704 Studio: 1/1/02

The Studio

A Studio has its reality not only in a physical place, but also in the idea which sustains it. When I visited Van Gogh's final Studio in Northern France, I found a tiny attic room in a small hotel. It was illuminated by not only the lone window, but also by his will to make pictures. For Van Gogh, the Studio was wherever he planted his easel.

704 Studio was created in 2002 when the darkroom in the basement of my home was built. But its seeds were sown in the autumn of 1991, when I decided to pursue the art of photography. I had no home of my own, no darkroom, not even a camera, yet the desire to make photographs filled me with energy and hope. I did not know if I would ever be in possession of a Studio space, so I used what I had, and tried to make progress.

I now own a darkroom and home, a Hasselblad camera and a Pentax Spotmeter. I still feel like a beginner, taking baby steps upon a long road. As each new photograph passes from camera to film to paper, the dream of the Studio becomes more real.

The Darkroom

Basics
Camera - Hasselblad 500CM
Lens - 80mm
Metering System - Pentax Spot
Film - Kodak TMX 100, 400
Film developers - D76
Paper developers - Dektol, LD-20
Toners - Selenium, Sepia, Gold

Darkroom Equipment
Enlarger - Beseler 45 MXT
Enlarger light source - Cold light lamp

Film Exposure
I use Zone system concepts, but I reverse the standard procedure for metering. With landscapes, I find that sky values are important to me, so I place the cloud values on zone 7 or 8, and the shadows usually fall on zones 1-3. After noting the initial meter reading, I add 1.5 stops of exposure to the reading, thus assuring that the shadows are adequately exposed. When I develop the film I reduce development time by about 3 minutes, so that the highlights are pulled back to the initial zone placement of zone 7 or 8.

The Darkroom