Darkroom Motivation

SteveH · May 15, 2006

All,
Wanted: Darkroom motivation. 25yo ISO a fire under his butt. 20 sheets to develop; been sitting for 4 days now.

arigram · May 15, 2006

A bottle of expensive wine and someone to massage your back while you work?

jmdavis · May 15, 2006

SteveH said:
All,
Wanted: Darkroom motivation. 25yo ISO a fire under his butt. 20 sheets to develop; been sitting for 4 days now.

Call us after its been sitting for a couple of months. Four days is distraction, 2 months is someone who needs motivation.

Mike "I have some 8x10 from the fall that needs to be developed"

PS: I like Arigram's solution though. I could do without the wine, but the massage would be great after standing on the concrete.

SteveH · May 15, 2006

arigram said:
A bottle of expensive wine and someone to massage your back while you work?

That sounds like a plan, as long as the masseuse is one of those models you have in your portfolio .

arigram · May 15, 2006

SteveH said:
That sounds like a plan, as long as the masseuse is one of those models you have in your portfolio .

Ah, but they are all like birds, I photograph them and then they are free to fly away. Last week I didn't go to the darkroom at all because of my aching neck and back and trust me, right now, a good massage would worth the practitioner's weight in gold. Even if he was a big fat Turk like the one that almost broke me to pieces in the oldest Hamam in Istanbul.

Mr.Davis is right though. Four days is nothing. The other day I found an exposed 35mm film on the darkroom worktable which has rusted waiting for development! Just make a plan to do a few each other day and reward yourself while working or after that.

Developing fillm can be tedious and tiring but its the most important proccess in the darkroom. You don't want them screwed up! That's why I got a Jobo...

gr82bart · May 15, 2006

SteveH said:
Wanted: Darkroom motivation.

Take one of Les MacLean's courses. Once you see the way....

Regards, Art.

wfe · May 15, 2006

Steve,
Loose a few pounds and I'll stuff you into my suitcase and smuggle you to Les McLean's workshop with me. BTW I'm happy if I get into my darkroom on the weekends only.

Regards,
Bill

SteveH · May 15, 2006

Well, the issue is that I only have so many film holders. This really hasn't been an issue before...Its not that I mind processing; its just that the call of the wild has been stronger than the call of the darkened bathroom.

Bill - thanks for the offer, how big is your suitcase ?

firecracker · May 15, 2006

SteveH said:
Well, the issue is that I only have so many film holders. This really hasn't been an issue before...Its not that I mind processing; its just that the call of the wild has been stronger than the call of the darkened bathroom.

Bill - thanks for the offer, how big is your suitcase ?

Then go with the wild and come back with more exposed film. You're gonna hang your head!

Either way, there's no need to rush. It's your stuff to finish. You can stay out in the sun or in the dark as long as you want. Just don't run out of your energy before you print.

Fintan · May 15, 2006

Install your hi-fi in your darkroom.

jovo · May 15, 2006

Okay...how about this: "Get off your fat, lazy butt and haul your sorry ass into the darkroom or I'll come over there and tell you to get off your fat, lazy butt and haul your sorry ass into the darkroom again!" Motivated yet?

OTOH, wine and a good stereo should be all that's required if you really need some extra inducement.

Donald Qualls · May 15, 2006

I find it easier to get the tray developing done than to load and process roll film in tanks -- it's faster from starting setup to cleaning up. Now that I've done it a few times (after literally 35 years of off-and-on experience with daylight tanks), I can set up, unload holders, process film, and hang it to dry in under an hour for a batch of six sheets (still working on keeping it scratch free, but the last batch had only two sheets damaged out of six). The same six sheets would take at least two hours with my daylight tubes (which are still the way to go if I have only two sheets to process the same, however).

What I have trouble doing is getting into APUG every day to keep the stack of new messages at a manageable level -- I'll leave it for a couple days, and then all of a sudden there are 1500 new messages, and I wind up skipping stuff I'd rather have read trying to get through the board in under two hours...

SteveH · May 15, 2006

jovo - Thanks for giving me Drill Instructor flashbacks...Now I *need* that bottle of wine

Donald - I agree. It seems like I get 'more' when I develop sheets in trays rather than any other way. I usually develop my film, and while it is drying in the darkroom, I take my holders out, dust them, and then bring them back into the DR to load. By that point, the films are almost dry.

glbeas · May 15, 2006

SteveH said:
Well, the issue is that I only have so many film holders. This really hasn't been an issue before...Its not that I mind processing; its just that the call of the wild has been stronger than the call of the darkened bathroom.

Bill - thanks for the offer, how big is your suitcase ?

Steve! 4x5 holders are a dime a dozen on Ebay! Get some more and go shoot! The images in your gallery are gems-make more!

gbenaim · May 16, 2006

Steve,

I hear your pain, it's hard to go in there sometimes. I just spent the last couple of days playing around w ilford warm tone, not my usual paper, printing some stuff from my wife's pregnancy that I only had on RC. I really only did it to get myself in the darkroom. Sometimes it's best to do something fun and easy w quick payback to get you in the swing of things. Also, if the filmholders are holding you back, just unload the film into empty paper bags and put them inside paper envelopes. That way it'll free you up to shoot some more, which is sometimes all one wants to do. You'll deal w the developing later. Just make sure to label the bags for type of development and film. Cheers.

SteveH · May 16, 2006

All,
Thanks for all of your motivational ideas ! I got everything developed last night, and I can honestly say that I was rewarded, despite all of the complaining/procrastination, etc etc.
I loaded up some Provia 100F - my first time shooting anything color in 4x5. With the crazy weather moving through here yesterday, I should be in great shape to catch a dramatic sunrise.

At least I won't have to develop these shots

Thanks again to everyone !

Ole · May 16, 2006

I was looking for a negative the other day - I was sure I'd shot it, but now I wanted to print it. Searched all over, no sign of it.

Then my eye fell upon a stack of film holders, and I noticed about half of them still had the black side out - meaning "shot, not developed".

I exposed those sheets in September last year.

Early Riser · May 16, 2006

20 sheets to develop and a 25yo lacks the energy/motivation to process them?!! Maybe too much time was spent on X box? I'm the middle of processing 110 rolls of 120 and 48 sheets of 4x5. I started processing last week and will finish by the end of this week. And this is right after being on the road shooting for 6 weeks without any days off. Steve, just do it! If you give in to procrastination it just gets worse.

MattKing · May 16, 2006

Early Riser said:
If you give in to procrastination it just gets worse.

I may need to borrow this - for my signature! :rolleyes:

Matt

blansky · May 16, 2006

Motivation......to make money.

I've had times when I mixed the chemistry, got everything ready, then said fuck it, I don't want to be in here. So I left.

The funny thing is, if your force yourself, you'll probably end up having to do it over anyway.

That being said, paying the mortgage can be a strong motivator.

Michael

colrehogan · May 16, 2006

Early Riser said:
20 sheets to develop and a 25yo lacks the energy/motivation to process them?!! Maybe too much time was spent on X box? I'm the middle of processing 110 rolls of 120 and 48 sheets of 4x5. I started processing last week and will finish by the end of this week. And this is right after being on the road shooting for 6 weeks without any days off. Steve, just do it! If you give in to procrastination it just gets worse.

Gee, I don't feel so bad now. I only have 11 rolls of b/w to do and 4 sheets each of 8x10 & 5x12. I better get going soon, I got my 5x12 shipment of film from Ilford today!

Christopher Nisperos · May 19, 2006

In a totally silly vein:
Think of it this way ...(in my mother's voice.... ahem):

What if you get hit by a car ... and live, young man? Hmm? . .Well, actually, what if you're hanging between life and death .... laying there in your hospital bed with both legs and arms in plaster casts? You'd look up at the ceiling and think about all the joys and regrets of your life (and whether or not you were wearing clean underwear at the time of the accident).

Wouldn't one of the regrets in your mind be (timpani sound here, please)...THOSE 20 SHEETS OF FILM YOU NEVER DEVELOPED? .

Would you think, "I should have developed that film .. I SHOULD have developed that doggone film! Or would you think, "Hey, lighten-up Mom! You'll kill me with guilt long before I ever die from this accident".

There. Now, if this doesn't motivate you ... um, I wouldn't blame you.

(sorry... it's late here)

SteveH · May 20, 2006

Christopher Nisperos said:
... of your life (and whether or not you were wearing clean underwear at the time of the accident)..

What difference does that make ? Clean or dirty pre- accident ? I can assure you they would be dirty post- accident

Jim Jones · May 20, 2006

SteveH said:
All,
Wanted: Darkroom motivation. 25yo ISO a fire under his butt. 20 sheets to develop; been sitting for 4 days now.

The greatest darkroom motivation is great images. If you don't have a few great images out of 20, slow down and make the next images great. Of course I've had a few rolls of 35mm waiting for a week or two in my own darkroom.

cdholden · May 20, 2006

SteveH said:
Well, the issue is that I only have so many film holders. This really hasn't been an issue before...Its not that I mind processing; its just that the call of the wild has been stronger than the call of the darkened bathroom.

Get an empty light-tight box of sheet film and put your undeveloped film in there to free up the holders to answer your call of the wild. Once you get that call of the darkroom, the box of film will be waiting.

Chris
(making my first attempt at home developing this weekend!)

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