How often do you play in the dark?

[Steve Smith]

So, how often do you enter the dark mystery place and bring out art?

I go into the dark, mysterious place quite a lot. Not much art comes out though!


Steve.

 

[naugastyle]

My Spanish teacher thinks that when I say I went to my "cuarto oscuro" it sounds like I'm rocking myself in a corner of a padded room. So I suppose I go to my dark mystery place quite frequently.

I have to pay monthly for my darkroom so I cannot see it ever going unused. (Why that same reasoning doesn't work with my gym membership, who knows). Although it's a rental, it's private use which makes it easier to get lost in the hours. Currently I'm in there one long session per week, between 8-12 hours. I turn out a lot of prints, but many are tests of the same negs on different papers, different developers, toned/untoned, etc. I've just returned to the darkroom last month after a 10-year hiatus, so a lot of my time is spent practicing, practicing, practicing, and not being too concerned about producing art. Actually, I suppose that was never really my concern, as I'm more a street photographer/documentarian and content is key for me.

I thought about taking December off as it will be busy with social activities and I'm going on vacation and I could easily spend that $90 on something else. But that will be 3 weeks where I would be fantasizing about printing (really. yes, sad.), then nearly 3 weeks on vacation, then trying to print everything in January after a long break...no, I need the practice.

I don't know yet how I will feel about printing in the summer...seems many people here save their printing for the winter months.

 

[Jim Chinn]

It comes and it goes. There's that work / family / life / passion balance to consider... - Thomas

That's my story. I will go through periods where I am in the darkroom several times during the week printing or developing film. But suddenly other things move to the fore and it could be a few weeks untill I get back. A lot of my time that I might be using for darkroom work is currently going towards making some equipment for shooting wet plate. The darkroom usually stays dormant from Thanksgiving through New Years as that is the busiest time of year for my job. But I still find time to shoot so when the holidays are over there is usually a two week most nights marathon to develop and print what got exposed over the previous 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[WolfTales]

I work in the dark mostly. Haven't had much chance to play recently.

 

[AshenLight]

3 or 4 days a week. Mostly carbon and kallitype but I'm trying to get proficient with gum. I can't quite seem to get the coating exactly how I'd like it with gum though...

Ash