Chapter 4 - The Darkroom

Darkroom work to traditional black and white photographers is the next step in the making of a creative image. Once shot, the film must be processed, washed and carefully prepared for printing. Large format photographers often require ample space to process and print their work. Thus, in January 2000 I began work on a 2,000 square foot gallery/darkroom complex. The darkroom consists of four interconnected rooms. The first room is The Laboratory used to process, wash, and dry film as well as prints ranging in size from 20×24" to 42×72". Film processing is done here in tanks by nitrogen gas-burst agitation as well as in trays. The second room is also a lab space but is both wet and dry and devoted to print finishing. This space is used for print washing, drying, spotting and mounting. The printing room contains photographic paper safes, a negative inspection and cleaning area, a negative scanning station and five enlargers. The enlargers, equipped with cold light and LED light sources handle 8×10, 11×14 and smaller negatives. The fourth room is currently unused.