In some houses built in the 20's. short pieces of hardwood flooring were used in the middle of the rooms. The idea was that most people would have some sort of rug or bed there, so it would not show.
In some houses built in the 20's. short pieces of hardwood flooring were used in the middle of the rooms. The idea was that most people would have some sort of rug or bed there, so it would not show.I noticed that the pieces of hardwood were shorter than in my place, ranging from 12-24”.
Condos are odd ducks in the US. If you own one, you really only own the inside. Everything outside is co-owned. And while zoning is usually local, a condo association has it's own rules that are spelled out to every prospective buyer.
If you happen to own an apt or home in New Orleans's French Quarter, or any historic area near it, their Vieux Carre Commission will go into your home and tell you what color you can paint your INSIDE walls. Ditto on floors, lighting, etc. Which is why things still look authentic there.
My darkroom is a mostly repurposed basement storage closet measuring about 6 x 10 feet. I’ve needed to shield small LED Lights that prove that the sump pump is ready for action! A nearby laundry room (about 20 feet away) serves as my source of water and drainage. Works well enough.
I needed to put black electrician's tape over the smoke detector's green LED lights so that it would not fog the paper.
Why risk it? A piece of tape over an LED is no big deal. It's more trouble to do a test. All the LEDs in my darkroom (except the timer) have been taped over--surge strips, stereo, GFCs. And you wouldn't want some stray LED light to fog your film, even though it might be safe for paper.Do you really think that would fog your paper? Did you do the coin test before and after? I'm pretty skeptical that the LED lights on Howard Hayes' sump pump would be a problem.
Do you really think that would fog your paper? Did you do the coin test before and after? I'm pretty skeptical that the LED lights on Howard Hayes' sump pump would be a problem.
My laundry room has turned out to be my darkroom for loading and unloading film. It has no windows, is next to the kitchen where I develop my film, and easily becomes totally dark after the sun goes down and the kitchen lights are off. If I need to load film during the day, I either toss a towel over the crack between the door hinges and frame, or place my changing bag on top the washer. Since I digitize my film and no longer use a wet printing method, my copy-stands are setup on a desk area in the studio and ready to go whether it will be with my medium format digital setup or my APS-C setup. Life is simpler this way for me.
Duh ... I would not have done that if it was not a problem. You need to give people other than you some credit.
I guess it depends on your view of the "art world." For some, it encompasses all forms of art and all who make it, sell it and display it. For others, its is the influential critics, collectors, galleries and museum curators (and trustees who approve the purchases) who determine the validity of what may be considered "art."
Often people go the digital route after developing because to the space, cost and logistical problems of setting up a darkroom with an enlarger, I almost when that way when I blew through a new set of inkjet cartridges, started looking into Craig's list in disgust and found the same type enlarger and drum print dryer that Kodak allowed employees to use off hours.
I have an Epson 3880 that I am retiring. I am now sending my image files out for printing.
The cost of inkjet cartridges ($686.95 for 9 color set @ B&H) is nuts if you are not making money printing on a regular basis.
Happy for those that can still stay at it. I am thinking about getting into collodion in the future and that might change things a little.
Tiny light sources might not fog paper, but could, for example, spoil sheet film development in a tray. Even the luminous dial hands to an old school darkroom timer would ruin many things I do. Such devices belong on a shelf below the sink, where the film itself can't see it. As per GFCI's, they're easy enough to buy without those lights. And I always find it interesting how, whenever the term "darkroom" comes up, some lawyer mentality will ask, "define dark". Dark means dark; it's that simple. Even my black and white printing safelight is on a momentary contact footswitch, and plugged in only for appropriate sessions.
I was amazed by all the darn leds I found in my darkroom.
For sure.
My darkroom is in fact a multi-purpose room that is my home office, my electronics lab (other hobby), music room (yet another..), darkroom (with a sink!), etc...essentially my man-cave, excepts it's at the top floor of our house. Due to its multi-purpose nature, it's positively teeming with leds and little status indicators. I even went so far as to replace several particularly nasty blue and green leds on computer equipment (especially USB hubs) with much dimmer amber ones. Others I taped over. Hadn't I done all this, it would have been impossible to darken this room for RA4 printing, let alone film processing.
Back to the original topic: I would add my 2 cts. to the notion that an existing bedroom (or in my case, generic room) can be repurposed as a darkroom. In our previous house I had a dedicated darkroom, but in the present home I have made plywood panels that I can insert into the windows so I can darken this room only as needed, I installed a little Ikea kitchen sink & worktop and extended the plumbing from the adjacent space where there were provisions for a washing machine. Flooring is PVC. I'm quite happy with the arrangement because it's so multifunctional. I can do my regular office work here during the day and then after dinner pop in the panels and turn on the enlarger. It takes just a few minutes to 'convert' the room into a functional darkroom. Since we renovated the entire house anyway, the additional cost of adding darkroom functionality to this room was quite marginal. The Ikea kitchen block cost maybe a couple hundred € in total; the rest was basically scraps.
This thread has been really insightful in helping me decide where to start in regards to building my own darkroom. I suppose the actual requirements aren't that complicated, and everyone needs to consider their own needs and circumstances to really decide for themselves.
I have a darkroom trailer problem. Years ago, we moved into a small house which had no place for a darkroom, so I bought a contractor's trailer and built my darkroom in it. It has served me well.
Now that I'm pushing 80, we need to downsize. We will be moving into an 828 square foot apartment. The trailer has not had its license tabs renewed for a long time, which will be a problem, as well as certain mechanical needs. Probably what I will need to do is to remove the contents, sell what I can, or donate to a cause - and deal with the trailer separately. If someone wants the whole thing, they need to know that it isn't insulated (problem is getting worse due to climate change) and to use it, one needs power, water, and a sewer cleanout. I have that where I am, but it would be hard to set that up where I'm going.
I'm attaching a list of what I have, all of which could be available. I'd like to know whether anyone has suggestions or interest in it; it's hard to advertise when you really don't know what you want to do, but I will do that separately. I am posting here because I would like to have some discussion.
With the advent of digital, the diminished value could lead on to look for someone to take it. I will miss the great Durst D659! I have arranged to use another darkroom which doesn't have room or need for what I have here.
I have a darkroom trailer problem. Years ago, we moved into a small house which had no place for a darkroom, so I bought a contractor's trailer and built my darkroom in it. It has served me well.
Now that I'm pushing 80, we need to downsize. We will be moving into an 828 square foot apartment. The trailer has not had its license tabs renewed for a long time, which will be a problem, as well as certain mechanical needs. Probably what I will need to do is to remove the contents, sell what I can, or donate to a cause - and deal with the trailer separately. If someone wants the whole thing, they need to know that it isn't insulated (problem is getting worse due to climate change) and to use it, one needs power, water, and a sewer cleanout. I have that where I am, but it would be hard to set that up where I'm going.
I'm attaching a list of what I have, all of which could be available. I'd like to know whether anyone has suggestions or interest in it; it's hard to advertise when you really don't know what you want to do, but I will do that separately. I am posting here because I would like to have some discussion.
With the advent of digital, the diminished value could lead on to look for someone to take it. I will miss the great Durst D659! I have arranged to use another darkroom which doesn't have room or need for what I have here.
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