A dull day in the darkroom turned into my best print ever

Last Tuesday I was at my kitchen table fixing a batch of negatives from a roll I shot 8 years ago in Portland. Nothing was working, the developer seemed off, and I nearly tossed the whole thing. Then I noticed one frame had this weird double exposure from a light leak, so I printed it anyway at f/8 for 45 seconds. The grain and the ghosting came together in a way I never planned, and now I'm wondering if anyone else has had a happy accident like this come from a mistake they almost deleted.

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1 Comment

jessicamiller21d ago

Hold on, I see it completely different. A light leak causing a double exposure is a camera failure, not a creative choice. You spent all that time and effort getting the developer right, and then you just gave up on the actual craft and leaned into an accident. It feels like you're celebrating the equipment messing up instead of your own skill in fixing the mistake. Don't get me wrong, the print might look cool, but calling it your best ever kind of sells your real work short. I'd rather see you print the frames that were done right, because that's where the actual control and vision live. The ghosting is just luck, and luck never makes a better photographer.