Travelling Darkroom in a Caravan (Australia)

Mick Fagan

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I just saw this on our national broadcaster (ABC). Something that was done around 50 years ago in Australia, but not since the seventies have I seen or heard of a mobile darkroom for teaching B&W film photography and B&W printing.

Looking at the short video, it becomes apparent that this caravan is equipped with a print dryer; nice.

Old caravan's new life as darkroom classroom reviving film photography

A press photographer has created an innovative way to share his passion for black and white film photography with a new generation.
www.abc.net.au
 

Sirius Glass

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Today most people would not have a clue what a darkroom is.
 
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Mick Fagan

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Don, the closest I've ever come to something like this, is film developing when on the road.

I developed B&W film when living on a motorcycle with a sidecar attached by making a tent with a handy tree limb roped to the inside wall of the sidecar over which I placed my groundsheet/tarpaulin thingy. Loading film in low daylight under the tarpaulin was the easy bit. Usually the next day when camped alongside a river I developed the film in Rodinal, then fixed with a single carefully wrapped glass bottle of fixer. Film was dried by using a wooden clothes peg hanging from trees or tall shrubs. This was around 55 years ago and at that time one could walk into a chemist shop and purchase darkroom chemistry in almost minute amounts, even in the middle of nowhere and in an agricultural type town or village; so to speak.

More recently I was part of the kickstarter project for the Stearman Press SP-445 film developing tank. The idea was to enable me to develop up to four sheets of film as we travelled long distance and therefore enabling me to ascertain that I was still on the right track, exposure and everything else wise. However the longest trips we managed were only a little over 3 months, so I didn't need to check my exposure and everything else. Although I came close one day to developing a few sheets and I have the necessary equipment to load the film in a changing tent; it never happened. One day maybe.
 

Daniela

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On a much smaller scale and with a different purpose, there's also Sirkhane doing something similar in the Turkish/Syrian border. I can't access his IG because I don't have an account, but if anyone manages to, I'd like to know how he's doing with all that is happening in Syria right now.
 

Don_ih

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Mick Fagan said:
the longest trips we managed were only a little over 3 months
Click to expand...

The longest trip I've ever managed has been a week...

You paint quite a picture, out on the road, developing your film next to a stream...
 
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Mick Fagan

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Daniela, that was an interesting link, I have never heard of Sirkhane before.

Thanks.
 
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Mick Fagan

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Don, the motorcycle with sidecar trip lasted 14 months, from memory I went through around 6-7 films. From a quality point of view, both my film exposures and film developing techniques, could be best described as, "interesting".

Once I developed a roll of film, I rolled it up tightly and placed it into the film canister it originally came in. This was the best and safest way to carry developed film. Somewhere, I still have one or two of those rolls still rolled up in film canisters.
 

MattKing

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Mick,
We should probably require you to provide a translation .
Around here, a "Caravan" is something very different than what I think you are referring to as a "Caravan".
We would be more likely to use "Travel Trailer" or perhaps just "Trailer".
 

Don_ih

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I'm familiar with that use of "Caravan" from British television. Also, a caravan was a large buggy drawn by horses that was also the home of the people in it (like migrant workers). And my van is a Grand Caravan....
 

Oxleyroad

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This has been a very interesting thread. Makes me think of all the English I had to relearn when I moved to the USA a decade ago. I can’t help but smile. Now that I just have days left before returning to Oz I’m now deliberately having to relearn my old language and this has helped.

But per the original thread Mick, thanks for sharing it was very interesting.
 

Sirius Glass

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That reminds me that if I am in antipodal spaces, New Zealand or Australia, after consuming a large meal, it is not the best thing to say, "I am stuffed".
 
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Mick Fagan

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Well, well, well; what a lot of comments.

Firstly, Andy (Oxley Road) a pre-emptive welcome back to Oz. Are you coming back to Melbourne or elsewhere, or are you going caravanning and maybe doing a trip round the block in it? Let the international people work that one out

Matt, I had already considered the international audience when using the term, motorcycle with sidecar, instead of calling it an "outfit". Or a more local expression, a motorcycle with a chair on it.

The collective noun for a group of camels is, "a caravan of camels". In Australia we have caravan parks and people tow a caravan behind their vehicle. The usual use for a trailer in Australia, is to take some rubbish to the rubbish tip, or transporting anything you can't fit into or onto an automobile somewhere.

A very good friend of over half a century, has this modern 1998 motorcycle with a chair on it. The chair I had on my motorcycle back then was basically a coffin shaped box, which I often slept in when the weather was inclement.

Shen Hao HZX45-IIA
4x5" Ilford HP5+
250mm D76 1:1

 
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Mick Fagan

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Getting back to the topic; although I don't mind the diversions at all.

I've been made aware of this youngish person in Berlin with a similar concept. Although the clip is seven years old, hopefully she is still going well.

For those who cannot understand German, auto-translate works.

 

Oxleyroad

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My family decided on Adelaide as our city to return to. I’ve so many more leads for potential job opportunities here than elsewhere and we’ll be so much closer to where my father and son live.
 
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