While searching my film archives for a set of photos (the missing USS Arizona Memorial images from a Hawaii trip – found them!), I came across my black-and-white darkroom portfolios from photography school in 2003. Oh gosh, I had a good laugh flipping through my books! Some of the work is pretty awful, but I had such a great time in that class and it was fun to reminisce. The darkroom was one of the few places I could get so absorbed in my work that I’d completely forget to eat lunch. I would enter the darkroom in the morning and emerge late in the afternoon smelling of stop bath and fixer, realizing that 5-6 hours went by without a break. Chris and I have talked about setting up a darkroom at home someday. I’d love to get back into it.
There are a few prints in my darkroom portfolio that I actually do like, and I especially love this one of Schultz, the miniature dachshund my family had when I was in high school and college. I don’t necessarily love the image for the print quality (the scan is even worse – please ignore the blocked-out shadows), but this image brings back the memory of how loving and loyal he was. As he got older he was difficult to photograph because he absolutely hated the camera (it made him anxious), so I took this picture while he was napping. Of course, he woke up when he heard the camera click, but I love the sweet sleepy look on his face before he had a chance to get nervous.
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