Darkroom Skills...A Dying Art??

AndrewFlannigan said:
There are some compensations to taking pictures for money, like helicopter trips to odd parts of the country and the chance to take unusual pictures... :naughty:

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To counter this, while working for the MOD, one of our jobs was to photograph Royal Navy "bad weather" trials. Which meant spending time living onboard.

Fortunately, when my time came, it was cancelled because the weather wasn't bad enough, and my name was never pulled out of the hat of "volunteers" again.
 
myotis said:
Fortunately, when my time came, it was cancelled because the weather wasn't bad enough, and my name was never pulled out of the hat of "volunteers" again.
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Obviously, you have a very conscientious guardian angel! :naughty:
 
Being ex RN, I always smile when people talk about 'bad' weather. :whistle:

Unless you've spent time at sea, no one truly knows what bad weather is. :puke:
 
Sky said:
Unless you've spent time at sea, no one truly knows what bad weather is. :puke:
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I've spent a lot of time by the sea - that's close enough for me! :exit:
 
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Sky said:
Being ex RN, I always smile when people talk about 'bad' weather. :whistle:

Unless you've spent time at sea, no one truly knows what bad weather is. :puke:
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In this case, I can't tell you how bad, the "bad weather", was, except it was fairly often cancelled because it wasn't bad enough.

The purpose of us being on board (photographer and a scientific team) was to study/test ship instruments and structures under extreme weather conditions.

It was the RN who primarily decided whether it was "extreme enough" to make it worthwhile. And you could spend a few weeks onboard.

Presumably we (or the RN staff) would have been recording weather conditions at the same time as the other data being recorded, but wasn't privy to any of that.
 
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myotis said:
In this case, I can't tell you how bad, the "bad weather", was, except it was fairly often cancelled because it wasn't bad enough.
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A lucky escape that's for sure. ;)
 
Nod said:
Not sure which of the editions it is - I'll know more when it gets here!
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Just arrived. Seems to be a first edition (but not signed!)
 
Nod said:
Just arrived. Seems to be a first edition (but not signed!)
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That's a pity, What date is it? My, on the cover "New edition" is dated 1968. I'm not sure when the original editions were printed.

The 1968 edition was in five volumes which were combined into three volumes for the 1980s "The New Ansel Adams Photography series"

The new three volume series was better written, presented and polished than the five volume set, but it also seemed a bit dumbed down compared to the earlier volumes, where you felt a bit closer to the "raw" Ansel.

I wish I had thought to mention the different editions when I brought it up - sorry.
 
I've got a copy of "The Negative" with "Basic Photo Two" on the cover. The ISBN when looked up gives a publication date of 1976. Inside, the foreword by Ansel Adams is dated 1948, and the edition is given as the fifth printing.
 
StephenM said:
I've got a copy of "The Negative" with "Basic Photo Two" on the cover. The ISBN when looked up gives a publication date of 1976. Inside, the foreword by Ansel Adams is dated 1948, and the edition is given as the fifth printing.
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In the chronology of Adam's life in "Looking at Ansel Adams: The photographs and the man" it says he began writing the five volume Basic Photo series in 1948 but doesn’t then give any additional info other than to say they were frequently revised.

Maybe I need to resort to google rather than relying on my bookshelf :-)
 
My copy of "Looking at Ansel Adams" is within reach if I stand up. I might have a look at his autobiography to see if there's any more info. I do have the "Artificial Light Photography" (book 4?) in the series, but can't lay my hands on it. If you use to this link to my OneDrive you'll see the problem...
 
StephenM said:
My copy of "Looking at Ansel Adams" is within reach if I stand up. I might have a look at his autobiography to see if there's any more info. I do have the "Artificial Light Photography" (book 4?) in the series, but can't lay my hands on it. If you use to this link to my OneDrive you'll see the problem...
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That's very comforting.

I suspect that once I unbox the books from my university office and add them to a home office (which will mean a new house, as my current office looks like yours, but with fewer books) I might be competing with you.

BTW Its book 5. Book 4 is Natural-light photography.
 
The "Autobiography" has more dates (pp 274-276).
Basic Photo Series
Camera and lens 1948
The Negative 1948
The Print 1950
Natural Light Photography 1952
Artificial Light Photography 1956

In the "autobiography" he says he wrote and edited those books. Professional editors appeared for the new series.

A change of publisher in 1974 lead to the new series:
Polaroid Land Photography 1978
The Camera 1980
The Negative 1981
The Print 1983

As a non sequiter, the door on the right in the third photo opens into my darkroom.
 
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OK, closer investigation gives the © date as 1983 so it must be the new series. The information page says it's a first edition, presumably referring to it being the first edition of the updated version! TBH, if the later "The new Ansel Adams photography series" is a little dumbed down, it'll probably suit me better since it's much more out of interest than a need to know/reference tome.
 
Nod said:
OK, closer investigation gives the © date as 1983 so it must be the new series. The information page says it's a first edition, presumably referring to it being the first edition of the updated version! TBH, if the later "The new Ansel Adams photography series" is a little dumbed down, it'll probably suit me better since it's much more out of interest than a need to know/reference tome.
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Good, because this one has more comparison pictures than the earlier editions, and its probably easier to read.
 
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StephenM said:
As a non sequiter, the door on the right in the third photo opens into my darkroom.
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Finally worked out that the "third photo" refers to the OneDrive link in post #92. Impressive library, Stephen!
 
In last week's thrilling episode...

In post 92 in this thread, when the dates of Ansel Adams' books was being discussed, I said I had a copy of another of the early series, but couldn't find it, and posted a link to my OneDrive showing why.

I later added as a non sequiter that the third photo shown in the OneDrive link showed the door into my darkroom.

Although the actual distance from far wall to door is only about 20 feet, it is easy for a book to be lost in this distance...

To be continued (or not) in another griping (sic) instalment in this theatre next week (or never) :D

So don't worry, it's all superfluous to the purpose of the thread, and apologies for the diversion. I suppose I might as well add that the photos do amplify on my avatar - I'm sitting in the chair in the photos, with two cats on my lap.
 
StephenM said:
In last week's thrilling episode...

In post 92 in this thread, when the dates of Ansel Adams' books was being discussed, I said I had a copy of another of the early series, but couldn't find it, and posted a link to my OneDrive showing why.

I later added as a non sequiter that the third photo shown in the OneDrive link showed the door into my darkroom.

Although the actual distance from far wall to door is only about 20 feet, it is easy for a book to be lost in this distance...

To be continued (or not) in another griping (sic) instalment in this theatre next week (or never) :D

So don't worry, it's all superfluous to the purpose of the thread, and apologies for the diversion. I suppose I might as well add that the photos do amplify on my avatar - I'm sitting in the chair in the photos, with two cats on my lap.
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Ahh...thanks for clarifying
 
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