that there is skill and frustration to be had in modern photo editing. Be careful what you wish for, right?

I was feeling the "old timey" look last night. Nate said the second looked like a sonogram when it was sepia-toned, and he was right! That's why I keep him around. Keep me honest, Bubba.

So far I haven't really done anything I couldn't do in iPhoto in less time, but I see the potential to do more. It's exciting! Although I got the trial a few weeks ago, I was only finally inspired to sit down and use it last night, and I owe my inspiration to the Pioneer Woman. If you haven't been to her website, check it out! I thought to myself, if she didn't know what the word aperture meant just a few short years ago, then I can do it too. That, ladies and gents, is where her true genius lies.

Later gaters,
~J

p.s. If you already have Adobe and are further along in the learning process than I, you might enjoy Pioneer Woman's Photoshop actions.