Don Williams wrote:
I haven't been following this thread from the start, so this may be
superfluous. Have we all forgotten the chemical stink? The sloppy dishes
of developer, stop bath and fixer and the rest for colour? Never mind
how careful you are there is always spillage -- especially with a dish
20" x 24" big. The acetic acid stop bath used for B&W is nasty, the
developer and other chemicals (for colour) are carcinogenic. The
combination with stale air is almost narcotic. The dim yellow light, or
more often no light at all? Emerging after hours in this stinking
chemical dungeon into the daylight where you are forced to wear dark
glasses or see nothing. Gloves with holes that leak. Tongs that don't
grip the paper properly? Stains on your jeans, shirt, shoes, flesh.
Washing, drying or glazing? Prints that stick to the glazing sheets? Or
those that go brown on the drum because it gets far too hot when the
thermostat fails. The dust on the glass carriers in the enlarger. The
heat from the lamps. Trying to focus accurately when the light is not
bright enough because the negative is thick? Finally pouring all the
solutions back into bottles or down the drain. Cleaning the bench
vacuuming the floor trying to get rid of dust. We didn't all have fine
air-filtered and conditioned darkrooms with film drying cabinets. Or
automatic exposure controlled colour enlargers and C-41 developing
machines. Spotting prints? What a relief to no longer have to mess with
all this. This is all out of order but you'll get what I mean.
Don
You say that like it's a bad thing.
