Inside the Darkroom

The Other side of Photography

Once you have an image on film do you trust your shots to someone else? I did for a long time and I never got just the type of print desired. Years ago I tried my luck at a portable darkroom, but it was a pain working in the bathroom. About six years ago I cleared out an old storage locker in our basement and converted it over to a workable darkroom. It is just under 5 feet wide by about 10 feet long, but is a pleasure to work in even though it is a little cramped. I wired it with all the outlets and lights that I would ever need. If your not fairly skilled at wiring I would highly advise you to hire a skilled electrician to do your work. Some cities require a licensed electrician to any work even in your own home, call your city and ask when in doubt. Wiring a darkroom with enough power is not a job for the home handyman. You may also want to check your local electric codes for rules about wiring in basements. Everything in my darkroom is in conduit for safety.  Because the darkroom is in the basement, I wired it with plenty of GFCI outlets. 

Running water is almost a must so I ran hot & cold water into the darkroom. There are two sinks in the darkroom, one is an old kitchen sink and the other is a homemade sink. The homemade sink is built out of plywood covered on the inside with fiberglass so it is  completely water tight. This sink holds all the trays and handles wet operations. The old stainless steel kitchen I use for rinsing out trays and containers. 

Since space is at a premium in this darkroom almost every inch of extra space is used. The underside of all the benches are used for storage of all kinds. The chemicals are all kept under the sinks and the paper and equipment is kept under the dry bench. 

As in the other areas of our photography a tight budget plays a role here as well. The sink bases are made out of 2x4's and 1/2" plywood for the shelves. I made the wet sink out of 3/4" plywood covered with standard fiberglass and mesh.  The enlarger sits on a old microwave cart with the top shelf removed because ceiling height is a problem in the basement.

The darkroom is great for doing B&W since temperature control is less of a problem. I have a small electric oil based heater in the darkroom for winter work and have a small window air conditioner in the basement window for summer. In the winter I turn on the heater a couple of hours before using the darkroom and this works out quite well. I have found that the air conditioner is almost a must for summer.

A couple years ago I bought a used Vivitar 356 color enlarger to try my luck at color printing. It also makes using variable contrast B&W paper a breeze to use. Last year a found a spare Vivitar 356 color head on ebay cheap so I have spare parts.  I also have a old Vivitar 66 enlarger that I used for 35mm negatives.

I have been doing some printing of color negatives but only when I get a really a great shot. Color is a demanding task with minor chemical temperature fluctuations causing radical changes in your prints. Still it is worth it all the trouble to custom make that special image. What I do is take my 120 film to a local lab and have them only process the negatives. I also don't let them cut up the negative into strips. I then will run a contact sheet in my darkroom and judge whether it is worth trying to print anything. I have found it is a lot more expensive to print color at home. We buy the one gallon Kodak kits to process the color paper. To process the color paper I purchased an old unicolor drive and drums from a camera shops' junk box. The chemicals I keep up to temperature using a water bath in the sink. It is sort of a pain to regulate the temperature, but with practice it gets easier. One of these days I will try some room temperature color chemicals. 

Photorama puts on camera shows in this part of the country, which are a great source of used darkroom equipment. With a lot of people going digital there are some great deals out there to be had. Check local camera stores for used darkroom stuff. With the entrance of digital darkrooms, a lot of people are getting rid of there equipment.

Keep in mind that your darkroom will always need that one more gadget or a little more room. Just remember to be thankful that you even have a darkroom.

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All photographs on this website copyrighted 1995-2005 to Phil McCourt or Sandi McCourt. They may not be reproduced in any form without their written consent. 

email: phil@philsan.com  

This site updated on August 29, 2005