Finally done with PMK. What next?

[StoneNYC]

I figured out that I don't want to mess with pyro after hearing about the mental issues it causes... Who wants a bottle of pyrogalol?

[vinny]

I figured out that I don't want to mess with pyro after hearing about the mental issues it causes... Who wants a bottle of pyrogalol?

?????? wear gloves when using photo chemicals. Don't drink the stuff.

[StoneNYC]

?????? wear gloves when using photo chemicals. Don't drink the stuff.

There's a difference between wearing gloves (which I do) and a breathing mask (which I do) than wearing a bio suit in a clean room to prevent Parkinson's and other neurological diseases... I'm sorry even Edwin Weston's photography was not worth his life or the work he could have done. Everyone tells me you can get any result you like with any developer if you test and learn how the two interact. I hear it over and over again. So why risk ruining my life when I can just use Rodinal Hah! Yes I know that has bad chemicals too but it's not powder floating in the air. I develop in my kitchen (with strict rules and procedures to keep myself safe) I'm not about to start mixing pyro, and end up ingesting some floating particles that land on my cooking utensils, that's just foolish. It's why I don't use powder chemicals in the first place.

[bob carnie]

by drinking the stuff he will get closer to the photo gods.

?????? wear gloves when using photo chemicals. Don't drink the stuff.

[Michael Kadillak]

I mix my pyro outside with a mask and gloves and wear a mask and gloves when I use it which is just common sense. Ditto for powdered cement which is similarly a carcinogen. The fact is that the reason people have used pyro for a century is because it works. When you look at pictures of Edward and Brett Weston their fingernails were black from using amidol signifying that protective gloves were not in play here. Edward had his fingers in pyro developed a heck of a lot longer than Brett and Brett lived to his early 80's. If you don't have the capability nor the desire to work through the safety issues there are other options. I contend that there are ways to take the adverse variables with this chemical out of play without any adverse consequences. Just my $0.02.

There's a difference between wearing gloves (which I do) and a breathing mask (which I do) than wearing a bio suit in a clean room to prevent Parkinson's and other neurological diseases... I'm sorry even Edwin Weston's photography was not worth his life or the work he could have done. Everyone tells me you can get any result you like with any developer if you test and learn how the two interact. I hear it over and over again. So why risk ruining my life when I can just use Rodinal Hah! Yes I know that has bad chemicals too but it's not powder floating in the air. I develop in my kitchen (with strict rules and procedures to keep myself safe) I'm not about to start mixing pyro, and end up ingesting some floating particles that land on my cooking utensils, that's just foolish. It's why I don't use powder chemicals in the first place.

[vinny]

There's a difference between wearing gloves (which I do) and a breathing mask (which I do) than wearing a bio suit in a clean room to prevent Parkinson's and other neurological diseases... I'm sorry even Edwin Weston's photography was not worth his life or the work he could have done. Everyone tells me you can get any result you like with any developer if you test and learn how the two interact. I hear it over and over again. So why risk ruining my life when I can just use Rodinal Hah! Yes I know that has bad chemicals too but it's not powder floating in the air. I develop in my kitchen (with strict rules and procedures to keep myself safe) I'm not about to start mixing pyro, and end up ingesting some floating particles that land on my cooking utensils, that's just foolish. It's why I don't use powder chemicals in the first place.

Again,You are full of it. What dust? http://www.freestylephoto.biz/015060...Film-Developer For $30 you get a TON of it that lasts for a couple years.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Everyone tells me you can get any result you like with any developer if you test and learn how the two interact. I hear it over and over again.

StoneNYC, working with a staining developer allows you the luxury of easily printing the same negative on silver gelatin or alternative printing methods, such as carbon, etc. They scan beautifully, too. I wear gloves and a respirator when mixing.

[Peter Gomena]

I order my Pyro developers pre-mixed and wear nitrile gloves while processing. My darkroom is well ventilated. I wear glasses all the time, so splashes are not a big concern. It's not a big deal if you use a little caution and follow good basic laboratory procedures.

[StoneNYC]

StoneNYC, working with a staining developer allows you the luxury of easily printing the same negative on silver gelatin or alternative printing methods, such as carbon, etc. They scan beautifully, too. I wear gloves and a respirator when mixing.

You can't print carbon without using a staining developer?

I order my Pyro developers pre-mixed and wear nitrile gloves while processing. My darkroom is well ventilated. I wear glasses all the time, so splashes are not a big concern. It's not a big deal if you use a little caution and follow good basic laboratory procedures.

Kitchen...(I do wear gloves and mask always though)

Again,You are full of it. What dust? http://www.freestylephoto.biz/015060...Film-Developer For $30 you get a TON of it that lasts for a couple years.

The version I wanted to use was a special mix, a non-staining pyro... So you have to mix it yourself. The second bath removes the stain but leaves the pyro "look" on the neg.

I mix my pyro outside with a mask and gloves and wear a mask and gloves when I use it which is just common sense. Ditto for powdered cement which is similarly a carcinogen. The fact is that the reason people have used pyro for a century is because it works. When you look at pictures of Edward and Brett Weston their fingernails were black from using amidol signifying that protective gloves were not in play here. Edward had his fingers in pyro developed a heck of a lot longer than Brett and Brett lived to his early 80's. If you don't have the capability nor the desire to work through the safety issues there are other options. I contend that there are ways to take the adverse variables with this chemical out of play without any adverse consequences. Just my $0.02.

It's good to hear, I haven't completely disgraced it, but weather outside living in New England is unpredictable, do you mix every time you develop? It make some kind of concentrate mix that's liquid and then dilute it after for a working solution?

I develop once a week at least.

[Drew Wiley]

I've posted on this subject many times before, but to summarize it, I've been watching various artist acquaintances over the years, and am also smack dab down
the street from major pharmaceutical factories, where formerly paint factories existed... so I've witnessed a lot of people with failing livers, weird cancers, and
horrific neurological conditions, who could have avoided all this just with a little common sense regarding what they handled and breathed. And in this day and age,
when disposable plastic gloves are abundant and cheap, I don't know why anyone would skip them with reference to even ordinary darkroom chemicals. Even the
non-toxic ones can lead to allergic sensitization sometimes. I happen to use mostly the PMK formula for film development. The mixed concentrates lasts me about
a year. The kinds of chromium compounds and other heavy metals that "alt" UV printers sometimes use are far worse than the two "pyros", but there's little doubt
that inhaling pyro powder is a bad thing, as it soaking your fingers in it.