Well, I did not go anywhere, but I took a year or so "off" (online-photographically-speaking) in order to learn a thing or two. I have sold all my digital Canon EOS equipment, and they have been replaced with a couple of interesting film cameras (none of which use electricity) and boy, has it been a joyride.

Our office received an Epson V700 scanner yesterday, so for the first time I can digitse and display some of my analog work here, which had up to now been printed the traditional way in the darkroom. For the time being, I scanned and posted some of my colour work, the black-and-white (my mainstay) will follow soon.

I feel I am now in a position to make a couple of statements:

• I have a lot of respect for experienced printers in the dark room: One can learn the basics in a couple of days, but to become a master could very well take a lifetime.
• Anybody who makes wild claims that the top digital SLRs even approach medium-format film in terms of resolution and colour fidelity are fooling themselves. With our amateur Epson V700 flat-bed scanner I make 60+ megapixels scans (and I am still learning) from my 6x7cm slides (such as One magnolia at a time) that are unobtainable with anything other than a medium-format digital back. And I am using 1970s lenses. And I think I really knew what I was doing with my Canon EOS DSLR, but upon viewing my gallery you may of course disagree
• Film images have a fixed grain pattern, and zero (nada, zip, none) electronic read-noise or banding. You can push shadows to humongous heights without showing any of the colour noise and banding even the best DSLRs show
• The down side: You work a lot harder for each image, you make fewer images, and they each cost money (though doing your own development is cheap and easy)

So, am I now a film zealot? Is film "better" than digital? No, it is not for most purposes. I honestly miss the flexibility and shot-happiness I had with my digital system. But for the images I mostly like to make, the only way I could achieve this level of quality would be to use medium-format digital gear which will forever be way beyond my means. And let's be honest, it's so much nicer to use *real* cameras, instead of playing video games

So, this may very well be a phase (and one I see so many go through) but I hope you enjoy the results. My biggest reason for doing all of this is to become a master B&W printer in the darkroom, the colour is just a bit of diversion on the side. To all of you guys that I so abruptly abandoned (largely also at the same time as my fiancé - now wife - and I were attacked in our house) I hope to talk to you again, and I am looking forward to seeing what you have been up to.