The Convergence Factor

A couple nights ago I churned out a big stack of proof sheets. It was tedious, boring, and not something I especially enjoyed. However, since then I have enjoyed going through them with a 4x loupe and a paint marker (because I can’t find a grease pencil/china marker in Korea that will get along with RC paper) and making picks. I’ve really come to like the workflow with Lightroom, but still value having a physical proof print I can write on, etc. It’s a different working method, but certainly one with its share of advantages.

I have largely been terrible at following through with posting info about this project - I admit that freely - but things are slowly happening with it all when I’m not working or wandering around Changwon with my camera making photographs. I am currently making the vast majority of my new work on film and am beginning to catch up on the resulting backlog of undeveloped rolls of 35mm and 120. This weekend I will be making proof sheets of a dozen or so rolls and making prints of a handful of chosen negatives.

All my printing this weekend will be 35mm only. I have new medium format negatives on hand, but not the enlarging lens or negative carrier that I need to print them. The 80mm Schneider lens is sitting at my father’s house, awaiting the rest of my order from B&H. The universal glass masking negative carrier for the LPL 7700 and anti-newton top glass are still backordered and I don’t know when they’ll come in, so making medium format prints is on hold indefinitely. Hopefully within another month I’ll have what I need on hand and can expand from only 35mm to 35mm, medium format, and 35mm half-frame.

Incidentally, I have secured an Olympus Pen D, which replaces one that died on me just as I was beginning to love it like mad, and which I will be using to continue my (suckerpunch) photo series/book project.

Since my last update, I have gone to the same dusty old film shop in Busan (run by a dusty old man) to stock up on more chemicals and 35mm Tri-X. His prices are high, but not out of fair range and I don’t have many alternative options at the moment. Besides, I honestly would rather pay a bit more and support an independent, long-established vendor who has been very helpful than mail-order materials in from Seoul.

New non-consumable purchases include the aforementioned enlarging lens and negative carrier along with an Ilford Antistaticum antistatic cloth (an oft-forgotten but indispensable darkroom accessory) and a set of Ilford Multigrade contrast filters in the 3.5″ square size to fit the lamphouse of my enlarger.

This adds about $280 USD to my investment in the darkroom project, not counting shipping costs. That brings the running total to around $690 USD, not including consumable items. I now have what I consider to be a very nice setup in terms of equipment, too, so it’s still well within bargain range. Some items could be better, of course, such as the repurposed beverage containers (read: 2 liter bottles) used for chemical storage, but the improvised solutions will work for the time being. I’ll have more appropriate items in use after my next move when I know I’m not going to have to jettison the items within six months.

At this point, the darkroom project is entirely about what I need to have on hand in order to get the job done. It has little to do with having an ideal setup, aside from having invested in an enlarger and a handful of other items that I will move with the rest of my stuff and which I view as an investment for the long term. In six months after I make my next move, I’ll be doing a lot more in the area of trying to create a more convenient, practical, and efficient physical setup. You know, things like tables (working on the floor isn’t so great), a non-terrible safelight, a print washer, a film washer, a film drying cabinet, and a dry mount press. This is truly a long-term project that goes much farther than my immediate needs in Changwon, Korea.

More updates to follow soon (as in actually soon….really).

I regret that I have been neglecting my blog completely for two months (where did those months go, anyway? if anyone knows, shoot me an email). I have been doing a bit more with the darkroom project, however. I am now developing film regularly, having gotten my stainless steel tanks and reels from the US and some more chemicals from the shop in Busan. I haven’t done much printing yet, but should be ramping up to do plenty of it in the near future. I have also placed an order with B&H Photo in NYC, as there are a handful of items that I have not been able to locate anywhere in Korea, let alone anywhere else in Asia. This includes a glass masking universal negative carrier, anti-newton top glass, and an 80mm enlarging lens. This is so that I can enlarge medium format negatives - something that is jugularly important to my work, as medium format is my bread and butter.

Unfortunately, on top of being special-order, the negative carrier and top glass are now back-ordered as well. With luck, I’ll be printing medium format by some time in February.

More updates coming soon (for real, I swear).

Once I get paid next on the 10th (a week from Tuesday), I will be ordering the handful of things I will need to get my darkroom project a bit further underway. For enlarging I have the enlarger, lens, carrier, easel, timer, safelight, and trays. I also have a film developing tank and a couple reels that came with the enlarger setup. I will eventually have my stainless steel reels shipped to me from the US, but the plastic will do for now.

What I need additionally is as follows:

• Film developer
• Paper developer
• Fixer
• Wetting agent (Photo flo)
• Wash aid such as Heico Perma Wash
• Printing paper
• Thermometer
• Graduates
• Storage jugs

The chemicals are pretty straight forward. Film developer will probably be Ilford ID-11 or Kodak D-76. Paper developer TBD, as I’m not sure what’s easily available here. In the long run I’ll be using Ansco 130 again, but that’s not so easy or inexpensive to get my hands on at the moment. Fixer will just be standard rapid fix. The wetting agent will be for hanging film to dry, so that it doesn’t wind up with water spots. You’ll note the lack of stop bath. I haven’t used stop bath in years, for film developing or printing. The wash aid isn’t important for RC prints, but makes life a lot easier when you are printing on fiber-based paper (my preference) as it cuts a huge amount of time off of that part of the process.

Paper-wise I’m not sure what I’ll be getting, but probably Ilford Multigrade IV fiber-based paper in glossy finish. My old favorite, AGFA MCC 111 FB, met an untimely end. I am happy to say that it is being resurrected, but not yet easily available or in packages big enough to be economical for me. In time, though, I will likely go back to it. The combination of AGFA 111 and Ansco 130 was the best paper/developer combination I ever used and I really got a great feel for it when I was in college.

Graduates will, for the time being, probably just be cutoff drink bottles with the important measurements marked on the outside with a marker. Not glamorous, but it works well enough in the short term. Storage jugs will be 2-liter drink bottles. These are amber in color and are made to hold carbonated beverages, which means that gaseous exchange through the bottle isn’t a problem. For a thermometer, I can easily get a digital kitchen thermometer at the store for about ₩10,000.

At this point, the primary goal is to get up and running developing film and making prints as soon as possible. I never stopped developing film, but due to unfavorable circumstances I have been unable to make silver prints for a couple years now so the first box of paper will be spent getting my chops back. In the long run I will get everything set up just-so, especially after I move to Japan next year, but initially the point is to get back to printing at all.

Soon I will post some photos of the room that I’ll be using as well as a drawing/layout of the space and how I will likely have it set up.

Wheels are turning, etc. This is now in my spare room in my apartment. Not shown are other things like a grain focuser, timer, voltage converter, trays, light box, loupe, 50mm enlarging lens, etc. With the help of friends (Emily and Trey I love you both), we rented a car today, drove to Busan, and picked up all of the equipment. For the amount of excellent equipment I now have here for this project, I’ve paid an excellent price.

Including car rental, gas, tolls, etc, total investment thus far approximately ₩475,000.

Consider this the official announcement for a new project. In my apartment here in Changwon, I have a small second room that is currently being used for storage. I can store what’s in that room on the balcony, though, and convert it into a darkroom. That is the plan.

The room that I will be converting is small, maybe 8×8 feet in size, and has one small window that would be easily blacked out. The floor is covered with the same ubiquitous linoleum-like covering that seems to be in 90% of Korean apartments, which makes for easy cleanup of spilled chemicals. The one window makes running an exhaust fan a cinch. The door to the room appears to need only a towel under the bottom edge to make it light-tight.

In a couple of weeks, I will be purchasing and picking up the bulk of my darkroom equipment in Busan. That includes an enlarger, lens, safelight, exhaust fan, timer, contact printer, trays, filters, and voltage converter for the enlarger. I will still need to source my preferred printing paper, bulk chemicals to mix up paper developer, a scale for weighing out chemicals, storage bottles, and things like that. All of this will be documented fully as well.

The whole process of setting up the darkroom will be fully documented and posted here on the blog. I hope to illustrate how excellent results can be achieved in setting up a home darkroom, even if the space you have to use is not ideal and/or you don’t exactly have the best options in equipment at your disposal. I think people tend to overestimate the difficulty and expense associated with setting up a darkroom and getting into making silver gelatin prints, and with luck I’ll shed a little light on how easy and inexpensive it can be.

The first real installment will come when I acquire the first big chunk of equipment and start about setting up the second room for printing. Should be in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.