Oh, that title sounds as though I am going to delve into taboo topics. I am not. The other night my brother was showing me his Photography Class Portfolio from high school and it was making me think about my own days in Photography 101 at that very high school some ten years ago with the very same teacher when the class was new, my sister and I took it at the same time. Very interesting that we all took the same class in high school. Other than Freshman English it may be the only class all three of us took.
Anyways, his shots were very good and though it may be boring for many I rather enjoyed the test strips and the stacks of the same shot at different stages of development. There was even a shot of me, four days before I was induced (which I will certainly post later). Looking through the portfolio re-sparked an old desire of mine.
A darkroom.
When I was seven or eight my parents bought me and my sister Kodak cameras (I know, I already told this story) and ever since I have really enjoyed photography. When I was twelve I read a quote in Time Magazine beside a picture of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie on their yacht, it read 'Pictures help us hold onto what we know will disappear.' Though a rather sad quote I have never forgotten it and it makes me treasure my photos and albums even more.
Since March I have taken over 2200 photos with a camera that was so worth the moratorium on spending you cannot even comprehend. Sunday I bought a 500G External Hard drive to back up my family's treasure. But since viewing my brother's portfolio I have been thinking about that darkroom. I remember how much I enjoyed seeing my prints develop in the developer. The smell of the fixer. The light from the enlarger.
OK, it really wasn't that romantic, but I really enjoyed it. I was going to take more shots in college but I never got around to it.
I am not a photographer, I do not take awesome snapshots, I do not capture moments in all of their brilliance, no I save that for the real photographers but that isn't going to stop me from loving photographs and all the honesty of the past they hold.
And someday, maybe I can use my brother's darkroom.
-june
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