Lets See Your Darkroom

[Allen in Montreal]

I could not add this picture to the last post for some reason:

[bob carnie]

Hi Allen

I use to be loud and proud leaf die hard fan, lately just really dissapointed in the franchise. Fill the rink every night, no seats to be had , and the players don't seem to have any pride or tenacity to go for the cup.

But I have to say , never and I mean never will a Canadians Jersey hang in my lab. I would rather eat 50lbs of frenchfries and poutine in one sitting before that would happen.

[Allen in Montreal]

Hi Allen

I use to be loud and proud leaf die hard fan, lately just really dissapointed in the franchise. Fill the rink every night, no seats to be had , and the players don't seem to have any pride or tenacity to go for the cup.

Sadly, that statement applies to most major sports today. I cover a lot of pro sports, the only group that comes to mind, where if you try to speak with an athlete, you are not spurned or shoved by security, might be Nascar.

But I have to say , never and I mean never will a Canadians Jersey hang in my lab. I would rather eat 50lbs of frenchfries and poutine in one sitting before that would happen.

Spoken like a true Leafs fan of yesteryear! Wouldn't have it any other way!

Great looking darkroom space.

[bob carnie]

Thanks Allen

BTW , you know here in Toronto the only person worse than a Senators fan is a Hab fan. I only wish we had the team here to kick both the Sen's and Hab's asses on a regular basis.


Bob

[Bazz8]

Good to see some good natured banter in sport,like we have between the crows and Power in our football down under.
Bob your darkroom is something else would love to see a you tube on your processing of large prints except for the video light one of the top pros in adelaide who has passed away in the last 18months or so ,showed us some 30-40" prints but also recalled a assignment for a client were he processd a 6'x8' in a kids wading pool ,
he lived north of adelaide and did the print at 3 am in the morning under his carport
I have a converted Agfa Rapido Print processer which takes 20" width paper so I
have no trouble doing 20x24" of the basebourd of my durst 138s the processor takes 5minutes to process through the Dev,Fixer ,Static Water Bath, Running Water Bath, then a dryer to any setting I choose (winter on 5-6 summer 2-3 ) theoreticaly I
could do a mural up to perhaps 20" x 72" It would take around 20 minuted to run through the processor. trick is to feed it in straight

bazz8

[bob carnie]

We are preparing to produce a show later this year, a series of 48 by 72 inch fibre prints, if it is a go we will try to record the project and post.
All our work is with fibre paper and our go to paper for enlarger work is Ilford Warmtone.
All my work in large format is either tray process or trough process, It is very time consuming and uses lots of chemicals and washing/toning times. therefore the suits we wear. To date I have burned out the leaf jesey you see in the photo, the orange jumpsuit was my great assistant Dylan Ellis, who passed away over a year ago and we are about to put up my second orange jumpsuit this week beside Dylans.
6' x 8' is beyond my capability's , The bulk of our day to day murals are 30x40 and this darkroom is perfect for this size.

Good to see some good natured banter in sport,like we have between the crows and Power in our football down under.
Bob your darkroom is something else would love to see a you tube on your processing of large prints except for the video light one of the top pros in adelaide who has passed away in the last 18months or so ,showed us some 30-40" prints but also recalled a assignment for a client were he processd a 6'x8' in a kids wading pool ,
he lived north of adelaide and did the print at 3 am in the morning under his carport
I have a converted Agfa Rapido Print processer which takes 20" width paper so I
have no trouble doing 20x24" of the basebourd of my durst 138s the processor takes 5minutes to process through the Dev,Fixer ,Static Water Bath, Running Water Bath, then a dryer to any setting I choose (winter on 5-6 summer 2-3 ) theoreticaly I
could do a mural up to perhaps 20" x 72" It would take around 20 minuted to run through the processor. trick is to feed it in straight

bazz8

[photojunkie99@live.com]

understand that you print with a 30" lambda, so wonder how do you produce 48"x72" fibre prints ??
do you ever use digital paper processor for your 30" lambda prints or do you process all your prints by tray or by trough ?

just curious what is the advantage of using trays and troughs instead of a digital paper processor ??

[Bazz8]

We are preparing to produce a show later this year, a series of 48 by 72 inch fibre prints, if it is a go we will try to record the project and post.
All our work is with fibre paper and our go to paper for enlarger work is Ilford Warmtone.
All my work in large format is either tray process or trough process, It is very time consuming and uses lots of chemicals and washing/toning times. therefore the suits we wear. To date I have burned out the leaf jesey you see in the photo, the orange jumpsuit was my great assistant Dylan Ellis, who passed away over a year ago and we are about to put up my second orange jumpsuit this week beside Dylans.
6' x 8' is beyond my capability's , The bulk of our day to day murals are 30x40 and this darkroom is perfect for this size.

I didn,t know that paper came in that size thats huge , the lecturer was the principle photographer in Adelaides festival theater for 20 yrs and so I assume he had a lot of integrety my contact with him was a WEA photography course My best remembered quote of his in regards to amatuers vs pros ( don,t ever put your selves down as amatuers it,s passion that creates great Photographs)

[jp]

This is my new darkroom, vent system just went in this week so you don't see that and humidity system is not in place but very operational, after moving from my long term darkroom , I am glad to being back to normal

Is that a chain gang helping you out?

[bob carnie]

Compared to our competitors we are small potatoes, we have 5 staff including myself and working partner.
Our rent compared to New York, Paris or London is quite reasonable therefore we have more affordable space to make the prints, and we prefer to work on less commercial projects and more on work for gallery walls.
If it is analogue we would use our enlargers, if it is Lambda we would use a second larger lambda and box the paper to the troughs.
I have never used a processor for the processing of the paper, most of the other labs that do this type of work use a processor, I prefer the sink and trough method which gives me a lot of control on process and toning.
It is a pain in the ass but by working this way I have eliminated a huge variable (the processor.)
I have asked a few techicians to quote me a monster refrema type dip and dunk processor for large mural and large film , to date the best price I have is 130k which is out of my budget at this point. remember we are small operation.
some of the labs who do not use trays are taking the chance of not fixing, hypo, or washing their prints properly and without the large darkroom miss all the after effects of toning which is a big part of my work.
Cold tone papers that are slightly bleach then sepia, gold then selenium take on a beautiful colour gamut that I love.
Harmon is now coating a warmtone paper that opens up even more possibilitys for final look, so I guess to answer why trays,,, Archival standards to my enlarger prints, and creative toning opportunities.

understand that you print with a 30" lambda, so wonder how do you produce 48"x72" fibre prints ??
do you ever use digital paper processor for your 30" lambda prints or do you process all your prints by tray or by trough ?

just curious what is the advantage of using trays and troughs instead of a digital paper processor ??