So who's got a darkroom and enlarger?

Michael Carter

Michael Carter

Veteran
Just curious, as each month I get more obsessed with this. I know I'm lucky to have the space (my Mrs. and I purchased a stacked duplex and made into one house - upstairs living & dining is office/studio space, same floorplan up and down). I've converted an upstairs kitchen to a decently sized wet darkroom that I can leave setup (some folks haul all that crap into a bathroom at night!)

There's sill one or two shops in Dallas selling film and paper - they say their analog business is steadily increasing, esp. with young people. I suppose it's like vinyl records.

Lith printing is really my obsession - it's the total opposite of the control you get with Photoshop… every print is different to some degree, contrast & exposure are controlled more intuitively than technically, and B&W paper can develop some interesting color tints:

lith-bleach.jpg
 
I put a lab, darkroom, and telecine in when I bought our current house back in 1995. I was still shooting both still & motion film back then and even had a fridge dedicated to film storage. But I pulled it apart and sold all the gear some time back. To be honest I don't know that I really miss it.
 
Photography has been an off and on thing for me. I have all the equipment, but rarely use my darkroom. The task always seems daunting.
 
With lith printing, you heat the developing tray since it's a long process, it speeds up the reaction. So the darkroom gets a very specific smell, not a bad one though.

I now associate that smell with "holy crap, this is gonna be awesome…"
 
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I'm just beginning to get into film photography (and yeah, I'm one of those youngin's who have vinyl) and thought about getting a setup. However, until I get more involved with film, the cost and room required for the enlargers and other equipment will keep me from this fascinating hobby. It's too bad though, as my local Walgreens stopped developing film rolls and the only other local photo store is like a 20 minute drive. I'll likely have to mail them off now.
 
I have all that stuff somewhere but I don't know where as I haven't even seen it in well over a decade. Maybe I've become one of those instant gratification types, but even back in the dark (room) ages when I was a full time photographer I avoided the darkroom. Some people love it, and thankfully the magazine I worked for hired one of them as a full time darkroom tech to do that stuff. I respect the people who can do it well, and I love seeing the final product, but I just couldn't get into it after I had my fill in school. Maybe I just never put in the time to learn it well enough to get the results I wanted, but now I think it's too late to take on another hobby.
There is a resurgence, dare I say fad, of analog photography on good ole film, but it's still a tiny fraction of what the whole business was 20 years ago. Hopefully it's enough to keep film and printing supplies on the market.
 
We have a local used camera shop that stocks the whole Ilford line of film, paper, chemistry. They say they're seeing steady sales increases - "mostly kids".

They're still stripping the lenses and carriers from enlargers and leaving them on the curb though.
 
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