How often do you play in the dark?

Kvistgaard · Oct 8, 2008

slightly off topic, but forgot in my post above: I decided recently to cut down on attending meeting evenings in the local camera club, in favour of my DR. I'm the only analogue photographer there, and one evening of listening to a lecture on RAW conversion and such stuff is one evening of printing lost. Nice to get the company, but one has to prioritise. (No, I have not given any thought to how many stellar prints I could make, were I to give up logging on to apug;-)).

PVia · Oct 8, 2008

I looked at my log and found I had 10 printing sessions in September, only 4 in August, 6 in July...probably just a few for 3 hours, but most under 2 hours. Sometimes I would just make a print or two, or make some proofs on 5x7.

I use the longer sessions to refine the best of the proofs onto 8x10 or 11x14.

Also, experimented with lith printing in September and will be trying argyrotypes this month as an introduction to alternative processes.

Today is a darkroom day!

PVia · Oct 8, 2008

Also, thought I'd throw this in for those who don't have a lot of time. I have a 5 year old in kindergarten and she gets out of school at 2:15pm. Even if I have to run errands in the morning, I can still start a DR session at noon, stop at 2 while prints are washing, collect her from school, and in between helping with homework, making dinner, etc, do some toning, washing and drying, if need be.

I work at night, so this works for me...I'm sure others have figured out ways to fit parts of a printing session around their daily lives.

brummelisa · Oct 8, 2008

My kids are growing up (7 and 12), but when they were younger I usually did as you PVia. I develop each sunday/saturday and starting around 10:00 and my prints where usually finished around noon when I had to start with dinner (I used/use the kitchen as a DR). When the dinner was finished I continue to do the final printing and washing for a couple of hours and playing with the kids at the same time. (My wife usually works at the weekends, but doesn't start around 11-12). And since it was in the kitchen it didn't take too long time for me to have a tiny break whenever the kids wanted something.

/ Marcus

mooseontheloose · Oct 8, 2008

Not often enough. I have to convert my kitchen into a DR if want to make prints. If I had a permanent DR I would probably be in their three or four times a week.

I'm in a similar situation. I have a nice open floor plan for my apartment which means night printing only, and only in the kitchen, as there is no room in the bathroom for my 4x5 enlarger. I don't have my enlarger yet, but in my decision to get it I realized I would just have to convert the kitchen/dining area into a semi-permanent darkroom if I want to get any printing done. I've been holding out for months waiting to get a hold of a dedicated darkroom space but it just isn't going to happen. Since it's getting darker earlier now I don't think it'll be much of an issue.

When I was in France I had access to the community center darkroom and I was doing an average of 3-4 sessions a week, ranging from 4 to 12 hours each session, doing a lot of lith printing. Sure miss that, let me tell you.

David A. Goldfarb · Oct 8, 2008

Last year was pretty tough. We'd moved from a place where I had a fairly workable dark/bathroom situation to a difficult dark/bathroom situation that took a while to figure out, so I kept up pretty much with my film processing, but printing got way behind.

Now I'm usually doing some work two or three times a week, printing more, shooting and developing film a bit less, trying to make a dent in the backlog. In our new place, I've set up a darkroom-study, where the dry side is in a room we use as a study, and the wet side is in an adjacent bathroom with a door in between, so that I can close off the wet side when our toddler is wandering around the apartment, and I can close off the study with its own door. I've got it sufficiently blacked out that I can load and process film in the bathroom during the daytime, and I can print at night. I need to put up one more shade in the study area, and I think I'll be able to print during the day, which will be a big improvement.

j4425 · Oct 8, 2008

Most of my developing is performed during the week with one printing session on the weekend. Depending on how many rolls I process I may take a weeknight to make my contacts (35mm mostly). I have another child on the way so this schedule my prove difficult in the next couple months. We'll see...

nworth · Oct 8, 2008

It happens in fits. Since I built my new darkroom, it happens more often; but it still happens in fits. It will be every day for a while, maybe for six or eight hours some days; then I may not do anything for a week or two. I'll feel a bit guilty about the slack period, since I always have darkroom work to do, but I just won't feel like doing it. Partly, it depends on my success. If I am making good prints, or I'm finding out good stuff, or I'm improving noticeably, I will be enthusiastic and will do a lot of darkroom work. If I have a bad failure, I'll be turned off.

Davidw · Oct 8, 2008

If I have time when I'm home, generally during the summer. I wasn't able to do more than develop a roll of HIE from my last shoot, as I ran out of time to do the printing, and my fixer went bad, which I discovered when I went to set up the darkroom on the last day I had available.

Adrian Twiss · Oct 12, 2008

At least twice per week. The first time for developing and the second for contact printing and making working copies. My average printing session last about 6 hours (with a break for lunch). I like to get in the darkroom early (at about 8am) and try to discipline myself to treating it like a working day.

jolefler · Oct 12, 2008

I'm fortunate and unfortunate....

I get to print every Friday night!

I have this time because my adolecent son watches professional wrestling during those hours! :rolleyes:

Jo

Claire Senft · Oct 12, 2008

everytime I can catch my old lady in the right mood.

Thomas Bertilsson · Oct 22, 2008

That's funny, Claire

I've had a two week hiatus and went in the other day. You can tell that it's best to keep it up or skills are lost. Had a miserable session with nothing good coming out of it. Once more into the breach, dear friends... Not good to lose momentum.

- Thomas

msdemanche · Oct 22, 2008

Well, I spend around 6 hours a day in and out of the darkrooms. Of course I am not printing my work, but evaluating proof sheets and dancing with the students that fill up 6 enlargers in one room, and 4 in the other. But I guess you are talking about my own work. I still have Friday and one Darkroom that is mine, no babies allowed and then I have usually an intensive 8 hour day. When it comes to shooting, well that happens everyday, or at least it has for the past 9 years. All this and I have managed to be married and spend some time with that wonderful new husband. Lots of very early shoots and late shoots with students, students, students in between.

PVia · Oct 22, 2008

Thomas Bertilsson said:
That's funny, Claire

I've had a two week hiatus and went in the other day. You can tell that it's best to keep it up or skills are lost. Had a miserable session with nothing good coming out of it. Once more into the breach, dear friends... Not good to lose momentum.

- Thomas

Absolutely agree, Thomas...

You can easily lose momentum if you leave it alone for a while. Even moving around the darkroom, the rhythm of opening the paper safe, setting the easel, etc, etc, it all goes so smoothly if you're doing it regularly. It's like practicing a musical instrument.

I'm into a time right now where I'm enlarging negatives for alt process stuff, so my rhythm is getting better and I'm honing my craft there, taking copious notes knowing that I'll need to refer to them when I'm away from it for a while.

While I'm learning a new craft like this and concentrating on it, I also know that my silver printing will be a shade rusty when I return to it. I haven't been doing this for 20 years, so the ingrained physical process, the do-it-in-your-sleep effect is not etched in my brain. I still have yo think about what I'm doing.

Guillaume Zuili · Oct 26, 2008

It was almost everyday and many nights for a month, until exhaustion...
Otherwise at least 2 or 3 days printing and night processing film.
When my son is with me, I reverse... printing at night and film during the day
You don't want to see my face when it's this way !

Martin Aislabie · Oct 26, 2008

Guys, I am embarrassed and jealous of you guys

If I manage an average of one session per month of any Darkroom work - then I am a happy bunny

I struggle to balance the work/family/me time thing

I also have a part time utility room/darkroom - so I need a couple of hours to set it up and another hour to convert it back afterwards.

However, when I do find a gap in the schedule I do long stints of 12+hrs - a strategically placed stool next to the dev tray helps no end with the sore feet

I agree about printing skills need constant practice to perfect - but I also think its a mood thing - sometimes it flows and other times it stutters.

However, it does allow me to consider my work at length and consider the next print steps - usually the recycle bin

Its not an ideal situation but at the moment its all I can manage

But it is immensely satisfying to have a one of those rare "darkroom" days

Martin

Black Dog · Oct 26, 2008

Not often enough, as my darkroom is in my folks' house in Normandy and I've just moved to Derbyshire....so that's a real incentive to go and visit them. When I go I always make huge piles of prints and I've just finished printing one complete project [on WW2 battlefields in Normandy], which I'm really pleased with.

jmal · Oct 30, 2008

Wow! I can't believe how much this thread has grown. All this talk of playing in the dark in the enlarging forum. Seriously though, I range from 2-4 times a week for printing. I don't consider developing to be darkroom time. I have the opposite problem of most of you in that I have no new negatives to print. I just haven't seen anything worth photographing recently. I can only wish for a backlog of negs to print.

jgcull · Oct 30, 2008

Marcus, off topic I guess, but wanted to say I looked at your website and really like what I see. I love that age; long and gawky kids with wonderfully large feet telling there's yet a lot of growing to do.

I normally spend lots of time in the darkroom, and need to with an upcoming exhibit. BUT I'm nursing an awful something-or-other that's keeping me out of the darkroom. Has for the past couple of months. Hopefully I'll be back at it soon. I've got lots to catch up on. I'm usually in a few times during a week.

Janet

hawkwind · Nov 7, 2008

I get usually once a week. I work the graveyard shift, and since they opened up the floodgates of overtime, I've been working 6 nights a week, so I spend my solitary night off in the darkroom. I guess that makes me a zombie.

--Gary

ZoneIII · Nov 18, 2008

I was thrown off by your term "develop." To me, develop refers to film even though you do develop prints. I see you are talking about printing. Like you, I do most of my printing in the winter months. But I develop film as soon as possible after shooting it. My printing sessions are long. I generally start in the late afternoon and work though until 3:00 or 4:00 the next morning and do post processing the next day. I make many prints in a session but I may only print two or three negatives and sometimes only one. It takes work to get a fine print and that means using paper, as you know. If you are saying that you make only three prints with not test prints and they are all good, you are some printer!!! I'm sure you mean that you make three final prints after arriving at the right printing recipe.

As for the dark, I prefer to develop my sheet film the old-fashioned way - in trays - even though I now do my E6 film in a Jobo. I just prefer trays and all my Zone System calibration was done for trays and I just don't feel like doing all the testing again at this time. I have processed b&w film in my Jobo. It's nice but I have found that there are other advantages to manual processing that I won't go into here.

eclarke · Nov 18, 2008

I go down every day and do something but only print once a week or so. I mix all chemistry from scratch, develop film, load holders and do all my own mounting and matting so it seems like there is some little thing to do all the time. Most is not in the dark, but I neglected to mention that my beer cooler is in the darkroom!..Evan Clarke

Soeren · Nov 12, 2009

Just tripped over this thread and now my darkroom is "finished" I think Ill resurrect it.
For the time being Im not pulling out any pieces of art just working on the pile of film that has accumulated in the fridge.
My agreement with my wife is a couple of hours one night a week but these days I use any opportunity to dev another batch of films and I did three sessions last week.
I probably wont be using my Darkroom during the summer, it will be way to hot, but so far it has been quite comfy even with outside temp nearing subzero centigrades.
Like many of the previous posters Im not shooting much this time of year so it wont be long before I start making prints.
Best regards

Christopher Walrath · Nov 12, 2009

Wirelessly posted (BBBold: BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.297 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

I'm not a heavy user. Casual dark, only, officer, I swear. I only shoot about 40 rolls a year. Less since I started printing this year. When I go in, I have two negs picked out the night before and, time and paper permitting (I take 30 sheets in with me), I try for 5 finished copies. I would venture about 15 hrs/month in that dark and happy place.

How often do you play in the dark?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency