Well, here I go. I will try to show some decent photos whenever I can. But first, I feel I must tell you a bit about how I got into photography; particularly Black and White photography.
My semi-formal training
It's been more than twenty years since I entered a dark room. I wanted to set up one at home, but it was never a real possibility. I started with black and white photography when I enrolled in a course at the university. We learned about history, analysis, and philosophy of photography. We were assigned specific tasks and subjects to shoot. The developing and copying practices were more limited. That was something that I somewhat gained during the coming semester when, while not enrolled, I went every Tuesday. In time, I made friends with some of the recognized photographers that used to meet there at the lab. But after a while, I wasn't able to continue going because I had to attend my regular courses.
The wannabe photographer mom's nightmare
At home, I used to enter a closet in the least illuminated room and put my film rolls in the tank. Then, I would go to the bathroom to develop the film. I would do everything I had to do and put the rolls to dry. I stored the chemicals in a bathroom... I can still remember my mom saying what a waste of water the process was.
When it was difficult to develop at home or at the university, I went to some professional photo lab and ordered contacts.
But I did some things besides shooting like mad
During the few years I had access to a dark room, I made some copies. At first, one of the instructors would give me some expired paper. In a few months, I went to buy film in bulk, a loader, brand new paper, and cartridges.
The most important thing about those days where I carried a camera in my backpack every single day, is that I was passionate about it. But when all of my cameras (most of them second-hand) got damaged, I stopped taking pictures altogether.
Finally! A couple of photos
After all the chatter, I show you two of the copies I made more than twenty years ago. I scanned them and left them mostly unaltered. The only correction was an attempt to remove some scratches and what seemed to be some fingerprints.
These two guys were best friends. The little fella was born during turbulent times and named accordingly: Conflicto ("Conflict"; behold the humorous classmates). The big fella was the most caring and devoted dog's father. I cherish these photos.
I took these photos on April 1, 1998
I cannot neither tell you which camera I used, nor the settings. Film was Kodak T-MAX 400 ISO.
The little I corrected, I did with Snapseed.