Darkroom workers make magic with the lights off. Dismiss

Size matters

There is a block of woods in the Winston-Salem warehouse district. I call it the fairy woods. On this particular afternoon the light was blasting through there beautifully.

This image is from an 8×10 paper negative. Paper negatives at this size record tons of detail and this image is one you could walk into. Until today, I’ve been working on it as an 8×10 contact print. It’s beautiful and precious at that scale, but it’s the kind of print that’s best explored with a magnifying glass.

It’s even better at twice that size. At 16×20 it feels more welcoming, maybe because it’s closer to human scale. Sometimes bigger is better.

Also, see the way the bokeh gets all squished in the corners and the bright brights glow? I live for those delicious artifacts! Have a look at these detail views.

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