Greetings from Greenville SC

edcculus · May 13, 2012

Hi. I'd like to quickly introduce myself. I'm a 26 year old Graphic Designer working in printing/packaging in the Greenville, SC area. I got my love for shooting and developing B&W in college in one of the required courses in my major. I've been shooting film off and on ever since. Right now, I mainly shoot on a Nikon F2 Photomic my father bought in the late 70's with the original 50mm Nikkor lens.

Right now, Im in the process of setting up a small home darkroom in the extra bathroom. Im picking up an enlarger next month. I plan to have a setup that can be broken down and stowed very easily (except the enlarger).

I look forward to being a member and hope I can learn a lot! 

papagene · May 13, 2012

Hello and welcome to APUG from western Massachusetts!

Sirius Glass · May 13, 2012

Welcome to APUG!

Jeff Kubach · May 13, 2012

Hello and a warm welcome to APUG! I hope you enjoy analog photograph.

Jeff

c6h6o3 · May 13, 2012

edcculus said:
I'm a 26 year old Graphic Designer working in printing/packaging in the Greenville, SC area. I got my love for shooting and developing B&W in college in one of the required courses in my major.

Where did you go to school and what was your major? You should get to know Sandy King when he gets back from the trip to China he's taking now. He lives in Easley. He's a master of carbon transfer printing and the inventor of Pyrocat developer.

edcculus · May 14, 2012

I went to Clemson University and I was in the Graphic Communications program. The major focus heavily on the main commercial printing processes (lithography, screen printing, flexography, gravure). I'm not too familiar with carbon printing, as we didn't really get into a lot of the fine art aspect of photography in the classes I had to take. It looks really interesting. I've been interested in trying my hand at Cyanotype also.

c6h6o3 · May 14, 2012

edcculus said:
I went to Clemson University and I was in the Graphic Communications program. The major focus heavily on the main commercial printing processes (lithography, screen printing, flexography, gravure). I'm not too familiar with carbon printing, as we didn't really get into a lot of the fine art aspect of photography in the classes I had to take. It looks really interesting. I've been interested in trying my hand at Cyanotype also.

You are to be congratulated. My daughter just finished her freshman year at Clemson and related horror stories to me about what her friends who are Graphic Communications majors went through during Finals Week. It's a notoriously difficult major. I'm told it has a 98% job placement rate for graduating Seniors. Not too shabby in this day and age.

Sandy King was Chairman of the Foreign Language Dept. at Clemson until his retirement a few years back. He is now Professor Emeritus there.

I don't know how they do it now, but carbon transfer used be the method used to make gravure cylinders for commercial packaging. The exposed, hardened carbon tissue was laid over copper plated cylinders and acid would etch the cells to a depth proportional to the softness of the gelatin.

edcculus · May 14, 2012

Yes, it was a fairly hard major, but I really enjoyed it. It is very lab intensive. Every class has a lab that runs for 3-4 hours 2 times a week, while the lecture portion meets for 1 hour once a week. Depending on the class, and how many you are taking, you can spend 20-30 hours in the lab to get all your work done. I accepted a job before graduating in December of 2008, right when the economy was tanking. Some of my Mechanical Engineer roomates didn't find jobs for 1-2 years after they graduated.

Foreign Language wasn't required in GC, although I did take 2 semesters of Italian for fun. I don't think I ever had the chance to have any interaction with Sandy while I was there.

I haven't worked in the commercial gravure field, but I think at this point most big places do direct engraving with lasers onto a steel cylinder plated with a softer metal.

Mike Wilde · May 14, 2012

You may want to peruse the old Popular Mechanics posting on Google Books. There was almost alway a DIY photo gear article every issue or two mid 50's to mid 60's.

I know I read one that had plans on building a plywood fold up affair that put an enlarging desk at an convenient height over half of a tub; the second half was the wet side, coated with fibreglass. There was a basket that sat under the counter in the tub to wash prints using the tub filler as a water sourcem, and it overflowed to drain down the tub drain. The work table with hinging legs hung vertically on a bracket behind the bathroom door when not in use. I based my first darkroom effort on that article. After that I moved on to a microwave cart for impromtu efforts.

I am pleased to hear of the fun you are having with good old film stuff.

M.A.Longmore · May 14, 2012

.
Welcome Home !

Ron
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edcculus · May 14, 2012

Thanks Mike!

Luckily, the bathroom I plan on setting up in has a dormer which is completely wasted space. I plan on setting up the enlarger on a small table or cabinet there permanently. I have not figured out exactly what I'm going to do for the wet side over the tub, so looking at some plans like that would be really helpful.

Greetings from Greenville SC

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