Pausing before the next chapter.
If you follow me on any of my social media channels you will have noticed that I have decided to take a short break from them.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have been paused for the time being while I concentrate on the next chapter in my photography. This decision was made easier due to the fact that social media is a rather toxic environment at the moment and I have no desire to subject myself to it.
I have decided to pull myself away from it for a couple of months and there are a couple of reasons for this. The first reason, is that I want to concentrate on getting out with my camera as much as possible. Shooting as much as possible and not worrying about looking at or editing what I shoot. If I shoot film, it will be developed and placed in archival sleeves and If I’m shooting digital, I will simply upload the photos to my hard drive.
I’ll leave them for a couple of months and then eventually start working through them.
If I get asked to produce some images for somebody I will obviously do so without delay, but for the most part I will just get out and shoot.
The second reason, and the one that I am really excited about is building a purpose built darkroom/office at home by converting half of my garage. I have considered this for a couple of years but I never felt that I was ready to commit to such a project.
Having got to a point where I am happy with my contact printing method from digital negatives and regularly shooting 35mm film, it will be a breath of fresh air to have a purpose built space where I can indulge my passion for print making and all things photography.
Below Is one of the designs I have mocked up. There will more than likely be changes to this design. I’ve already designed a 2.5m stainless steel sink to fit so please ignore the standard kitchen sink in the design. It was all that was available to display in the free software I downloaded.
I’ll also have to put together a decent extraction system, water filtration and temperature control system.
I estimate that it will be the end of September before I can start thinking about moving in to this new space, possibly longer. It will be worth the effort and the wait though.
What else will I will be using the time offline to do?
If you are a regular visitor to my website and have browsed the print sale page you will have noticed that it’s pretty poor. I need to spend some time getting some good images of the prints that I produce so that people have a better idea of the high quality product that they will be receiving. I’ll be spending some time improving this section of my site and hopefully encourage some more sales.
I will be speaking to a professional framing company as well who will be able to frame my images to my specification and ensure that they meet archival standards.
The thought has also crossed my mind about investing in a slightly larger inkjet printer. This will allow me to produce larger inkjet prints but will also allow me to produce larger silver gelatin contact prints due to the fact that I’ll be able to print larger digital negatives. At the moment I am limited to 16”x20” prints.
Now that I am using the Leica M10 Monochrom with its incredible resolution, larger prints will definitely be something that I will consider. This will of course depend on the interest that I receive and whether or not it will be cost effective for me to invest in something like this.
It’s going to be a very interesting and busy couple of months to say the least but also very exciting. I’ll update my site when work has started and bring you some behind the scenes images as things progress.
In the mean time, here are a few of my most recent images made with the Leica M10 Monochrom and MP Film.
Leica M10 Monochrom
Leica MP
I hope that if you are reading this you have, and will continue to remain safe during the ongoing global health crisis.
All of the prints in this blog post are available as prints. Please feel free to get in touch should you wish to make a purchase or have any questions.
Matt.