Well-equipped university darkroom

DonJ · Feb 22, 2019

I was checking some art exhibits at Cornell today, wandered into the Photography Department, and found this:

21 Beseler enlargers, mostly 23Cs. There was also a large room for film processing, and 8-10 “closets” for loading. I’m sure they have a well-stocked area for digital, but I thought this was impressive.

Yes, it’s empty, but that’s fairly normal for 4pm on a Friday.

mshchem · Feb 22, 2019

DonJ said:
I was checking some art exhibits at Cornell today, wandered into the Photography Department, and found this:

View attachment 217850

21 Beseler enlargers, mostly 23Cs. There was also a large room for film processing, and 8-10 “closets” for loading. I’m sure they have a well-stocked area for digital, but I thought this was impressive.

Yes, it’s empty, but that’s fairly normal for 4pm on a Friday.

That's pretty darn cool. You can learn a lot in a darkroom ,more than making pictures. The reward is greatest when you work hard, sometimes failing and going back and trying again. I bet those units see a lot of use. I love the stainless steel trays with floating lids. Two bath fixer.
Thanks for sharing . Best Regards Mike

wy2l · Feb 22, 2019

Truly, a thing of rare beauty, brings a tear to my eye... heavy sigh! I just wonder how someone can make a print with all that light.
No wonder there is no one making prints.

Vaughn · Feb 22, 2019

I checked it out last year -- it was darker then...

I might drop by again this year -- my son is graduating from Cornell in May -- but no, he did not take a photo class.

DonJ · Feb 22, 2019

Vaughn said:
I checked it out last year -- it was darker then...

I might drop by again this year -- my son is graduating from Cornell in May -- but no, he did not take a photo class.

Congrats to your son. Mine is here for grad school interviews. They grill him, then wine and dine him, while I wander around and look at all the new buildings they've put up in the last 40 years.

Arklatexian · Feb 23, 2019

DonJ said:
I was checking some art exhibits at Cornell today, wandered into the Photography Department, and found this:

View attachment 217850

21 Beseler enlargers, mostly 23Cs. There was also a large room for film processing, and 8-10 “closets” for loading. I’m sure they have a well-stocked area for digital, but I thought this was impressive.

Yes, it’s empty, but that’s fairly normal for 4pm on a Friday.[/QUOTEI
I noticed someone left the Thomas safelights on. With the two of those that I can see, it is probably almost that bright with the "white lights" off. Having the white lights on makes it somewhat easier to get the trash cleaned up. Even a nice darkroom like that gets cluttered as does an already cluttered one like mine. Where do they do the LF darkroom work? Surely in a nice place like that, there is a 4x5 enlarger or two. Cornell has been well known for generations for their Ornithology Department.......Regards!

DonJ · Feb 23, 2019

Four of the enlargers are taller, with wide frames. They look like 45's. I asked the only person who was there if any 4x5 work was done there, but she did not know.

Berkeley Mike · Feb 23, 2019

Equipment is one thing but whoever the darkroom drone is there is doing a fantastic job.

darkroommike · Feb 24, 2019

DonJ said:
Four of the enlargers are taller, with wide frames. They look like 45's. I asked the only person who was there if any 4x5 work was done there, but she did not know.

Enlarger to the far right is a 45.

darkroommike · Feb 24, 2019

Our old darkroom at Western Iowa Tech had 21 enlargers, our new space has only room for 10. Neither space was as pretty as the darkroom at Cornell.

Vaughn · Feb 24, 2019

We had 19 enlargers in one room and two solo rooms. A lot tighter than Cornell's and a zoo when all the enlargers were in use. But I was always amazed on what the students could do.

darkroommike · Feb 24, 2019

Vaughn said:
We had 19 enlargers in one room and two solo rooms. A lot tighter than Cornell's and a zoo when all the enlargers were in use. But I was always amazed on what the students could do.

It's also a "zoo" trying to ride herd on that many students at one time!

Photo Chemist · Feb 24, 2019

DonJ said:
I was checking some art exhibits at Cornell today, wandered into the Photography Department, and found this:

View attachment 217850

21 Beseler enlargers, mostly 23Cs. There was also a large room for film processing, and 8-10 “closets” for loading. I’m sure they have a well-stocked area for digital, but I thought this was impressive.

Yes, it’s empty, but that’s fairly normal for 4pm on a Friday.

That's awesome! Our darkroom over in the fine art department is being renovated right now (lasting 18 months). In the meantime, the students will be able to use ours in the chemistry department. We have 4 enlargers. It's affectionately called "the chamber of secrets" because unless you have business in there, you're not allowed in. We're still getting it set, but in about 3 weeks, I'm cycling my class through there as part of my alternative prints class (the chemistry of photography). There's only 10 students, but the majors are varied for this gen ed course and I hope they will love the second part of the class.

AgX · Feb 24, 2019

These all are reports from another world...

Vaughn · Feb 24, 2019

darkroommike said:
It's also a "zoo" trying to ride herd on that many students at one time!

That is what lab assistants are for! Normally I was not around on nights of a full house -- always the nights before critiques. And since we had 5 to 6 darkroom classes (up to 24 students each) going, there might be two or three critiques the next day. Unless there was a class scheduled for the lab, the darkroom was open for student use from 8 am to midnight (lights on at 11pm) seven days a week. That's 70 to 80 hours of open lab a week -- so no excuses to wait until the night before. So while I have been there as a student and I understand, I had little pity! LOL!

As a student volunteering in the same darkroom in the 80s, I had the 8am to noon shift on Sundays. I would show up at 6am, get the darkroom set-up and running by 7am, then start printing until the first student would show up at around 11am or so. I might be able to make a good print in that time -- 16x20 from a 4x5...tough to do in a busy communal darkroom! I'd also volunteer a weeknight shift a week, 8pm to mid-night. Kick all the students out at mid-night, and I would print, alone or with one or two other students, until I had to clean-up for classes the next morning.

When I was the paid darkroom tech (half-time permanent, 24 yrs), a couple nights a week I would go up to the lab, help students if needed, get my stuff set-up, help the lab assistant clean-up and close the darkroom (or if a quiet night just send him/her home and I'd close up), then I would start an all-night alt process printing session. I had no darkroom at home and this way I was out of student's way, and visa versa. It was a nice working solution and I grew into be a night owl...I just had a printing session from 6pm yesterday to 5:30 this morning. I will pay for it later and later is always sooner than I think. Habits...

DonJ · Feb 24, 2019

wy2l said:
Truly, a thing of rare beauty, brings a tear to my eye... heavy sigh! I just wonder how someone can make a print with all that light.
No wonder there is no one making prints.

I found out today the no one was making prints because the students are on a short break (Saturday through Tuesday), and virtually everyone bugged out as soon as they could on Friday. The whole campus was pretty empty; I went to a hockey game Friday night, expecting it to be packed, and 1/3 of the seats were vacant.

Vaughn · Feb 24, 2019

My son is in NYC...

winger · Feb 25, 2019

DonJ said:
I was checking some art exhibits at Cornell today, wandered into the Photography Department, and found this:

View attachment 217850

21 Beseler enlargers, mostly 23Cs. There was also a large room for film processing, and 8-10 “closets” for loading. I’m sure they have a well-stocked area for digital, but I thought this was impressive.

Yes, it’s empty, but that’s fairly normal for 4pm on a Friday.

That's awesome! My great-grandmother went to Cornell - I'm glad they still do things right. (I didn't apply there, but always kinda regretted it, though I really loved where I did go)

darkroommike · Feb 26, 2019

My Dad was a high school grad and a pretty good jack of all trades. He had little respect for "college boys" (it's OK if you can hear Red West, Sgt. Micklin from Black Sheep Squadron on TV saying it, I always do) but he had a buddy that was a Civil Engineer graduated from Cornell that he really respected, and by extension Cornell was one of the few Colleges he respected, he even had a collection of article he saved from their engineering bulletins.

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 26, 2019

Reminded me of the darkroom at UBC I visited back in '03. I wonder if they still teach film photography?

PGillin · Mar 2, 2019

Andrew O'Neill said:
Reminded me of the darkroom at UBC I visited back in '03. I wonder if they still teach film photography?

Yes they do! I was the darkroom manager for the photography club (Photosoc) there until my graduation this summer. We were sharing the Visual Arts department dakroom (overseen by a Ryerson grad who does all the photo tech work, film, dig, & alt process for the department). When I started we had our own very nice darkroom (nicer than the VA one) in the Student Union basement. Evicted for renno in 2014. Moved into a new, purpose-built, space in the basement of the new Student Union in June of this year, with adjoining digital lab and studio. There are two black and white photo classes plus a lot of use by students in the advanced photo classes and the MFA program. Good profs as well.

I'd be happy to spill some info on the setups of all three darkrooms if there's any interest. I tried very hard to get color printing restarted, without success. The enlargers (two, one up to 8x10) and smaller secondary darkroom for it exist, and I did do color film photography at FIU in the summer of 2015 or 16. Great fun, not much harder than B&W, and BEAUTIFUL results.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 2, 2019

PGillin said:
Yes they do! I was the darkroom manager for the photography club (Photosoc) there until my graduation this summer. We were sharing the Visual Arts department dakroom (overseen by a Ryerson grad who does all the photo tech work, film, dig, & alt process for the department). When I started we had our own very nice darkroom (nicer than the VA one) in the Student Union basement. Evicted for renno in 2014. Moved into a new, purpose-built, space in the basement of the new Student Union in June of this year, with adjoining digital lab and studio. There are two black and white photo classes plus a lot of use by students in the advanced photo classes and the MFA program. Good profs as well.

I'd be happy to spill some info on the setups of all three darkrooms if there's any interest. I tried very hard to get color printing restarted, without success. The enlargers (two, one up to 8x10) and smaller secondary darkroom for it exist, and I did do color film photography at FIU in the summer of 2015 or 16. Great fun, not much harder than B&W, and BEAUTIFUL results.

Well that's great to hear! I enjoyed visiting and giving a talk about large format several years ago.

Well-equipped university darkroom

DonJ

mshchem

wy2l

Vaughn

DonJ

Arklatexian

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darkroommike

Photo Chemist

AgX

Vaughn

DonJ

Vaughn

winger

darkroommike

Andrew O'Neill

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PGillin

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Well-equipped university darkroom

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