Finally...The Darkroom

[PlantedTao]

Well, after two years of shooting B&W film, this weekend I was finally able to take a darkroom class. It was an eight hour class and we learned have to develop exposed film and the start of making prints with the negatives (the tip of the iceberg).
It was truly a great educational class and has firmed up my opinion that I want to continue to shoot film and develop it myself. I love the hands on environment and the surreal feel of the darkroom. And at $10 per hour to do prints (no per print cost) it is not going to be that expensive. Especially since I don't own a computer to do PS (work = surfing ).
I did learn that for me it is not worth it to make my own negatives and it is far better and safer for a lab to do it for about $5. It cost $2 per roll at the studio. Making negatives was THE hardest part of my day.
I'm very excited to see my work on paper for the first time. I have many, many rolls to develop. Many of you have commented on my work and I'm taking those comments to the darkroom and hoping to come out of there with some "hanging" art work.
I will not be posting much on the forums now, at least the critique board (I will not be getting my negative scanned) but just wanted to say that the help from these forums has been indispensable and has allowed my photography grow by leaps and bounds.
Thank you to everyone and I truly appreciate this community.
(I will stop in time to time - this forum is addictive ;) )

Peace.

[mtbbrian]

First off, thanks for sharring this with us.
It only continues to show the value of this community!
I am glad you saw and experienced the value and magic of working in the darkroom.
It will make you a better photographer!
Good Luck and have fun!
Don't forget us!
Brian

[another view]

That's cool! Having never made a darkroom print myself, it always seemed like the hardest part of the job. I actually think the process of developing negatives is pretty easy - time consuming, but not difficult. I don't have the darkroom so I load the canister in a changing bag. There are 4-roll canisters so you can do up to four 35mm at the same time, or two medium format rolls (or 2 MF and 1 35). For complete control over the process which will (should!) always get the results you want with the negatives, you may want to consider this in the future. There are some esoteric developers out there that you can experiment with for effects, too.

[PlantedTao]

Brian - I totally agree, understanding how and what you can do with a negative will definitely help my understanding of exposure and light.

Anotherview- that is a sweet set-up, and glad to here that it works so well for you. I guess my biggest problem is the fear of losing a roll.
I won't give up tho and agree that it is another tool to get complete control over your photography.
Thanks for the encouraging words.

[another view]

Actually the equipment I have to do this is very inexpensive - especially used. You could probably get all of it (tank, reels, chemical storage bottles, changing bag, thermometer, drying clips, etc) for well under $100. I prefer stainless tanks and reels but they take a little practice to use. You might want to start with a single reel tank because it uses less chemestry and it's best to start with one roll at a time until you're comfortable with it. It's been a little while and I've probably lost the touch, but I have a roll of film that I pulled out of it's canister (as in ruined) just to practice with. Once you get used to it, it's pretty easy.

Definately start with an unimportant roll because there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Go out and shoot a roll in your back yard (good practice, too) and try it - but practice winding the reel first in the daylight (with a roll you pulled out just for this purpose). Pretty soon you'll get confident and consistent with it, then think about a bigger tank so you can do four reels at once. Do everything by the book - this includes developer temperature and the recommended time for that temperature (use a timer!), agitation, temperature of stop and fix being the same temp as the developer, thorough washing (distilled water) and drying. Don't change your process until you're getting consistent results (as in developer temp, agitation, etc) - then start working on other variables but only one at a time. Tri-X in D76 developer is easy to use and forgiving (and a classic look).

BTW, Bessas are cool!