Darkroom Sins:

Ok, i'm guilty.

I often turn the music loud too, that's loud enough for me not to concentrate -- in some cases i've been found dancing to 80's funk while agitating [yuck!]. I also smoke inside the darkroom, but only after the print's out of the fixer and count my film developing/fixing times with ciggarettes. I've been found peeing inside the water tank too, and my friend -- oh well, let's just say she wasn't all happy.

But the greatest sin i have to confess, father, is that i constantly get bored of very difficult prints and open up a bottle or two of beer. After that -- forget the printing...



-Sino.

I don't dust as often as I should. Granted, my darkroom is in the basement of a friend's house, and I have enough trouble keeping my own house clean. I just imagine that a dust free environment would mean less hassle getting a clean print...
No other real sins to report. Great thread, good reading!

- Thom

Amen, brother.
Gasp, wheeze.

I once shared a duplex with guy who was really unlikeable. I pluged my hot water and electrical into his system -- he never figured it out.

I pass gas and burp in public, why should the dr be any different?

I sniff the developer. It's gooooooood!!

djklmnop said:

Can one die from passing too much gass in an unventilated darkroom?

Click to expand...

A serious aside: I build a cheap darkroom and left out the 'gas' trap - you know, the "J" shaped pipe under the train. Sewer gas was horrible, sickening. Stupid thing to do, and fixed quickly.

Yesterday--Set up tanks to run twenty-odd sheets of 5x7" and 4x5" in ABC pyro, loaded the first batch of 5x7" in the hangers, ready to go, gloves outside the darkroom, cover to the "dry" tank also outside. The stains on my right hand aren't too bad, and I figure one exposure won't be deadly, considering how much people used to do with bare hands.

Does giving the film a presoak in fixer prior to development count as a sin; or just plain stupidity?

Sleeping on the job ...

In the 80's, I actually built and used a darkroom for my employer. Everyone had been instilled with the rule that if the door was closed and the little warning light was on, you DID NOT go in there!

This allowed me to go to the darkroom and take naps

Jose A Martinez said:

Hurry to pee?, what the sink is for?

Click to expand...

I like that one, as long as you don`t do it in a spare print tray and use use it as hypo clearing agent.

Keith Tapscott. said:

I like that one, as long as you don`t do it in a spare print tray and use use it as hypo clearing agent.

Click to expand...

I can't help thinking that it should work....

David Brown said:

In the 80's, I actually built and used a darkroom for my employer. Everyone had been instilled with the rule that if the door was closed and the little warning light was on, you DID NOT go in there!

This allowed me to go to the darkroom and take naps

Click to expand...

A skiver eh? I`ll have to think of something like that myself, thanks for the tip.

David Brown said:

This allowed me to go to the darkroom and take naps

Click to expand...

I used to work with a guy who would do that--he set up a pattern where it would take him three times as long as everyone else to do something...If you went back to check on him, there was no way to tell what was going on, since the room was all dark....you'd send him to load 4x5 holders, and it would take him a couple of hours. So you'd run out of film waiting for him, and he'd be back there with the lights turned off snoozing in the film loading room. Or, normally it takes about 45-60 minutes to a run of film in the b/w deeptank, but he worked it so he would basically disappear into the film room and come out hours later. Everyone else usually multitasks--in that you get the job running and then go do something else and check back. Not him--he'd be long done with the film, but would sit in the back with the lights turned off and the water running etc, snoozing....

Another one--we have 2 darkrooms connected by one revolving door that goes out to the studio. One time he was caught in this revolving door--he'd been there for about an hour--waiting for everyone to leave the studio so he could sneak out early. He tried to slip out, but the boss came to the studio and lingered too long. So he was stuck. Thing was, he waited so long, it went past his normal time to leave. So, it became suspicious. The guy I work for--our supervisor--went to the outside door and said in a real loud voice "Okay, I'm gone for the day, you all have a good one!" and he SLAMMED the door shut, while we all stood there looking at the revolving door. Like clockwork--the door shuts and the revolving door opens and he's stading there all in his jacket and has his bag and all ready to go....it was a weird, awkward moment as he tried to explain what he was doing in the door so long. Thing was--that door hadn't moved in a looong time. He was standing in there, in the dark about five feet away waiting...

ahh, the memories...

I once, just once, took the Lord's name in vain while attempting to get my first print from my darkroom...

......ok, maybe twice...

...oh, alright!!! Maybe there were a few other expletives in there, somewhere...

......ok, maybe it happened once or twice since then....But NOT LAST TIME!

Well...maybe last time, too...