The Silver (Gelatin) Lining

When I was a boy, possibly around when I was in fourth grade, Uncle Jonesy gave Kelley and me an unusual but highly treasured Christmas present:  a Yankee 18 Piece Developing and Printing Kit. Inside the box was everything needed to make photographs at home, such as a film tank with a plastic reel, three developing trays, tongs, squeegee, graduated pitcher, a Kodak Tri-Chem Pack, thermometer, photo paper, and a 4"x5" light box for contact printing. What a Christmas that was! As soon as we could, we commandeered our family's old Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera and loaded it with a roll a film that Jonesy also had provided. It didn't take us long to shoot the twelve frames, remove the film from the camera, and head straight to the bathroom to mix the powdered chemistry from the Tri-Chem Pack. Later that night when it was dark, we made the bathroom as light tight as we could, loaded the film onto the reel, place the reel in the tank and close the lid. After carefully following the enclosed instructions, we pulled the film from the reel and rejoiced over seeing real negative images on it. "Wow!," we thought "We're becoming real photographers!"

We probably had to wait until the next night for the next step in the process:  printing. Once again, we hung towels in from of the door and windowsand turned the lights off, then we poured our developer, stop bath, and fixer into the three trays. The contact printer had it's own safelight, so we could see what we were doing. To use the contact printer, you opened up both both the left and right lid of the contact printer and place your negative on the glass emulsion side up. Next, you put a sheet of photo paper on top of the negative, emulsion side down. To hold the two in alignment, you closed the left lid first, then you closed the right lid and pressed down, which would turn on the lamp beneath the glass. There was no timer. so you had to count your seconds yourself. Exposure times were complete estimates, and we probably wasted a lot of paper. After exposure, you placed the paper in the developing tray, then the stop bath tray, then the fixer tray, all according to directions. Finally the print had to be washed for thirty minutes! However, I will never forget the thrill of seeing a positive image slowly appear in the developing tray. "Wow!," we thought, "We were real photographers. I distinctly remember thinking, "Who else in our school is doing this?!"

In the early 1980's I attended a small Bible college in the Atlanta area and learned that they needed a yearbook photographer. I happily signed on and was shown how to use the darkroom. The professor told me that, as long as I supplied the yearbook with lots of photos, I could use the darkroom as much as I wanted for my own photographs. Needless to say, I spent many happy hours there. But there were frustrating times, too, as I no formal training and made lots of mistakes. My professor never made test prints, simply using his own experience for exposure. Once again, I wasted lots of paper. However, I made some prints I was proud of and still have today.

A few years later I left that school, and I did not see the inside of a darkroom again for over thirty years. Meanwhile, I shot nothing but Kodachrome slides, documenting my life and family over that time. When I made the decision to return to film photography in a big way almost three years ago, I made the adjust to the hybrid analog/digital workflow that so many of my fellow film photographers use. However, I soon harbored hopes of being able to make darkroom prints someday. And thanks to some enterprising young Chattanoogans, I am happy to announce that this has happened!

Safelight District opened its doors on February 22, 2019. Kelley and I recorded a podcast show with the founders, Tori Fyfe and Jet Smith, and I wrote a blog post as well. Since then, Tori has found a new business partner in Mike Wann, and the community darkroom is alive and well. Since my move the the downtown area, I have been able to work in the darkroom several times, and the experience has been a game changer for me. Here is some of what I have learned:

1.  I still have much to learn about contrast filters and techniques like dodging, burning, and split-grade printing.

2. I can never fully trust my scanner again.

3. The "fun" factor cannot be fully calculated.

4. I am completely and totally hooked.

Inside Safelight District Community Darkroom

My first print!

I now have a backlog of negatives waiting to get the darkroom printing treatment, and going forward, darkroom printing will be my main method of printing my work. I recently pledged to print at least one photograph from ever roll I shoot, but now it won't be my inkjet printer doing the job.

I have to conclude this post by saying that I have relied heavily on information gathered from YouTube videos and by questions answered by online friends in the film photography community. Their collective advice has been quite helpful.

Happy Shooting (and Happy Printing!)