my name is patricia, and i just wanted to introduce myself here. i run a black & white machine print department at a small lab in san rafael, called marin filmworks. i'm quite glad to have found this forum. i've been printing for about 8 years now, both color and black & white. i'm a far better printer than i am a photographer...or so i've always thought. if anyone is curious about my work, let me know & i'll be happy to discuss.

Welcome from So Cal..

Hi Patricia,

Welcome from Hawaii. I think you have found the place. There really is a good group of photographers from the SF Bay area, so you are in a pretty good place.

greetings from potrero hill!

what formats of film do you print from?

Welcome from Mill Valley, Patricia!

my name is patricia, and i just wanted to introduce myself here. i run a black & white machine print department at a small lab in san rafael, called marin filmworks. i'm quite glad to have found this forum. i've been printing for about 8 years now, both color and black & white. i'm a far better printer than i am a photographer...or so i've always thought. if anyone is curious about my work, let me know & i'll be happy to discuss.



Hello from Croatia... glad u joined :)


i would like to see your work ... if it is possible? ;)

Howdy, Patricia. It's good to see a lab person joining the group here.

Patricia,

Welcome from Central California!

Hello and a huge welcome! The lab with which I've been working for the past eight years is in the process of shutting down it's B&W machine. Well, actually, they've been keeping it alive for a few years and it is just no longer feasible. So they tell me....

hello all!

i wanted to thank everyone for their kind replies. :)

unfortunately, i currently don't have any of my b&w prints available for uploading, but that is an easy enough problem for me to solve within a couple of weeks.

in my time working in labs, the one basic truth that i've discovered is that there are literally countless ways to manipulate an image--however, there is often only one way to print that image flawlessly. i find that i can't quite turn off my inner printer's eye when looking at photographs; it's definitely one downside to what i do, but the big upside is having a tremendous wealth of experience in negative classification. i don't quite know if i've seen it all (as far as subjects & what have you), but i think i've gotten pretty close.

a brief technical note: i print on an old (mid 1990s?) Agfa MSC 200, which was converted from color to b&w. yes, an AGFA machine. i'll get into that later if anyone's curious. it is a true optical machine, and not a digital hybrid. i print on Ilford Express PF RC paper (matte & glossy), using Agfa Multicontrast chemistry. i can print from standard 35mm, and these medium format sizes: 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, and 6x9. my personal favorite print size is full frame sloppy border from 35mm: the image size is roughly 3x5 on a 4x6 sheet of paper, including the sprockets. my lab's website is www.marinfilmworks.com, which is a good resource.

i've been printing on machines for a little over eight years. it seems like machine printing has gotten a bit of a bad rap. well, i'm inclined to agree with a bit of it: machine printing in most labs these days has been grossly oversimplified to the point where someone with no knowledge of negatives, much less color theory, can sit at a machine and make ok prints. however, i feel that what i do is far separate. granted, i can't dodge & burn or crop...but i can manipulate contrast in any direction, from soft grey tones to hard blacks in shadows.

thanks once again for digging me out a little place here. :)

Hi Patricia,
I've been using Marin Filmworks for 8 years! Welcome to APUG, it's a great place!
Rory

Hi Patricia, I used to use Marin Filmworks back when I lived in Mill Valley & commuted daily across the S.R. bridge.... glad to see you're still up there plugging-out prints!

KB