bvstaples
7-Sep-2010, 13:12
All:
I was thinking, I really need a darkroom ready and available to me as I need it, and not on someone else’s schedule. I need to keep darkroom skills honed, but in order to do that, like I said, I need one available to me when I’m ready to use one.
I’m not in a position to build one at my house right now. In about 5-7 years the house will be ready to accommodate it (spare space is currently being taken up by pesky teenagers). Until then, then only darkrooms available to me are at the local colleges: but I need to take a class in order to sign up for darkroom time, and then I can only use the darkroom on the limited “open” schedule that it’s available, and I have to share it with 40 others.
There is one darkroom in the UC system school here that I can get into without having to attend, but you have to have an OK from the lab master, then pay up a handsome sum, and I’m not really sure if I want to go through the hassle and still have to deal with a large student body trying to use the space at the same time. Not that I’m stingy or a xenophobe or anything, but like I said above, 40 people in a community darkroom at a time can be frustrating at best.
So I was thinking, I probably know about half a dozen people who still shoot film and are in the same predicament I’m in: they’d like to have a darkroom at their disposal but don’t want the hassle of the community darkroom at the colleges. Maybe I should form a coop and build out a darkroom/lab to suit the needs of the limited partnership of the coop. I know of a space I can rent for about $200/month utilities included where we could set up a darkroom with a film processing room or two, an enlarger room with maybe three or four enlargers, and a finishing room. From there the coop would have to outfit it and supply it. So there would be some up front costs in gear and chemical acquisition, but the ongoing costs per person (let’s say based on ten people), would be in the $50/month range. To me it would be worth it if I could show up at 10:00 at night and work until 4:00 am. And if I didn’t have to bump butts with some student taking a photography course because she didn’t know what else to take, all the better.
Has anyone set up a coop like this? Did they work out or fall apart after a while? What are the realistic costs involved (my rent number is right on, but my monthly “others” costs may be way off). Any opinions to offer on this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Brian
P.S. If anyone knows of such a coop in the San Diego County area of the country (very lower left on the USA map), and would be willing to let me join, please let me know.
I was thinking, I really need a darkroom ready and available to me as I need it, and not on someone else’s schedule. I need to keep darkroom skills honed, but in order to do that, like I said, I need one available to me when I’m ready to use one.
I’m not in a position to build one at my house right now. In about 5-7 years the house will be ready to accommodate it (spare space is currently being taken up by pesky teenagers). Until then, then only darkrooms available to me are at the local colleges: but I need to take a class in order to sign up for darkroom time, and then I can only use the darkroom on the limited “open” schedule that it’s available, and I have to share it with 40 others.
There is one darkroom in the UC system school here that I can get into without having to attend, but you have to have an OK from the lab master, then pay up a handsome sum, and I’m not really sure if I want to go through the hassle and still have to deal with a large student body trying to use the space at the same time. Not that I’m stingy or a xenophobe or anything, but like I said above, 40 people in a community darkroom at a time can be frustrating at best.
So I was thinking, I probably know about half a dozen people who still shoot film and are in the same predicament I’m in: they’d like to have a darkroom at their disposal but don’t want the hassle of the community darkroom at the colleges. Maybe I should form a coop and build out a darkroom/lab to suit the needs of the limited partnership of the coop. I know of a space I can rent for about $200/month utilities included where we could set up a darkroom with a film processing room or two, an enlarger room with maybe three or four enlargers, and a finishing room. From there the coop would have to outfit it and supply it. So there would be some up front costs in gear and chemical acquisition, but the ongoing costs per person (let’s say based on ten people), would be in the $50/month range. To me it would be worth it if I could show up at 10:00 at night and work until 4:00 am. And if I didn’t have to bump butts with some student taking a photography course because she didn’t know what else to take, all the better.
Has anyone set up a coop like this? Did they work out or fall apart after a while? What are the realistic costs involved (my rent number is right on, but my monthly “others” costs may be way off). Any opinions to offer on this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Brian
P.S. If anyone knows of such a coop in the San Diego County area of the country (very lower left on the USA map), and would be willing to let me join, please let me know.