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Thread: Darkroom trash control

  1. #1
    hacker extraordinaire
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    Darkroom trash control

    What do you do with your darkroom trash? Meaning test prints, test strips, oof negatives, etc? I never do anything special and just chuck it out with the trash, but when I used to live in an apartment, it bothered me dumping a bunch of poor-quality prints and negatives into the dumpster where the next tenant would see them. It's not that I would worry about my images being stolen or anything of the kind, more like I'm not sure every subject I photograph would approve of having their portrait tossed out like that. Dose anyone burn or shred their darkroom trash?

    Maybe I just have a lot more bad prints and negatives than everyone else...
    Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
    --A=B by Petkovšek et. al.

  2. #2

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    When I used a darkroom I put the darkroom trash in a large trash-can along with all the other household trash. I then left the large trash can by the side of the road for the city trash-collectors to pick up on the appointed day. It never occurred to me to burn it and I doubt that I could, the places I've lived have had stringent regulations about when and where things could be burned.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  3. #3

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    Out with the household trash for me. I drive it to the dump, so it doesn't sit in a public dumpster.

  4. #4

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    I tear them up so I can't change my mind and dig it out later.

    One bad print I made recently I kept. It was a river and came out too light and looked like ice. I had some trouble in the past making ice look like ice, so I needed that river to keep as reference for what ice should look like.

    Ansel Adams used to throw his prints out in the trash. A friend got an alternate take of Clearing Storm that way.

  5. #5

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    I've always thrown prints and negatives away with the household trash. I don't think many people would dig around in the trash bags which often have mucho dog poop inside.
    Ron McElroy
    Memphis

  6. #6

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    I'm a little self conscience of my trash as well, mainly because I've seen lots of people going through the dumpsters! So I definitely rip up my trash prints lest they resurface!

  7. #7

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    sell the test prints on ebay or etsy. just call it art.

  8. #8

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    Quote Originally Posted by RW Hawkins View Post
    I'm a little self conscience of my trash as well, mainly because I've seen lots of people going through the dumpsters! So I definitely rip up my trash prints lest they resurface!
    I just put something nasty in the bag with the torn up prints. If they want to look through them that bad, they can cope with that brownish green slime I poured out of a forgotten jar from the back of the fridge.
    One man's Mede is another man's Persian.

  9. #9

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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    Quote Originally Posted by E. von Hoegh View Post
    I just put something nasty in the bag with the torn up prints. If they want to look through them that bad, they can cope with that brownish green slime I poured out of a forgotten jar from the back of the fridge.
    That's funny.

    I only tear them up so I don't go back after them. Green slime won't stop me.

  10. #10
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: Darkroom trash control

    Sent off to be recycled...

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