Darkroom injury (minor): anybody else hurt themself in a dark darkroom?

[snusmumriken]

Does throwing your back out moving a 310 lb Ademco drymount press count? View attachment 330219

I have one of those! Bought it from a lab in London that was closing down. Somehow my wife and I got it into the back of our Volvo estate; and 200 miles later got it out again, all without damaging the car or ourselves. Then with the aid of a sack-lift we got it down 50 yards of uneven garden path and in at the back of the house. And there it stays. No chance of getting it into the darkroom (door too narrow) or out of the house again now that we are 15 years older. Works well though.

 

[Mike Lopez]

OK, this wasn’t in the darkroom but it’s where I was eventually headed. I have a project where I am going to run all the streets of my city (about 500 miles of them) and I document each of the runs by posting on a blog with maps, photos, etc. Sometimes I shoot photos with my phone, other times with my Minolta 16P. The week before last I went out to log a short one, 3.5 miles, and took my dog with me. He zigged in front of me and stopped causing me to tumble forward. I landed on my left thigh, right on the pocket where the 16P was, driving into the muscle. I couldn’t get up and a nice guy in a truck pulled over and helped, offering me a ride home. I was only 3 block away and thought I could “walk it off” so I hobbled on home. I have a massive bruise and had to take a week off from running.

Here’s the good news: No damage to the Minolta 16P. That is one tough camera.

Related: my training for the Boston Marathon is in full throat right now. I go (and try to go hard) six days a week, with Sunday as my rest day. However, that leaves Sunday as the only possible time for me to spend in the darkroom, and I'm in the midst of a project involving the printing of hundreds of portraits of my daughter from throughout her lifetime. Saturdays are my "long run" days, and those runs are 20-22 miles right now. You can see where this is going.

Long story short: after essentially standing in one spot in my basement for 8 or 9 hours with nothing but my recovery sandals between my legs and the concrete slab, having put upwards of 20 miles on those same legs the day before, I can't get off my feet fast enough by the time Sunday night rolls around. Of course then it's time to go to bed and get ready to do it all over again. Perhaps I'm just asking for injury this way, but I see no other alternative. Such is life.

 

[VinceInMT]

Related: my training for the Boston Marathon is in full throat right now. I go (and try to go hard) six days a week, with Sunday as my rest day. However, that leaves Sunday as the only possible time for me to spend in the darkroom, and I'm in the midst of a project involving the printing of hundreds of portraits of my daughter from throughout her lifetime. Saturdays are my "long run" days, and those runs are 20-22 miles right now. You can see where this is going.

Long story short: after essentially standing in one spot in my basement for 8 or 9 hours with nothing but my recovery sandals between my legs and the concrete slab, having put upwards of 20 miles on those same legs the day before, I can't get off my feet fast enough by the time Sunday night rolls around. Of course then it's time to go to bed and get ready to do it all over again. Perhaps I'm just asking for injury this way, but I see no other alternative. Such is life.

Ah, but it’s all worth it, isn’t it? The running, especially with a Boston goal, is certainly a stress on the system but the mental aspects make up for that. And the darkroom time is one of those labors of love, specifically that in your case, that also adds to one’s overall wellness.

BTW, are those sandals specific for recovery? A few years ago I switch to Hoka shoes for the extra cushioning and I read that many ultra runners wear them as recovery shoes. I’ve thought about how would I set up my darkroom if I was not as ambulatory as I am now and I think it would be possible by lowering table heights and moving things closer together. Right now I have a tall stool that sits on my wet side but only use it occasionally.

 

[Mike Lopez]

BTW, are those sandals specific for recovery? A few years ago I switch to Hoka shoes for the extra cushioning and I read that many ultra runners wear them as recovery shoes...

Indeed they are! Mine are also made by Hoka One One (bonus points if you get the pronunciation correct!). I have a pair of Hoka shoes for the trails and my Hoka sandals for recovery. I've never worn a more comfortable sandal, and I doubt I ever will. I wear these things whenever I can possibly get away with it, which basically means that anytime I'm not running, nor walking in active rainfall, they are on my feet. As a bonus, they are solid rubber and I wear them whenever I'm in a public shower or on the deck at the public pool that I use. Dollar for dollar, these are probably the best investment I've made for my feet and lower legs.

Edit: perhaps I shouldn't say "solid rubber" because I don't know that to be the case, but my point is that they're incredibly durable.

 

[eli griggs]

Related: my training for the Boston Marathon is in full throat right now. I go (and try to go hard) six days a week, with Sunday as my rest day. However, that leaves Sunday as the only possible time for me to spend in the darkroom, and I'm in the midst of a project involving the printing of hundreds of portraits of my daughter from throughout her lifetime. Saturdays are my "long run" days, and those runs are 20-22 miles right now. You can see where this is going.

Long story short: after essentially standing in one spot in my basement for 8 or 9 hours with nothing but my recovery sandals between my legs and the concrete slab, having put upwards of 20 miles on those same legs the day before, I can't get off my feet fast enough by the time Sunday night rolls around. Of course then it's time to go to bed and get ready to do it all over again. Perhaps I'm just asking for injury this way, but I see no other alternative. Such is life.

Lower your enlarger and buy a chair.

Cheers.

PS: thinking on it, if your darkroom floor can be damp mopped before each session or on a bi-weekly schedule, you may get entertain the idea of lowering that enlarging bench all together and invest in a really good & ergonomical knee chair, that'll allow you to bend/reach further and save your legs altogether.

Working lower has it's advantages and Japanese woodcut carvers ,& printmakers, etc, work from lower positions all the long day round.

 

[Donald Qualls]

ergonomical knee chair,

I had one of those mislabeled things thirty-five years ago. Sitting in it for two or three hours straight made my knees hurt (joint pain, not just pressure on the soft tissue over the bone). At least at present (sixty-three, and been doing this every day at work for fifteen years) I'm ahead standing, even for many hours in a day, on an anti-fatigue mat, as long as I can move around some (the two steps from my enlarger to my wet side, repeated every few minutes, should be fine, given I don't expect many eight hour enlarging sessions).

 

[eli griggs]

I should hope they're much improved today, seeing they are still being made and used.

 

[VinceInMT]

….having put upwards of 20 miles on those same legs the day before, I can't get off my feet fast enough by the time Sunday night rolls around.…

From my experience running a couple marathons, the hardest thing after is trying to go downstairs. My darkroom is in the basement so post long runs there is a difficulty and chance for injury just getting there. ;-)

 

[Mike Lopez]

From my experience running a couple marathons, the hardest thing after is trying to go downstairs. My darkroom is in the basement so post long runs there is a difficulty and chance for injury just getting there. ;-)

Yes, the stairs certainly become problematic every Sunday as well. And I live in a 4-story house (counting the finished attic and basement), so I have no fewer than 3 flights of stairs to negotiate. It was hyperbolic for me to say that I stand in one place in the basement for 8 or 9 hours. The truth is, I'm also going up and down the basement stairs many times throughout the work session.

Post-marathon stair strategy: walk sideways! It looks kind of silly and you might get laughed at, but it works!

 

[VinceInMT]

Yes, the stairs certainly become problematic every Sunday as well. And I live in a 4-story house (counting the finished attic and basement), so I have no fewer than 3 flights of stairs to negotiate. It was hyperbolic for me to say that I stand in one place in the basement for 8 or 9 hours. The truth is, I'm also going up and down the basement stairs many times throughout the work session.

Post-marathon stair strategy: walk sideways! It looks kind of silly and you might get laughed at, but it works!

On those stairs, a handrail is your friend. After a friend ran Boston a few years ago, he went to the subway and he said it was funny seeing how many people were headed down gripping the handrails.

 

[Sirius Glass]

On those stairs, a handrail is your friend. After a friend ran Boston a few years ago, he went to the subway and he said it was funny seeing how many people were headed down gripping the handrails.

Up and down. My knee cartilage is worn out from skiing and other sports activities and I use the handrail up and down. What most people do not realize is that going downstairs is a controlled fall requiring muscle work to keep balanced and that more people have heart attacks going downstairs than up. That is because going upstairs people are aware of the strain on the lungs and heart, but going downstairs, they are not.

 

[Mike Lopez]

On those stairs, a handrail is your friend. After a friend ran Boston a few years ago, he went to the subway and he said it was funny seeing how many people were headed down gripping the handrails.

Boston is a very punishing course. It’s a net drop of 459 feet, but about half of that happens in the first 3.5 miles. So you start the race by pounding your quads into hamburger, and then the Newton Hills show up, culminating in Heartbreak Hill, which hits at about 20.5 miles, perfectly coinciding with the point where the body’s glycogen stores are gone. It’s gonna be great!

 

[MCB18]

Ohhh, let’s see… banged my head on the enlarger a couple times, and when I was looking for a dropped photo paper, I banged my head on my table…

I’m afraid one day I’m going to slice my hands/fingers while cutting down 70mm to 120, though. That wouldn’t be fun at all!

 

[eli griggs]

Ohhh, let’s see… banged my head on the enlarger a couple times, and when I was looking for a dropped photo paper, I banged my head on my table…

I’m afraid one day I’m going to slice my hands/fingers while cutting down 70mm to 120, though. That wouldn’t be fun at all!

Make or have someone here make you a proper splitter.

 

[Kilgallb]

When I was in grade 8 shop class (1970) a kid in the darkroom sliced open his finger on paper cutter. One those old fashioned school type guiotine types.

After that the teacher had to do the paper cutting.

 

[Vaughn]

When I was in grade 8 shop class (1970) a kid in the darkroom sliced open his finger on paper cutter. One those old fashioned school type guiotine types.

After that the teacher had to do the paper cutting.

My mother was an elementry school secretary -- she had a teach who cut off part of her finger on a guilloteen-type paper cutter. Always amazed we did not have similar accidents at the uni darkroom.

 

[MCB18]

Make or have someone here make you a proper splitter.

I have a razor slitter, and theoretically I shouldn’t be able to cut myself while slicing, but you need to push the film through the razors to get it to start cutting. Not super sketchy, but still kinda makes me nervous.

 

[eli griggs]

I have a razor slitter, and theoretically I shouldn’t be able to cut myself while slicing, but you need to push the film through the razors to get it to start cutting. Not super sketchy, but still kinda makes me nervous.

Cheers!