Awww,Man, I Have To Move To Seattle.....

**william linne** · 10-May-2007, 17:13

I'm used to living in the Bay area, where I can use SFAI darkrooms for 10/hr and print color or black and white and process my b&w film there for $5 per session, as many rolls/sheets as I want. I get my 8x10 and 4x5 color neg film processed cheaply and quickly by Oscars and my transparencies by NewLab. They also have 8x10 enlargers at SFAI so I can print color or b&w in that size. I can run over to Calumet if I am desperate for something and can't wait for B&H.

How will Seattle compare? What will I be giving up? Does anyone live there that can help me by answering these questions? I'm not real thrilled about the move.

love,

W.

**Colin Graham** · 10-May-2007, 17:47

Bummer. I lived there about four years ago and at the time Glazer's was a decently stocked store. Plenty of gear, film and darkroom supplies, not sure how it is now. Also, there were a few darkroom rental facilities iirc. There is a pretty good lab over in Fremont but I can't remember the name just now. Seattle was a great town when I first moved there and could be again if they could tackle some infrastructure issues. It is certainly gorgeous. Sorry I know this isn't much help but I'm sure others will chime in. Good luck with the move.

**David Karp** · 10-May-2007, 18:00

I was in Seattle a few months ago visiting relatives. I dropped by Glazers because I needed to buy some film. It was well stocked with film of all types. It seemed like a really nice old school camera store.

Can't help on the rental darkrooms.

Doug Dolde · 10-May-2007, 19:06

I tried getting through the winter up there three times with no success. Dark, wet, cold, never see the sun for months on end. Love it in summer though. Go out to the Olympic National Park !

**Jim Jirka** · 10-May-2007, 19:35

Glazers Camera is a well stocked store with very smart people to help you out.

Ivey is located next to Glazers for all types of film processing.

I believe the film lab in Fremont ProLab has discontinued film processing.

One good thing, no state income tax.

**Matthew Runkel** · 10-May-2007, 20:06

Photographic Center Northwest has rental facilities that you can learn about here.

**Scott Knowles** · 11-May-2007, 06:53

Hey, it could have been worse than here (Seattle), like North Dakota. I'll echo the same, Glazer's is the best all around store, and consistently has supplies others don't have. Instead of selling out all the "old school" stuff, they simply moved it across the street where they can focus the main store on the digital system (camera to computer) equipment. It was either adapt to the market or fade away.

I don't know what Ivey charges for 8x10 sheets, but 4x5 are $2.50 each, no matter the film or instructions (push/pull). And they're just next door to Glazer's. I don't know about rental labs except when I hear. As suggested, the PCNW has one and there may be smaller ones around the area and you just have to search. Sadly, ProLab went digital commercial accounts only and dropped all consumer services.

Ok, we don't have the Golden Gate Bridge and other stuff to photograph, but we do have a lot more mountains and other things, and they're a lot closer, once you clear the traffic. And we have BC, Oregon and eastern Washington not far away too.

And sorry, about the winters, it's a seasonal thing. You either adapt (aka, get out the winter clothes and rain gear), hibernate, or move to California (kidding).

**Benno Jones** · 11-May-2007, 08:18

Following the lenses I've bought from you?

I also buy most of my (non-mailorder) supplies from Glazer's. A few blocks away there is another store called Optechs, which I haven't been into in a while because they're no longer open on weekends. As well, there's Rainier Photographic Supply, although I've never actually made it in to their store. All three have websites, so you should be able to scope out what they have.

I am a graduate of Photographic Center NW's certificate program, and I can tell you first-hand you probably don't want to rent darkroom space there unless you actually like sharing your chemicals with beginning students who don't know what cross-contamination means. Although they (at least used to) have the only 8x10 enlarger for use that I know of. You need to become a member (about $30 a year I think? I've let mine lapse) before you can rent time there.

I currently rent space from one of the PCNW teachers who has a home darkroom near where I live. There are a number of other rental darkrooms that I've never been to so I can't say anything about. Googling Rental Darkroom Seattle turns up a number of them, as does the www.darkroomsource.net website.

Ivey's is where I take my color film for processing, but I believe they no longer actually print directly from film. I bring them a scan of the negs I want printed and they do a lightjet print. Panda Lab near Seattle Center is great for B&W negatives and printing.

I've lived up here for just over 17 years and while things have changed a lot in that time, there's still plenty of great places to shoot both around the city and around the state. Where else can you drive east 2 hours and shoot in a rainforest and the next weekend drive 3 hours west and shoot in a desert?