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What do you want in your darkroom?
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 7:39 am
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.
What do you want in your darkroom?
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 9:52 am
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!
What do you want in your darkroom?
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:08 am
by SPPhoto
1. More space
2. Running water
3. Archival print washer
4...........
:)
What do you want in your darkroom?
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 10:21 am
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.
What do you want in your darkroom?
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 10:55 am
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. . .