Who'd'a Thunk It?

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Rich53

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My wife and I moved down here about 12 years ago. Before we left NY, I got some photo chemicals. They stayed packed away until this past week when the smell of the stop bath became overwhelming. (L-O-N-G story.)

I finally pulled out the chems, changing bag, tank, and defroze my exposed B+W film. Tested the fixer with a piece of film. It took 10 minutes to clear the film. Mixed up the solutions, developed the film, and, "Too-rah! Too-ray! O frabjous day!" It works! 🎉😂🎉

Now, I need to decide if I want to invest in a scanner 🤑, or set up a darkroom (👍) – I still have the enlarger, trays, timer, etc, but room's a little tight. (Y'all can see the way I'm leaning, right?)

Thanks for reading this, and rejoice!

--Rich
 
The last time I did any developing and printing in a darkroom was when I was a student and was allowed to use the very well equipped darkroom in the Physics Department.
 
I'm thrilled for you! Powder chems have an almost indefinite shelf life, just waiting to be mixed up.

I'm in the exact same situation! It's not that big a deal to shoot and develop one's own film, but going that extra step and getting into enlarging silver gelatin prints is whole nuther ballgame. We have NO room here - but an open corner in an unfinished section of the basement. It will take not just framing out that corner, but blacking out the glass block windows on one side while trying to install ventilation through the other. Water is nearby, just getting it over there and getting a sink is also desired.

We bought a film scanner and a new photo printer. :LOL: It's now the "hybrid technique" here for the foreseeable future. The enlarger, safelights, you know the drill - all patiently waiting to see what happens.

For me, getting that negative is the main thing.

Anyway - congrats, Rich! Huzzah! 🎉
 
Hi, Terry! Thinking back, my high school darkroom had 4 print trays: developer, stop bath, fixer, and water. The water kept the prints wet until the teacher put them into the "washing machine" after class. I used that idea of delaying the wash in my own darkrooms. Just had to transport the prints farther. (OK, for one, I had to go downstairs, and through two rooms to the kitchen, but the laundry sink was great...)

I'm not overly enamored of digital manipulation of photos. I guess it's the difference between making a sandwich and buying one from a vending machine.

--Rich
 
I had my own tiny darkroom up until like 7 years ago when we moved and our kids were born. Now there isn't really a space to set one up. I still have my scanner though, a Plustec Opticfilm 120. It's pretty good and takes medium format. But getting good colours involves too much fiddling with software. So I tend to send coulour film out to be developed and scanned. Tri-X I do myself, in Rodinal :)
 
"But getting good colours involves too much fiddling with software."

Especially when the chief purpose of computers is "to irritate humans and annoy them forever"!
 
Rich53 said:
The water kept the prints wet until the teacher put them into the "washing machine" after class. I used that idea of delaying the wash in my own darkrooms.
Click to expand...
Yep, same here. I used a large plastic storage tub that could hold a couple gallons of water. Enough to easily slip 6-8 prints into until I decided I was done with my session.

I was spoiled with my darkroom setup in that house. We were able to dedicate an unused upstairs bedroom to it. Blackout sheets over the windows, and a bathroom right down the hall. I carried the tub of prints to the bathtub where my inexpensive print washer could sit inside. From there back to the drying rack.

*sigh* 'Twas fun extra space to have. :)
 
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