Developer in the Dorm?

[Nikanon]

I will be heading off to college soon at tyler school of art at temple university. I have been denied access to the darkroom and photographic equipment even though i can walk my way around pretty much any kind of enlarger, most chemicals (compounds not entire developers) and have a pretty good understanding of the overall mechanics of photography. The reason was that i am not in the class so im not allowed and there are probably many more issues with safety and such which i would gladly do what i can to solve but it seems at a dead end till i get there. My problem now is, should i bring my chemicals (full bottled developers and fixers, nothing too risky, rodinal at the worst) and develop in my bathroom there? On the list of things we cant i have i was kind of wise to notice "photo chemicals" or actually any chemicals are banned. So should i bring them or not risk it and go WITHOUT ANY PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSING, for a very very long unknown amount of time and die of starvation without chemicals. ha.

 

[rphenning]

why did you get barred on the darkroom? that is pretty weak. Anyways, if it were me I would make sure that there isn't a hazardous chemicals clause in your housing contract and then just bring em in. Or make friends with that really good looking girl who lives off campus...You'll know her when you see her.

 

[Nikanon]

Its kinda lame, its out of the lab technicians hands, some safety issue, its kind of pointless, i mean i doubt even half the seniors really know too much about how developers even work, you be pretty disheartened to see what they teach now adays, mostly digital nonsense

 

[2F/2F]

Just sign up for a photo class...

 

[Nikanon]

I'm not allowed to take photo until sophmore year otherwise I'd be first on the list

 

[athanasius80]

If you can't get into a photo class for any reason, find out who the head of the photography department is. Explain your situation and bring a portfolio of work if necessary. If they're a reasonable person they'll probably make an exception or at least have the decency to explain why you're restricted.

Good luck!

And enjoy college. It could very well be the time of your life!

 

[SuzanneR]

When I went to art school, and majored in photography no less, I didn't take photo until sophomore year either. It kind of sucked, but looking back... that foundation year was one of the most valuable of my art education. It was a lot of drawing, painting, and *gulp* sculpture. I learned a lot, and was busy with it. I managed to make some pictures that first year, but didn't get nearly as much darkroom time as I wanted, and had similar issues with access to it.

At any rate... allow yourself to go with the flow a little as Tyler is a great school, and see how it goes. I was really ready, and my eye was really strong by the time we started that second year, and I hit the ground running.

Oh... and I processed plenty of film in the dorm room!

 

[Ian Grant]

Most good universities will (or should) have separate darkroom facilities for recreational use, in the UK these were run by the Student's Union. In addition at one time some non arts departments had their own lab & technician (biological scienes etc).

I know last time I was at University (6 years ago) the Lens based media departments darkrooms where restricted because of heavy demands on them, and one criteria of our Post Grad course was we had acess to our own (or other) facilities. There was a very good open access darkroom in the city.

Look around outside the University if there's no recreational darkrooms, unlike the UK the US has far more community darkrooms and Philadelphia does have one.

Ian

 

[SuzanneR]

Good point, Ian... and Philly has APUG sponsor Project Basho. I believe they maintain darkrooms that can be rented.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've been to Project Basho and have met its founder, Tsuyoshi Ito, and they have excellent facilities and an impressive roster of classes and workshops. It would probably be worth signing up for darkroom time there not only for access to the equipment, but to associate with the community of knowledgeable people affiliated with the organization, and if your work is up to it, it could give you access to opportunities to show your work outside the university context. They also organize field trips to New York occasionally to visit galleries or AIPAD.

Another option that I've used during long periods when I've been without a darkroom, is just to shoot color slide film for a while (or you could shoot B&W and send it to dr5). Even if you don't see this as your primary medium, it's a great way of sharpening your exposure and composition skills, because if you don't get everything right in the camera, there isn't much room to fix it later, even with methods that are off topic for APUG, and even if you could fix things later, that would defeat the point of the exercise.

 

[Mike Wilde]

Be furtive -Rodinal, a changing bag, rapid fixer, photo flow, a full length garment bag, and a scanner that can hande negs for a short term fix until you are in a position to print them. Hell, if I can develop film while camping in a tent at a workshop you should be able to pull it off in a dorm. Or do it in the athletic centre. Hell - stash the fixer in a shampoo bottle and rodial in a mouthwash bottle, and keep it in your locker there.

 

[removed account4]

If you can't get into a photo class for any reason, find out who the head of the photography department is. Explain your situation and bring a portfolio of work if necessary. If they're a reasonable person they'll probably make an exception or at least have the decency to explain why you're restricted.

Good luck!

And enjoy college. It could very well be the time of your life!

what he said ...

i would be careful using photochemicals i your dorm room ....
just because YOU are smart, doesn't mean some other
artschool/college student isn't a fool ... and tries to use
your "mouthwash or shampoo"

you will have plenty of time to make photographs and use the facilities at your school ...

project basho is a great place, you might get in touch with them ..

good luck, and enjoy school ..
john

 

[Nikanon]

Project basho is a bit of a walk from campus, and north philadelphia isnt the safest place in the world, just last week a student from temple got shot walking just off campus because he was talking on his cell phone which then got stolen. My problems not so much if i am ABLE to do it in my dorm, i can turn any place into a workshop, its just would it be something to risk or something i could get in alot of trouble for, and id probably keep the chemicals in their bottles and just let my dorm mates know whats what and what im doing so they arent suprised. I dont really enjoy shooting color and couldnt afford the processing anyway, i just dont "see" in color, my minds too deep into characteristic curves and filters and development processes to climb out to color. If i couldnt do anything id still research and study photography, i also plan to study chemistry alot and even minor in it so i have a good background and understanding of all the chemical processes of photography. Im just wondering if i should ask about them to be on the safe side so i dont feel like im sneaking some kind of drug in, but i feel the difference between asking, "can i have chemicals in my dorm room" and "can i use photographic developer in my dorm room" or even "am i allowed to develop photos in my dorm" may decide wether the answer is yes or no.

 

[Denis K]

Going to college is about finding out that your school and your professors know a lot more than you could ever learn by yourself without their help. Spend every waking second your first year thinking, "What can I extract from their minds that will better me and show me where my hidden strengths lay?" If you and they are doing there job correctly, you should find little time for anything else. You get this opportunity but once in life, don't waste it.

Denis K

 

[eworkman]

The US demands risk-free living, enforced by ambulance chasers.
Say you get a booboo, go to the health center, they sue to get back the costs, cuz it was SOMEBODY's fault, so now that activity is restricted, and photo chemicals are demonized. Your experience is one of gazillions thruout our lives- it's not simply No Handball Playing or Skateboarding
Do your part- Kill and eat a lawyer

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I would add to Denis K's comment that going to college in a big city like Philadelphia or New York, where I've been teaching for the better part of the last fifteen years or so, is an opportunity to explore the cultural resources of a city as an adult in a way that even people who have grown up in a city don't experience while living with their families. I knew plenty of Columbia students who never seemed to spend much time outside a five block radius of the campus and might as well have gone to a university in some small college town in a rural setting, not that that doesn't have its attractions.

So I would suggest, when you get to Philly, work hard and stay focused on what you're there to accomplish, but get yourself a monthly pass to use public transportation and explore a bit. Go to the Rodin museum and think about why they named a developer after the great sculptor, and spend some of your own time at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where you can wander without the pressures of an organized group, and listen to one of the greatest orchestras in the world, and once you've got your wits about you, don't be afraid of North Philadelphia. Tsuyoshi took a risk buying out and gutting a building in a run down neighborhood, but he was at the leading edge of gentrification, and now there are galleries and cafes emerging in that same area. I've taken public transportation there and walked to Project Basho, and of course when you're in an unfamiliar urban area, you need to know where you're going and not be too conspicuous and pay attention to what's happening around you, but don't let yourself get boxed in by those kinds of concerns.

 

[David Brown]

... my minds too deep into characteristic curves and filters ... If i couldnt do anything id still research and study photography, i also plan to study chemistry alot and even minor in it so i have a good background and understanding of all the chemical processes of photography.

Adding to what Denis and David said above, and in view of the quoted comments, I would suggest that you go with the program of the school you have chosen (or has "chosen" you) and maybe give the technical part of photography a break for a bit. Given what you said would be the studies for the first year, you'll be plenty busy!

I sense from your comments here and elsewhere that you are perhaps too hung up on the technical, and could really use some time just studying art. There is more to photography than chemistry. In fact, while understanding photo chemistry is interesting, and can be very helpful, it is not necessary to being a photographer.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Adding to what Denis and David said above, and in view of the quoted comments, I would suggest that you go with the program of the school you have chosen (or has "chosen" you) and maybe give the technical part of photography a break for a bit. Given what you said would be the studies for the first year, you'll be plenty busy!

I sense from your comments here and elsewhere that you are perhaps too hung up on the technical, and could really use some time just studying art. There is more to photography than chemistry. In fact, while understanding photo chemistry is interesting, and can be very helpful, it is not necessary to being a photographer.

Denis, Dave and David said it well.
1) Talk to the professors, and ask what they recommend.
2) Do not take photographic chemicals into the door. They can throw you and the chemicals out, and then you are not only out the money for school that year, but also you will have trouble getting in any other good school
3) Check out Project Basho
4) Visit the art museums in the area. I learned more about photography by being dragged around every art museum in Washington DC, Baltimore and New York as a child. Why? Because just by looking at the paintings and sculpture I learned about composition, balance, light, contrast.=, having the picture tell the story ...

Best of luck and fortune in college.

Steve

 

[mrred]

Rules are rules, and your time at school is relatively a short one. Baring convincing someone to let you use a darkroom, it may not be worth the repercussions to use your dorm room. The evil lurking here may be nothing more than insurance; they may only insure the 'class' for the potential damage.

However I use a light bag, some containers, some chemicals (I use liquids) and a scanner is all I need to get away with my kitchen sink. Two minutes after I am done, you would never know I was there... Most modern chems do not even have a noticeable odor. Everything I use fits in a rubber maid tub.

 

[Nikanon]

I sense from your comments here and elsewhere that you are perhaps too hung up on the technical, and could really use some time just studying art. There is more to photography than chemistry. In fact, while understanding photo chemistry is interesting, and can be very helpful, it is not necessary to being a photographer.

I spent the first 16 and a half years of my life studying drawing and painting and nothing else. I drew since i was two years old, i have intensely studied claude monet, andrew wyeth and many other artists and their work, my favorite was M.C. Escher. When i got into photography i wasnt so much concerned with artistic understanding, i already knew my way about my own style of art, i concerned myself with mastering the craft to meet my artistic needs

 

[keithwms]

As someone who teaches at a university and has a faculty residence apartment in a dorm.... sure, you could keep some chems in a dorm and develop there, but I'd not advise it, it's just inconvenient and hard to clean up and dispose of things safely. Instead, consider that most university have *several* darkrooms. They are usually beside electron microscopy labs in materials science departments or bio labs. At last count my university had 3 darkrooms within a short walk. A lot of physics departments have them, for holography and other related things. Come to think of it, our astro department probably also has one. My department had three until recently and now has one (mine all mine!)...

If you do decide to develop in your room/car/closet, consider one of those little tents such as you see in the walmart processing labs, or get a film changing tent, put a big tray in it, and off you go. I've tray-developed a few things on the go that way, it's fine.

You could also post some message and try to find similarly interested individuals (faculty?) at the school. I know a bunch of folks with home darkrooms. Actually, my own search for darkroom stuff led me to meet none other than Jack Mitchell, who invented the modern theory of silver halide sensitization. Mr. Latent Image. And he lived 3 blocks from me! Jack was, I don't know, 95 or so when I met him, had gobs of great stuff and a little darkroom that was well stocked. I scored all kinds of stuff from Jack, including a lifetime supply of bromide papers.

 

[removed account4]

instead of asking a handful of people who mean well, but are basically strangers
and don't know the situation at your school,
why don't you ask the school if they will allow you to process film in your dorm room ...
and if they say NO, find a rental lab, or try to appeal the photo department's decision, or process your film when you go home on vacation.
if they say YES .. do your thing ..
there doesn't really seem to be a point to ask the question here ..

no one here knows what is or is not allowed.

 

[eli griggs]

You might find five or six like minded students, start a club and find a room with power, plus hot and cold water to rent by the month, with get-to-togethers about twice a week by two or more members so any messes do not get a start.

 

[Anscojohn]

Make sure you don't spend so much time looking for a darkroom that you neglect your course work and studying for it.

 

[Nikanon]

Actually I'm not looking to print, I just wanna get my negatives developed to avoid excessive fogging ( I have no fridge) so all I need is the chems a tank and changing bag as well as a place, I'll be plenty focused on my studies, just a side worry I've got about my mind