Going back to real photography

[seafoto]

I am on the brink of returning to my darkroom,the dark, the developers and the smell of fixer. Digital is magic and can result in stunning pictures but they are not the product of my skill. I will never forget my first print emerging in the tray, and my first good print some time later.
I am in awe of the vast knowledge of subscribers on this site and wonder why they stick to this peculiar, messy long winded method of making pictures ?

[Steve Smith]

They take a shot during the dancing, then stop to examine the digital image they just made - "was it good or should I delete it?" During those five-or-so seconds of examination he's missed one or two important one-chance-only shots.

I have seen sports photographers doing that too.


Steve.

[williamkazak]

I would like to add that I finally developed my first four rolls of T-MAX 400 in over eleven years. Yea! Most of it came back to me. (slight misload of one metal spool-5 pics-nothing important lost). I finally remember using only water on a stop bath in the past but this time I could not remember how to mix up my stop bath! No wonder. I never did for film. Then, I did something else I never did before. I poured the 32 oz of used fixer back into the half gallon container. I always used to just throw it away as a one shot. No big deal as I will re-use it next time. When I was done, I had to say, "this is photography"!
What throws me off now is remembering some film enthusiasts saying to scan the negs while in the Printfile sleeves to get an idea of what pictures to really persue. My scanner wants them in strips, with only two rows for the real scans. It won't accurately scan the Printfile sheet because I only get a negative appearance when I do that and not a positive photo to look at. Bummer, because I thought hybrid. Back in the film game now.