If you really want to learn how to print...

[brian steinberger]

Supplies cost and some beer is great, but time is money.

As long as it's a good experience for you and you are learning to become a better printer than it is worth it.

[smieglitz]

I learned to print working for a commercial photographer. Not only did this involve using his negatives, it also involved using his paper. Not worrying about the cost helped me experiment and pick up things I probably wouldn't have if I were buying the paper myself. There were also 3 different photographers in that studio with different skills and specialties. That variety also helped.

[Roger Cole]

In a different forum I participated in a negative exchange where a group of people circulated negs and printed everyone else's. It is an interesting thing to do.

I have made a living for 20 years printing other people's negs and you need more than beer money to do it.
Dennis

Would that be the one they are, or were, doing on FADU?

It sounded quite interesting but I got a bit confused as to the details during the discussion. I figured I might do it some day (did they quit? guess I need to check over there) if and only if I shot some duplicate negatives; see something good, fire off two shots and, on roll film, be sure to cut the strips so they aren't together. Send one, keep the other. That's easier with sheet film.

[dpurdy]

No the forum is called pure silver and it is a freelists.org forum. It took a long time to complete with mailing negs everywhere and then getting prints all together in a package. No one got to see the other prints till it was complete. Every participant printed every other participants neg as well as their own. The point was to see the different interpretations of different printers.
Dennis

[Roger Cole]

Wow, that would take a long time and lot of work!

Looks like no one has posted in the FADU thread since February. I asked if there's any interest in doing another round. I still need to get my BPX print done for the exchange here. So many photographs to make, so little time!