I’ve been using film and more specifically, b/w film for YEARS. I used b/w film in my high school darkroom and for many years before digital photography took over the scene, then later revisited film use professionally around 2010 and haven’t looked back. It wasn’t until recently, however, that I built my own darkroom and started spending time re-familiarizing myself with the printing process and now handling the process of shooting b/w film, developing it, and producing a final print all myself, without the need of a computer or anything digital interfering with the final product/print. It’s taken years to get to this point, but it feels completely like home. And it’s just the beginning…there are a lot of alternative processes I cannot wait to experiment with and rabbit holes to follow, all under this umbrella of darkroom work.
Here was the process of getting here…
I converted a small section of our utility room into my darkroom. It’s a small footprint (roughly 70 sqft), but maximizes every inch and is very effective. I built a 7ft long sink out of plywood and epoxy, installed temp controlled and filtered water, had an electrician update the electrical and I installed IKEA cabinets and shelving for storage and organization. Along the way, I was gifted two amazing enlargers via craigslist finds and easels, negative holders, trays, timers and a bunch of other random stuff from National Camera Exchange visits or eBay purchases. The whole process has filled me with immense gratitude as the entire cost of this project was well below what I anticipated, which really helped when it came time to supply chemicals and paper, all of which have become somewhat expensive. Since these photos were taken, I’ve installed additional shelving and a dry desk, with inspection light, for prepping negatives and inspecting prints once they are dry. Future projects for the space will involve figuring out how to install the specialized print washers I recently picked up and possibly adding a table for a dry mount press. Thanks for following along!