When I was in high school, my grandfather and I convinced my mom to let me build a darkroom in our garage. We framed it out, ran new plumbing and electrical, drywalled it, and painted it (18% grey, of course). We also built a custom wash/rinse sink that I wish I still had. I loved time in the darkroom way more than actually taking photographs. The darkroom is where you could actually sculpt with light. I pored over the Ansel Adams series (The Camera, The Negative, and The Print) looking for secrets that would help me make better pictures. That’s not to say that the darkroom could turn a bad photo into a good one. Occasionally that would happen, but more often than not, the darkroom is where you could make a good photo better. I had a drawer full of little stencils and custom made dodging and burning tools and I would spend hours printing and reprinting, trying to get the photos on paper to match the photos in my head.
If you’ve ever wanted a peek behind the curtain at how some of the most iconic photos of the 20th century were printed, you’re going to love Magnum Darkroom Prints. From the page: “Magnum Darkroom Prints reveal an analog history — how depth and layers are accentuated through the printing process; how the subject is brought to life. They are also a testimony to the eye of the printer and the magic of the darkroom.”
Pictures in the collection include Thomas Hoepker’s photo of Muhammad Ali from 1966, Dennis Stock’s photo of James Dean in New York from 1955, and Leonard Freed’s photo of children playing in a fire hydrant in Harlem from 1963. It’s a fascinating look at the actual darkroom printing notes that were used to make already great photos even better.
My favorite Adams quote: The negative is the raw score. The print is the performance.