mooseontheloose
Allowing Ads
Is there such thing as a book or website or something that focuses on the history of the darkroom and darkroom equipment? It always seems like an afterthought, the middle step between taking the picture and making a print, and people often talk about cameras or darkroom processes, but not the actual darkrooms themselves.
I'm quite interested in how darkrooms and equipment developed over time. While the basics would be the same (some kind of enlarger, safelight, etc.) what they actually looked like would be different depending on decade and location. I know it's possible to see some examples, especially the darkrooms of famous photographers and/or of commercial darkrooms (see below), and I have the book about developer trays, but I'd like to have a resource that had all things darkroom related in one place.
Does such a resource exist? I've been searching and have come across a few possibilities, but nothing that really satisfies my need to know. FWIW, I've been slowly collecting various vintage darkroom items which is what sparked my interest in this topic. While I know that many items have lasted for decades and decades because darkroom innovation tends to be slow, the historian in me also wants to know that if I recreated a 1930s style darkroom, that my trays and tongs are period-appropriate and not anachronistic.
I like this video, but it really focuses on the modern darkroom, and I'm interested in everything from the very beginning of darkroom work in the mid-19th century.
I'm quite interested in how darkrooms and equipment developed over time. While the basics would be the same (some kind of enlarger, safelight, etc.) what they actually looked like would be different depending on decade and location. I know it's possible to see some examples, especially the darkrooms of famous photographers and/or of commercial darkrooms (see below), and I have the book about developer trays, but I'd like to have a resource that had all things darkroom related in one place.
Does such a resource exist? I've been searching and have come across a few possibilities, but nothing that really satisfies my need to know. FWIW, I've been slowly collecting various vintage darkroom items which is what sparked my interest in this topic. While I know that many items have lasted for decades and decades because darkroom innovation tends to be slow, the historian in me also wants to know that if I recreated a 1930s style darkroom, that my trays and tongs are period-appropriate and not anachronistic.
I like this video, but it really focuses on the modern darkroom, and I'm interested in everything from the very beginning of darkroom work in the mid-19th century.