Bob - Garden is Life
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thread 1/6
I was reminiscing about all the darkroom work I did back in the 70s and early 80s. The work to get a shot and print then compared to now casually grabbing a snap with your phone without thinking about it. I'm pretty sure I could still wind a 35mm film roll onto a film spindle for developing
12:38 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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Bob - Garden is Life
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thread 2/6
the negative. They still sell all this stuff at B&H Photo. There must still be some artists working with the old film still. Then all the chemicals / rinses in the drum. Everything timed to the second. Then after the negatives were hung and dried, off to the darkroom.
12:38 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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Bob - Garden is Life
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thread 3/6
That dim red light you see in the movies is exactly how we did it. Photo paper, at least B&W photo paper, is non-reactive to low level red light. Get everything set up, put the photo paper in there, and hit the timer to expose it to the negative image. There was all kinds of magic to
12:38 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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Bob - Garden is Life
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thread 4/6
how to set the light level and time. Many tables, light meters, etc. It was amazing how many factors you had to worry about and all adjustment was by hand. Then paper goes into the developer bath and then the fixer bath. Breathing those chemical vapors for hours at a time could not have been good.
12:38 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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Bob - Garden is Life
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thread 5/6
Doing a 4x4 proof sheet took about 30 to 45 minutes because all 16 had to be exposed individually. You had a special rig to move a plastic window around so you protect the areas you're not printing. That was high pressure as a photographer then. So many ways to ruin a shot and you wouldn't know
12:38 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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Bob - Garden is Life
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thread 6/6
until you got into the darkroom. I reminisce about those days, but don't miss them. The ability for everybody to take and share images instantly and globally now makes it so much more fun. I love how much top rate photography is shared on Spoutible.
12:38 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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Kate Woods Walker
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Photography was not my strong suit, although I did enjoy the dodging and burning and other ways to manipulate images in the darkroom. Most of the time I was just happy to get useable prints. There were just so many steps, and if you messed up any one, you were sunk.
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10:48 PM - Mar 15, 2024
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