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Old 18th January 2022, 04:55 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Daventry, Northants
Posts: 8,969
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I really started the whole thing in about 2001/2 when I quite suddenly wanted to take b&w photos. Up until then I had just taken colour negs with a camera that my wife had given me for my 50th birthday. She had done this when the previous year I had bought on a whim and for the princely sum of 50p the Kodak book of photography and had said I enjoyed it

I had had films processed and printed at the likes of Jessops and then a local mini-lab. By then colour was more or less de rigueur for most snappers and I was no different. They were mostly about leisure snaps of excursions, annual holidays. I wanted to record where we had been and what we had done

I became aware of the possibility of being able to process my b&w, went on a night school course and then converted a spare bedroom and bought a load of darkroom equipment from someone who was starting a family and need to give up and needed the space
So a very prosaic picture in my case. No "light on the road to Damascus" or revelations at all

After about 17 years the desire to take and process negs and prints has waned a little but whether it will slowly wither on the vine to the point of not bothering is something I cannot say

So there's a potted history of mainly why b&w and why I have a darkroom.

So why do I bother? Well part of the taking is tied up with the processing but I have no goals. I had no epiphany and in short I take pictures to record things I want to see a print of within a short period but the whole soup to nuts of it has to be in my hands now I know how to do it

I fear that none of what I have said is of any value to you and may even be a hindrance for you as it is very simple and basic and as far away from photography as art or having a purpose as can be. It is a hobby and pastime and not an all consuming passion in my case.

I like conversing about photography and learning from others' experiences but it has never had a purpose for me other than the prosaic purpose of recording and making what I want to remember about events, places and people

I am never going to take El Capitan on a 8x10 on top of what used to be called a "shooting brake" nor be bothered to wander Paris to see if there is anyone jumping a puddle near the gard du nord station but I am lucky in that that is not a concern for me fortunately but I can sympathise with anyone who may have lost a sense of purpose about anything.

I hope that others can be more helpful as I still wonder whether any of the above might be so unhelpful to you that it would have been better if I hadn't responded at all

I hope you regain your sense of purpose

Mike
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