What do you want in your darkroom?

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darkroommike
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:28 am

What do you want in your darkroom?

Post by darkroommike »

Not a darkroom equipment wanted ad! Just wondering what all of you would add to your darkroom that you don't already have.
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JB Harlin
Posts: 40
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:22 pm

What do you want in your darkroom?

Post by JB Harlin »

darkroommike wrote: Not a darkroom equipment wanted ad! Just wondering what all of you would add to your darkroom that you don't already have.


I would like another 1,000sq/ft of space and a 50ft sink! :)
SPPhoto
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:46 am
Location: Danvers, MA USA

What do you want in your darkroom?

Post by SPPhoto »

1. More space

2. Running water

3. Archival print washer

4...........



:)
Stephen Prunier Photography
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sanchell
Posts: 226
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:47 am
Location: Oregon
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What do you want in your darkroom?

Post by sanchell »

When I was starting out I knew a photographer, Dick (don't remember his last name), that had a darkroom in a closet. He sat on a rotating stool turning back and forth between the enlarger on the left and the stacking tray rack on the right. He had a ventilation fan high on the wall pushing fresh air in, and a passive vent at floor level so that the fumes would flow from sink level, down and out. He used a single Kodak bullet safelight aimed at the ceiling. He printed happily for hours at a time - the one limitation being that 11x14 was the largest print he could make. In the 1970s that was not considered a limitation - 16x20 and larger were considered an anomaly.



In the '80s I met a world-class photographer, direct student of Ansel, in Monterey, Calif. He had a beautiful, well equipped darkroom that was so large he spent most of his time walking from the enlarger to the sink. He was exhausted after a few hours printing.
Do it in the Dark,



Steve Anchell
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JB Harlin
Posts: 40
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:22 pm

What do you want in your darkroom?

Post by JB Harlin »

sanchell wrote: When I was starting out I knew a photographer, Dick (don't remember his last name), that had a darkroom in a closet. He sat on a rotating stool turning back and forth between the enlarger on the left and the stacking tray rack on the right. He had a ventilation fan high on the wall pushing fresh air in, and a passive vent at floor level so that the fumes would flow from sink level, down and out. He used a single Kodak bullet safelight aimed at the ceiling. He printed happily for hours at a time - the one limitation being that 11x14 was the largest print he could make. In the 1970s that was not considered a limitation - 16x20 and larger were considered an anomaly.



In the '80s I met a world-class photographer, direct student of Ansel, in Monterey, Calif. He had a beautiful, well equipped darkroom that was so large he spent most of his time walking from the enlarger to the sink. He was exhausted after a few hours printing.




Been there, done that. My first darkroom was in a small apartment closet. I moved my clothes to a garment rack behind the bedroom door.



I had just enough room for one of those no-name 35mm enlargers and 4 8x10 trays on a makeshift table made of plywood. I could wedge myself in there and close the door. Sitting on an old drum throne, I would expose the paper, run it through the trays, then into the 4th tray and the haul it to the kitchen and wash in the sink. We all started somewhere. . . :)
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