Mounting, Matting, & Framing

I love photography, ever since I was a little kid and I got my first camera. I even like spending time in the dark room, whether it is a traditional dark room or the digital dark room. Both are creative in their own ways.

I even don't mind actual printing, whether that is putting stuff in the developer pan or sending images to the printer (although I hate color profiling!). I *love* seeing the final image appear on paer.

I loved it, especially, when the image slowly appeared in the liquid developer and solidified. It was a kind of magic that thrilled me everytime it happened. And to some extent, I get the same little thrill seeing the images pop up on the large monitor for the first time and when it pops out of the printer.

I akin the LCD of my camera to being able to see the film negatives for the first time -- the excitement of an image that might or might not be perfectly captured; Lightroom as my contact sheet, seeing all the images lined up in a row -- picking and choosing those images that have potential; and then opening up the image for the first time as making a full fledge print of a good negative.

Albeit, all that the digital darkoom has done is make gratification of the final image much much faster for me (and removed that chemically smell of the darkroom, which, in truth, I actually grew to enjoy....)

What I have never particularly enjoyed is the final presentation process that often accompanies making images. I always dreaded mounting images, whether it be a wet mount, dry mount, cold mount, etc, for fear of never getting it down right. Nor do I particular enjoy the matting process either...from cutting down matte boards to figuring out mat borders, etc.

And the least thing I enjoy is framing.....from cleaning out frames and the glass ...to adding the final dust cover and the hanging hardware. Especially when you get a small glass cut, much like a paper cut, as you clean the edges of the glass. OUCH!

Mind you, I like the presentation of the final product, whether that is merely a matted piece or a framed piece. I just don't like the final steps of the project.

I am glad that this was part of my photography education in college -- the full mounting, matting, and framing aspects. (However, we never had to frame anything for class, except for the one student art show.)

This weekend, I finished the final touches of the images for SVOS....at least for the first weekend. I have more than several images matted & framed, along with several smaller matted images.