The Darkroom

 No, it's not just a clever name for the blog. I do have my own darkroom and ability to develop my own film and prints. A long time ago, a photography mentor taught me the ways of the darkroom. The darkroom was located at a community center in an impoverished side of town. My mentor, Alvin, wanted to share his passion of photography and give the neighborhood youth a creative outlet. In the end, there was little interest in the darkroom in the community center, but it was fully equipped and supplied by the city. With good instruction, I was given the keys and the freedom to develop and print as much as I wished. It wasn't long after that the digital camera was all the rage and more frequently my film cameras stayed on the shelf. 

Fast forward over 20 years and after stumbling across a full darkroom setup on Marketplace, I dove headfirst back down that rabbit hole. The concept was familiar but I needed to refresh my memory on the chemicals and supplies needed. More importantly, I needed to source them in Europe. But before I knew it, I had developed my first roll of film and started experimenting in the dark room. My equipment is of a far lower quality compared to the community center, but the flaws in my process and equipment will only contribute to the artistic aesthetic. Now the mad scientist can play chemistry in the basement.

The first enlarger I found is a Durst M301 with a CLS35 color head. The unit had a decent reputation, I'm still working on a few issues with it though, primarily the focus knob not engaging. I don't intend to develop color film at home as the process is more complicated than I'm interested in undertaking at the moment. 

Here are some samples using mostly Adox chemicals and paper.