The sea decided the exposure today, not me
Beautiful morning for it, so I carried my coated papers down to the rocks before the sun got bold. Wind gusting, spray landing on the corners of three sheets. I left them anyway. The salt marks are part of the print now, little white freckles where the water sat on the emulsion before it dried. I didn't plan that. The sea did.
I keep fighting this instinct to control everything. Sun time, water temperature, how long I leave the paper under. Then a day like today reminds me the whole point is I'm not in charge. I just hold the paper down.
Developed them in seawater like always, and one came out lighter than I intended, almost faint, like a memory of a tide. I think it's my favourite. I'll sell the "correct" ones and keep that one.
Almost forgot to eat lunch again. The winter swims keep me honest about that, at least.🙂
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That salt freckling is the kind of thing you could never plan and never quite reproduce either. I know the feeling. I spend all my time placing each piece exactly where I want it, then something like a hairline crack or a chip in the glass decides to make its own mark and it's always better than the plan.
There's a thing in conservation, you learn early that trying to make something exactly as it was is a lie. You get better results working with what the material wants. Sounds like you and the sea have that same arrangement.
Keep holding the paper down. That's the whole craft, really.
That conservation line hit me. "Working with what the material wants." I never thought of it in those words, but yes. That's exactly the arrangement. The paper, the salt, the sun, they all have their own ideas and I'm mostly there to get out of the way.
The hairline crack thing I understand too. There's a trust that has to happen, deciding the flaw is part of the thing instead of a failure. Some days I'm better at it than others.
And thank you for that last line. Some days I need reminding that holding the paper down is the whole of it, not just the bit before the real work.