View Poll Results: What is the average length of your darkroom printing sessions?

Voters
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  • 1 to 2 hours

    3 4.55%
  • 2 to 4 hours

    26 39.39%
  • 4 to 6 hours

    23 34.85%
  • 6 to 8 hours

    9 13.64%
  • 8 to 10 hours

    1 1.52%
  • 10 to 12 hours

    1 1.52%
  • 12+ hours

    3 4.55%
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Thread: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

  1. #21
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Mar 2004
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    I have a boy and two daughters. They are all great people.... Now.....but those daughters nearly gave me a heart attack a few times.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  2. #22
    Hack Pawlowski6132's Avatar
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    2-4 hours. But, NEVER enough time. I would guess I'd need a good 8-10 to do everything the way I wanted to from start to finish.

    That's my dream. Maybe when I retire.


  3. #23
    LF/ULF Carbon Printer Jim Fitzgerald's Avatar
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    Aug 2007
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    Vancouver Washington
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    I have to set up everything in my bathroom and darkroom where mu NuArc is. I only print carbon and try for four negatives per session. Most times I nail the prints....... or I'm real close and then final prints the next day. With carbon it takes a long time from start to finish but the fine print does come without a lot of waste.

  4. #24
    John Olsen
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    I keep the wet time to 4 hours so I can maintain full mental concentration - after that I'm not sufficiently critical of my work. But since I have a home darkroom, I can set up my first negative and put out all my trays and the night before. Then in the morning I can get right to it and work through to a late lunch. Clean-up, setting up the next day's negatives and drying prints go on for another 4 hours. I set a modest goal of working only on 2 or 3 negatives each day, so that if one turns out to be a beast I won't get impatient. It's a leisurely pace, but I want to love it, not be manic about it.

    I've talked to other photographers who boast of doing all-nighters or marathon sessions. Half of those refer to it as a former hobby - wonder why? The other half are just more driven than I, I guess.

  5. #25
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Humboldt County, CA
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings View Post
    seriously? 3 six year old boys?
    I was talking of yesteryear. The boys are almost 17 years old now. The situation changed dramatically 4 years ago. The boys are now with me for a fortnight, then with their mom for a fortnight. Keeps one on one's toes! Balancing the boys, work, photography, new house (needs work!) and a girlfriend...keeps you young by killing you before you have the chance to get old!

    Mark -- perhaps I'll drop by with some prints someday. I head to SoCal once a year or so. But it is difficult to get me out of San Clemente once I arrive there to visit family. I was born and raised in Alhambra, so I use to know your part of the woods. The boys and I prefer to just hang out at the beach.

    John -- it is just a matter of doing it when one can! As the saying goes, an artist gets to work when the pain of not-working gets too strong. People just have different pain thresholds...

    If I ever think I can legitimately complain about my working conditions or trying to find time to print, I just think of Jim F. -- he is nuts! But in a great way!
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

  6. #26
    LF/ULF Carbon Printer Jim Fitzgerald's Avatar
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    Yes, I am nuts!!! Now I've put my three boys through college so I can now do my thing! I find ways to print however I can. My workshop students have no excuses after they have seen how I have to work. One day soon a real darkroom!!

  7. #27
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    keeps you young by killing you before you have the chance to get old!
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Apr 2005
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    680

    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    Or, I'd rather wear out than rust out! Either way is a difficult path.

  9. #29

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    Belgium
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    I take a day of six hours, generally 3h on morning, then go to walk with the dog, another 3h session on the afternoon. I tone on an other day.

  10. #30
    Cor's Avatar
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    Nov 2006
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    Leiden, The Netherlands
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    Re: Poll: How long is your average darkroom printing session?

    It depends..I have a tiny darkroom with the Nova 8*10 set up as a standard, filled with chemistry, so I can start printing in 1-2 minutes. I usually have a few short sessions during the week (after dinner, before putting the kids to bed), mostly proofing 4*5 negative on 8*10 RC paper or developing something. These proofs are the base (some of them at least) for FB enlargements (mostly 30*40 cm) in longer sessions, and before such a session I remove the Nova, install 4 trays (will just fit) and print for 4-6 hours. When doing a lith print session, all day until the chemistry is exhausted (20 minutes or more development time)

    best,

    Cor

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