I started off at 14.9mnths every afternoon after school working in an Agfa lab and it was all done one by one manually. I don't mean just pressing buttons by hand, but actually having to put my hands in through black sleeves into the round neg dev machine, crack open the roll with my fingers, blindly thread it onto the spool, attach it to the rod, then pull my hands out press a button, wait for it to go into the 1st chamber and then do the next one...
Atleast the printing machine was slightly more automated though, only had to calibrate it every morning...
The onsite photographer also taught me all the tricks upstairs in his studio and B&W darkroom which was great.
The I went from there to a Kodak lab and learnt Colour darkroom too.
And while I was doing all of that after school, I was also running around school taking photos for the school yearbooks and using the B&W darkroom there too, plus studying video, film and photography there.
Then I was offered a f/t job at 16-1/2 in the konica lab, so left high school and was able to learn video with the photographer and her dad as we shot local weddings and other skills in the darkroom upstairs.
Then I left town and went to the big city to work for kmart in their labs and I was always going to be a cinematograpaher and still photographer but after a few more minilabs in Thredbo and Noosa, fell into hospitality for 30+yrs and here we are, now full circle as I have my own little vid pro house (but don't do a lot of commissions these day- just trying to get my own stuff on air..) and take a truckload of photos with my iphone...
And now back even more full circle cause I'm now focusing on getting my own analogue photos digitised, (I've already done about 98% of mum's old B&w's from the 1940's+ and up) as well as being the custodian with @nexus22 of an actual A/V collection and digitising that too- all the old Umatic, Betacam, VHS and now even the minidv tapes are considered ancient...lol...melbournemediaarch.wix.com/melb-media-archive
ofc, it is! retouching one (one!) old photo, trying different scenarios, cleaning up the traces of time, restoring the color after scanning - this may take a couple of decent work hours even for one photo. I scanned one paper album from my wife family archive 12 years ago - and did nothing more about it after the scanning itself.
ok, wish you well with this job, its a noble labour of love! next time. and a little mushroom !PIZZA for you.
So I've got myself into a little routine the last couple of days- (still in lockdown..) So I have my little scanning box sitting on some cardboard boxes on my dining room table so it is chest height and so I can stand, dance- just keep moving while I'm scanning the photos.
When I have completed one category- divvied up into the places I was, I move over to the computer, put them into their digital folders, put them through photoshop, create a scheduled post for peakd, then upload them to google photos too.
So I'm on a real learning curve here- both with photoshop and peakd- doing my first scheduled posts! 😃
I really want to get through this batch of photos and start on the negatives, then onto my really REALLY old photos...and then put mum's through photoshop and onto her FB page as I am suing that as a memorial page for her.
And I don't want to waste time as it really is flying by and lockdown will be over and I'll be back at work all too soon with no time to focus on this...
Yeah I used to love working in minlabs too.
I started off at 14.9mnths every afternoon after school working in an Agfa lab and it was all done one by one manually. I don't mean just pressing buttons by hand, but actually having to put my hands in through black sleeves into the round neg dev machine, crack open the roll with my fingers, blindly thread it onto the spool, attach it to the rod, then pull my hands out press a button, wait for it to go into the 1st chamber and then do the next one...
Atleast the printing machine was slightly more automated though, only had to calibrate it every morning...
The onsite photographer also taught me all the tricks upstairs in his studio and B&W darkroom which was great.
The I went from there to a Kodak lab and learnt Colour darkroom too.
And while I was doing all of that after school, I was also running around school taking photos for the school yearbooks and using the B&W darkroom there too, plus studying video, film and photography there.
Then I was offered a f/t job at 16-1/2 in the konica lab, so left high school and was able to learn video with the photographer and her dad as we shot local weddings and other skills in the darkroom upstairs.
Then I left town and went to the big city to work for kmart in their labs and I was always going to be a cinematograpaher and still photographer but after a few more minilabs in Thredbo and Noosa, fell into hospitality for 30+yrs and here we are, now full circle as I have my own little vid pro house (but don't do a lot of commissions these day- just trying to get my own stuff on air..) and take a truckload of photos with my iphone...
And now back even more full circle cause I'm now focusing on getting my own analogue photos digitised, (I've already done about 98% of mum's old B&w's from the 1940's+ and up) as well as being the custodian with @nexus22 of an actual A/V collection and digitising that too- all the old Umatic, Betacam, VHS and now even the minidv tapes are considered ancient...lol...melbournemediaarch.wix.com/melb-media-archive
Yeah I LOVED working in minilabs and Darkrooms!
what a great story! I think you should make a post about it here,
are you a member of Analog (Film) ?..
Thanks @qwerrie no I didn't know that they existed but Now I do thanks to you!
Which i good, cause I have thousands more to go and I haven't even started on the negatives...
I have already done most of mums old B&W, but not put them through photoshop yet.it's all very time consuming isn't it...
ofc, it is! retouching one (one!) old photo, trying different scenarios, cleaning up the traces of time, restoring the color after scanning - this may take a couple of decent work hours even for one photo. I scanned one paper album from my wife family archive 12 years ago - and did nothing more about it after the scanning itself.
ok, wish you well with this job, its a noble labour of love! next time. and a little mushroom !PIZZA for you.
Haa thanks so much for the mushroom pizza!
So I've got myself into a little routine the last couple of days- (still in lockdown..) So I have my little scanning box sitting on some cardboard boxes on my dining room table so it is chest height and so I can stand, dance- just keep moving while I'm scanning the photos.
When I have completed one category- divvied up into the places I was, I move over to the computer, put them into their digital folders, put them through photoshop, create a scheduled post for peakd, then upload them to google photos too.
which I think are ok, but learnt even more in PS today and think that this new batch is going to be even better- scheduled for next Wednesday and this weds, I've pre-made a post where the paper and images are really degraded, so I used a few options to stylise them instead of keeping them as natural as possible...and since it's of New York City, I think it fits right in...Actually these are photos that I touched up yesterday https://peakd.com/hive-117778/@chocolatescorpi/the-dinner-time-bbq-that-started-off-a-3-month-accidental-camping-trippart-1-basalt-to-hagermans-pass-hive-117778
So I'm on a real learning curve here- both with photoshop and peakd- doing my first scheduled posts! 😃
I really want to get through this batch of photos and start on the negatives, then onto my really REALLY old photos...and then put mum's through photoshop and onto her FB page as I am suing that as a memorial page for her.
And I don't want to waste time as it really is flying by and lockdown will be over and I'll be back at work all too soon with no time to focus on this...
" learning curve - both with photoshop and peakd" - that sounds up to me, and very fruitful / promising (at least for yourself!)
ps. Colorado Ivanhoe lake images are really stunning.
😃
Haa yeah- no need to let my mind go soft when there's so much to learn- especially when it's for my benefit...
And thank you. So many images up there were/are so stunning. I'd love to go back up and shoot it again.
Wait till part 2 comes out next week and you'll see the downhill trip (which took a few more days and many more photos....🤣..)
$PIZZA@chociscorpipro! I sent you a slice of on behalf of @qwerrie.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (4/10)