Are you watching TV in the darkroom?

[Loose Gravel]

It almost makes me sick to ask the question. How many of you have a TV in your darkroom? Do you find it helps your sanity? or insanity? Does it give you more time in the DR? Does it help you pass the time better? Does it bring guests into the darkroom? Do you watch broadcast tv or videos?

 

[Jeremy]

I've actually been thinking about this lately as we have an extra 13" television and a dvd player that are seeing no use. Put some ruby lith on the tv and I can now watch episodes of mash while printing. there's even a bathroom (converting new darkroom as I type)... now I'll NEVER have to leave

 

[Ed Sukach]

No, I don't watch TV in the darkroom.

 

[PaulH]

I don't watch TV in the darkroom, or any other room for that matter.

 

[blansky]

I find that if I allow my prints to watch only an hour a day of TV then they still have time to do their fixing and washing.

My bigger prints I'll allow a little more, once their done but that's usually only for a special occasion like a National Geographic special or something like that.

Previously I allowed them to watch all they wanted and they started turning out underexposed and would act aggressively when I put them in the toner.

Still my biggest fear, that even with this hour a day that they will underachieve, become double weight, and will never leave home.

I hope I'm doing the right thing.

Michael McBlane

 

[bmac]

I tend to focus on printing while in the darkroom

 

[Nige]

no TV, but I do sets of push ups and situps

 

[Silverpixels5]

nope no tv...i barely have room for the radio i just put in my darkroom/bathroom.

 

[brimc76]

No TV, just a radio/CD player.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of a DARK room?

 

[jansenh]

I have a laptop w/network in my darkroom - mainly for playing MP3's... but a little surfing as well in between.

 

[clogz]

Archival permanence and TV don't go together.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Eugene Smith had a B&W TV with a red filter in his darkroom.

I don't.

 

[Shesh]

No TV. Just a cd/radio/Cassette Boombox.

 

[Black Dog]

Don't watch television but I do listen to them-Marquee Moon is one of my favourite albums.

 

[BobF]

I guess I am the only degenerate with a TV in the DR. I feel so sorry for all the advertisers that spend big money on commercials as from what you all say I am the only one watching. How the heck do you keep up with current popular culture without watching Survivor, or increase your sensitivity without watching Oprah, or know how bad the world situation is without watching network news? ;-)

TV while printing is unworkable for several reasons even if covered with ruby lith. But, when you are sitting there waiting for the next tank agitation cycle, or sorting slides or negs, a TV can be a wonderful thing. I'd rather have a Broncos game but I'll even watch network news or Oprah.

 

[DKT]

don't feel so alone Bob...I have a little TV in my darkroom as well. I use a tabletop processor quite a bit and will sit there & watch the news while the prints run through...sometimes I leave the room altogether and come back when they're done. At work, we have 2 thomas duplex safelights in the print lab--it's so bright I can read the newspaper or do a crossword puzzle while the prints run through the processor. on 9-11 I took a TV back there & watched the news while I printed. back when I printed EP2 in a lab on kreonite processor-you'd could go out and have a smoke or get a bite to eat practically in the length of time it took to run a print. You do that all day, you get bored out of your mind...having a TV is like listening to a radio.

KT

 

[Lex Jenkins]

If I had the room I'd keep a TV in the darkroom so I could at least listen to South Park and Friday/Tuesday Night Fights on ESPN.

I keep an AM/FM/Shortwave radio in the darkroom. Don't listen to shortwave as much as I used to tho'.

 

[Jeremy]

For those with a television and do have it on while printing, what needs to be done so that it won't fog film? I'm a big fan of the television show MASH and would love to listen to the episodes while printing. I just figure if I slap enough ruby lith to pretty much obscure the light from the screen I can get away with it. I think I may also have a b&w television out in the garage I could use.

 

[DKT]

Unless you were shooting ortho film, you're out of luck. You got the right idea for prints though, not panalure or c-prints, just b&w...rubylith would work good, amberlith probably would too. I used a scrap of a red gel I found in a Rosco pack....the TV just becomes like a safelight more or less. It doesn't matter if it's color or b&w. I use a little 5 inch b&w TV, have to get up close to it to really even see the image. I used to get so bored working with handlines all day---for awhile I would listen to books on tape while I worked. Anything to break up the monotony. Now I just listen to NPR or nothing at all. I guess it seems trashy or moronic to some, but sometimes I literally spend the entire day in the dark. I get off work & it's dark outside. I go home and work in my own darkroom and find it kind of relaxing actually to watch some dumb TV shows while I print. Guess I need too get out into the daylight some more.


BTW-- I got an old Pong game...guess I could hook it up to the TV? Or is that not analog enough for y'all...


KT

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

BTW-- I got an old Pong game...guess I could hook it up to the TV? Or is that not analog enough for y'all...
KT

Around here it's the paddle with the ball on a string or nothin', pal. That is, unless you have room for a ping pong table in your darkroom.

 

[DKT]

At work I would....we got 20 foot plus ceilings, the print room has concrete floors, it's about 40 some odd feet deep by 18 or so wide with a false wall for horizontal projection on on end....hmmm...maybe I should take up racquet ball?? I'll get back to ya on that one....

 

[BobF]

Jeremy, it's not that you can't watch TV while printing if you put ruby lith over the screen. The real problem is the distraction of the flashing and changing light patterns you get while trying to print or evaluate negatives etc. I don't know whether or not they program with flashing from light to dark on purpose but I wouldn't put it past them.

Of course you can't load film with the thing on but after loading into a tank it is nice company for processing.

Bob

 

[clogz]

Mmmm, all fine and dandy, but what is wrong with being alone with your thoughts when you're working in your darkroom. Call it the Zen of Pyro, the meditation on the mid-tones; whatever. Life's too full of the sound and fury of the media. Just merge with the safe light.

 

[DKT]

If I want solitude, I find a book and a nice chair. I spent the better part of my job-time crammed in a darkroom with other co-workers having the same workplace conversations over & over again...like Groundhog Day almost. Haivng a radio (or TV) is the only window you have to the outside.... It's like riding a bike--once you know how to make a print or use a view camera, you can do other things at the same time. It becomes second nature...I'm not saying I don't enjoy working in a darkroom--if I didn't I wouldn't run home to my own, but I'm saying if you do it for 10-12 hrs a day, weekly for years on end--using roller transport processors where you stick the print in & basically twiddle your thumbs until it comes out dry--you might find yourself doing other things during this downtime....

back to my hermit cave--KT

KT