Around here it's the paddle with the ball on a string or nothin', pal. That is, unless you have room for a ping pong table in your darkroom.Quote:
Originally Posted by DKT
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Around here it's the paddle with the ball on a string or nothin', pal. That is, unless you have room for a ping pong table in your darkroom.Quote:
Originally Posted by DKT
At work I would....we got 20 foot plus ceilings, the print room has concrete floors, it's about 40 some odd feet deep by 18 or so wide with a false wall for horizontal projection on on end....hmmm...maybe I should take up racquet ball?? I'll get back to ya on that one....
Jeremy, it's not that you can't watch TV while printing if you put ruby lith over the screen. The real problem is the distraction of the flashing and changing light patterns you get while trying to print or evaluate negatives etc. I don't know whether or not they program with flashing from light to dark on purpose but I wouldn't put it past them.
Of course you can't load film with the thing on but after loading into a tank it is nice company for processing.
Bob
Mmmm, all fine and dandy, but what is wrong with being alone with your thoughts when you're working in your darkroom. Call it the Zen of Pyro, the meditation on the mid-tones; whatever. Life's too full of the sound and fury of the media. Just merge with the safe light.
If I want solitude, I find a book and a nice chair. I spent the better part of my job-time crammed in a darkroom with other co-workers having the same workplace conversations over & over again...like Groundhog Day almost. Haivng a radio (or TV) is the only window you have to the outside.... It's like riding a bike--once you know how to make a print or use a view camera, you can do other things at the same time. It becomes second nature...I'm not saying I don't enjoy working in a darkroom--if I didn't I wouldn't run home to my own, but I'm saying if you do it for 10-12 hrs a day, weekly for years on end--using roller transport processors where you stick the print in & basically twiddle your thumbs until it comes out dry--you might find yourself doing other things during this downtime....
back to my hermit cave--KT
KT
..
"Zen of Pyro, the meditation on the mid-tones" and the torture of TV. Or how I learned to zone out alone in a lightless little room.
Isn't there a rather trite book on photography and Zen?
Bob
Well--think of this way--you're not watching TV....it's just there. Just like a radio or silence. You're still printing, using a densitometer plotting control strips or scraping the silver recovery unit....or mixing chemistry or whatever. Like I said, at work all I have is a radio and the ever present roar of the air handling system, water chiller, dryers and processors. I often run film and print at the same time--we have a revolving door between 2 darkrooms. Sometimes I'll be doing a shot out in the studio and will have to make a quick print, run back & crank it out, back to my shot etc. I can make a print back there in about 5 minutes or less. I can often look at a neg and telll how to do it--It just happens, I don't really think about it anymore....There are 3 enlargers, and sometimes I'll use all 3 of them, with different negs--flip flopping across them as the prints run through the machine. Just depends on what's going on. You gotta be able to multitask.
KT
i usually just listen to the white noise of the faucet running.
- john
I have a 38" HDTV direct-view TV that weighs 250lbs suspended 3 feet above my easel. I have removed my enlarger and connected the TV to my timer. TV comes off and on via footswitch. Timer is a compensating type and turns off during commercials. Exposure times are automatically calculated via an electrode in the light path. Timer has settings for:
'talk shows', 'soaps', 'news', 'PBS', 'sports', 'poker' and 'misc'.
I have to lay on my back and look up to see the picture, though. I don't print much, but I do watch a lot of TV.
-Mike