Do You Use a Public Darkroom or One That's Outside Your Home?

DF

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What do you$$pay?
Is it nearby or must you travel a ways?
Is it at a school or a community darkroom or 'art' center?
 

MattKing

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My Darkroom Group offers a group darkroom in the home of two of the members - but it is an hour drive away.
I don't use it often - the other members of the group are the main reason I'm part of the group.
 

Sirius Glass

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When I had to seek work in the Washington DC area due to the economy, I used the public darkroom at Glen Echo, Maryland. It is large and well equipped. Once I returned home, I continued using my own darkroom.
 

Waldo

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There was an art center with a dark room I'd go to occasionally in Arizona, I think they charged $12/hr for use of the darkroom and their chemicals but had a bit cheaper rate if you were a paying member. They had a nice selection of equipment for alternative process, so it was a bit more than just a couple of enlargers and trays.

Around where I'm at now, there's a community dark room that charges $25 for the day. They are split between analog and digital, but have some large format enlargers which is nice.
 

Daniela

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I go to an art school about 30mins away. I pay 5€/hour and have to bring my own chemicals. The cool thing is that I sign a "contract" at the beginning of the school year with my chosen time and I get the whole darkroom to myself for 6 glorious hours every Monday
 

fgorga

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I occasionally use the darkroom at the Vermont Center for Photography (VCP) which is about an hours drive from my home (see: https://vcphoto.org/services/darkroom/). The cost (including basic chemicals but not film or paper) is $7/hour for members.

Basic membership is $100/year. There is also a premium membership where the use of the darkroom (and digital lab) does not require the hourly fee.

However, I am mostly an alternative process printer these days and thus I use the dim room in my basement most frequently.

I also use the 24" printer in the VCP's digital lab (see: https://vcphoto.org/services/digital-lab/) on occasion. But I'm not supposed to mention such things here... oops!
 

koraks

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I have the luxury of my own darkroom on the top floor of our home (it coincidentally doubles as study, sometimes accommodates drying laundry and is my place to hide from the Kittens of Destruction.)

However, an acquaintance of mine runs a community darkroom. The rates are €18/day for B&W and €59/day for color, but this requires a €30/year membership. If you're lucky, you're alone, or you may end up sharing the room with 2-3 others max.

Another friend of mine also runs a small community darkroom/photographic 'maker space'; darkroom rental is €60/day ex VAT and this generally means you have the place to yourself.

Analog photography courses are offered by a handful of amateur-oriented cultural centers in the country; they generally have one time slot per week when people enrolled in a (photography) course can use the darkroom for their personal work (so on top of regular curricular activities, which is generally also one night per week or per fortnight). I don't know rates for this, but they would be quite accessible/modest.

Overall, it's not commercially sustainable (duh), and heavily subsidized, relies on temporarily available space (slated for demolishment etc.), relies on donated equipment or otherwise acts of 'bottom feeding' and involves supervision by people working at or below minimum wage. While all this keeps rates attractively low, the lack of sustainability does worry me personally.
 

Daniela

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mshchem said:
That's perfect!
Click to expand...
It is, for now. For the past 4 years, there has obviously been just two of us using it. The other person is a gentleman that I've never met, but with whom I have exchanged post-its. For this reason, when September comes around and I contact them to sign up again, I'm afraid they'll say they have decided to close it down. So far, so good!
 

gary mulder

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The most expensive part of a dark room here are the housing costs of the room it self. Second the energy cost.
At the moment I am decommissioning my color dark room. The surplus equipment has no economical value to speak of. The best is to scrap it for parts. A Fermoneg negative stage has more value on ebay than a complete enlarger. I decided to keep the three 8 x10” enlargers for my black and white work and scrap the smaler ones. Yes, the future of optical printing concerns me too.
 

koraks

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gary mulder said:
The most expensive part of a dark room here are the housing costs of the room it self. Second the energy cost.
Click to expand...

Well, labor should really be up there as well. But I guess it isn't. Which IMO is one of the inherent problems in the present incarnation of community darkrooms. They're held together by the shoestring of goodwill and the paperclip of personal commitment of key individuals.
 

gary mulder

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Yes, labor costs are added if people expect a turn key solution.
 

koraks

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Even if they don't, someone needs to tend to the space, ensure there's equipment and that it's operational, instruct newcomers, clean up whenever people don't (even though they should), replace & fix stuff that's broken/lost/stolen etc. Maybe some community darkrooms are really community-run, but the ones I know involve some kind of operator/owner/janitor who needs to spend some time on the thing. Those hours as far as I can tell are all 'covered' by goodwill, someone's pension check, etc.
 

runswithsizzers

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I use a (state) university darkroom which is conveniently located in my home town. Because I am over 62 years of age, I qualify for a program the university offers which allows me to take one class per semester without paying any tuition. I do, of course, pay for my film, paper, and chemisty, but the university has their own "store" where a very limited number of items can be purchased, usually at a competitive price.
 

Arthurwg

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I used to use the darkrooms at ICP in New York. My own darkroom for the last 17 years.
 

Sirius Glass

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Welcome to Photrio!
 

Sirius Glass

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I agree whole hardheartedly. Setting aside part on ones living space is done as a big expense. Now it is harder to find good enlargers than it was twenty years ago when people would almost pay you to take it off their hands and one could pick and choose from several sizes, brands and models. So the shopping for equipment is much harder today. I do not envy anyone starting off today.
 

wiltw

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There is a lot of San Francisco bashing these days, for a variety of reasons, both by residents and by outsiders looking in. But for all its shortcoming, San Francisco has the distinction of owning and operating a public darkrooom and photo center.
"Serving the San Francisco community since 1940, the Harvey Milk Photo Center is the oldest and largest community black and white darkroom in the United States, and is associated with the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department. In addition to the wet lab, the Center provides access to large format printers, film scanning equipment in our full featured digital lab"​
I first used this darkroom over 50 years ago as a college student at University of San Francisco, serving as a teacher's assistant. Usage today takes a membership, or $25 for a day pass without membership. If a 6mo. member, day usage is $8.

Across the Bay is a collective in which basic membership is $50 per year, and darkroom membership costs are: one month ($20-$35), three month ($90), or six month ($150) plans.
 
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koraks

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That's lovely.

wiltw said:
But for all its shortcoming, San Francisco has the distinction of owning and operating a public darkrooom and photo center.
Click to expand...

And that, too.
 

MFstooges

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For unknown reason I got the title as "Public Restroom".

Should I challenge myself to use public restroom as a darkroom or will I risk myself for being arrested?
 

armadsen

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I use a public darkroom here in Salt Lake City. It’s $150 for 10 2-hour sessions, and includes chemicals. Until recently they also supplied paper, but I always brought my own anyway. They’ve got 2 4x5 B&W enlargers.

Another public darkroom just opened here a couple weeks ago, but I haven’t used it yet. They seem to have equipment for color printing (which I’ve never done), unlike the one I use now.

theFINDlab opened yet another one this summer in Provo, about 50 miles south of here. So at least here in Utah, public darkrooms are alive and well.
 

RalphLambrecht

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DF said:
What do you$$pay?
Is it nearby or must you travel a ways?
Is it at a school or a community darkroom or 'art' center?
Click to expand...

I use the club's darkroom across the street and enjoy the exchange with other members while I'm there. Otherwise, darkroom work can be a very lonely business.
 
OP
OP

DF

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There was a wonderfull community darkroom in Chicago that gave users unlimited 24 hour access via key code of course, all for just $75 per month!
All the enlargers, sinks, beakers easels etc, were donated. Chemicals included.
Building got bought so everything now sits in storage, for how much longer no one knows...
 
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