Richard Tetrault - Flight Path # 1

Richard Tetrault - Luminous Shoreline # 1

I went into my first darkroom in 1962 and except for the years I was in the Argentine Navy as a conscript I was often in one until 6 years ago when Rosemary and I moved from our Kerrisdale home (which had a darkroom) to our little Kitsilano home that has no darkroom.

I sort of miss those long and happy evenings where I worked until the middle of the night on processing film and using the enlarger to print b+w photographs and colour prints,too. My basement darkroom was roomy but not too well ventilated. In some respects I should be dead now as I used Kodak Selenium Toner  ( a known carcinogen) to make my photographs archival. I sometimes played music.

Now I have a garage that is half a little photo studio and a wall separates it from my oficina.

I have an EpsonP700 printer that is frugal with ink and thanks to advice from Grant Simmons and Jeff Gin I am a very good printer. In some ways I do not miss that darkroom (dark it was). Her I am often accompanied by my cats Niño and Niña. I have my large mug of tea and with my Epson V700 scanner I can combine the technology of the 20^th century with the 21^st.

I have a friend, prolific artist Richard Tetrault. I asked him to bring his latest work to our monthly meetings (photographers, artists, writers, degigners, etc) at the Sylvia Hotel. He told me that they were too big to bring in his bicycle. I asked him to send me digital files. I printed them in less than 5 minutes. They are lovely. Perhaps he can sell them as a limited series of inkjets.

To me the nomenclature inkjet needs to be revitalized to be up there with the excellence of a darkroom printed photograph. Below is my inkjet print of my granddaughter Rebecca that I took in 2010. Because it is an inkjet I was able to tint it red to myspecifications.