All right -- it's time for another update!

I've now completed 3 classes and a darkroom session. I've learned how to process my own film and make my own prints. I can tell you that it's the most amazing experience as a photographer - to go out in the morning, shoot a roll of film, come back and process it, and then make enlargements -- all in the same day. There's nothing like it -- creating, processing, and printing my own images, with my own hands.

Oh sure - I could take my D70 out and do the same thing - and avoid all the chemicals and mess - but it's not the same. It's just not. We're talking lost art here -- we're talking keeping a wonderful thing alive. For me, there's NO comparison between the images my D70 spits out and any one of my film cameras -- there isn't.

I will say that working in Photoshop is much easier than trying to accomplish the same thing in the darkroom -- if what you're trying to do extends beyond dodging, burning, and masking. For right now, I like the purist side of things -- I like to compose the image in-camera, properly expose and focus the image -- and then print - with minimal intervention. A chance to see what my mind's eye is seeing when creating an image.