Water, water everywhere

First of all, please accept my most humble apologies for not writing in a while. I have been updating my website and working on the darkroom!

Next up is water and waste. How fun. I happen to be gutting the adjoining room, and that room happens to be.......... a bathroom! I exposed the plumbing in the bathroom and found that the hot and cold run on the adjacent wall, as well as the waste as well! All it will take is a couple of T junctions, and I'm in business! Pictures to follow...

- John -
ThePhotoHound

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- John -
ThePhotoHound

Back to Medium Format

As my last posts described, I scored a couple of great 35mm cameras off of eBay and at a yard sale. I just need one more to complete the arsenal: a good medium format unit. I've been shooting on 35mm for long enough, and now it's time to re-learn the fine-grain detail and strong midtones of 120 film.

I'm having a hard time deciding, though. Hasselblad and Rollei are way out of my price range. Yashica, Mamiya, and Pentax are all reasonable, and that's where I run into trouble. Just like anything else, you have staunch supporters of each. I would love to try each of them, but that's not exactly feasible. I'm leaning hard towards the Pentax 67, but I learned on a Mamiya 645. Decisions, decisions. I'll keep you updated.

- John -
ThePhotoHound

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- John -
ThePhotoHound

Great Score

So my wife and I visited some local yard sales this past weekend (we're avid "Yard-Salers") and among some great scores, I found the mother of all photo deals. An older gentleman has been an enthusiast for years, and has decided that it was time to pack it in. He's moved on to gardening and pruning his meticulous lawn. He had the following equipment with a sign stating "Complete Photo Outfit - $100":

1 - Olympus OM-1 Manual SLR
1 - Vivitar 100-300mm F/3.8 manual lens
1 - Olympus 50mm F/2.0 lens
1 - Vivitar TeleConverter
2 - Vivitar flashes
8 - Tamron filters
2 - Tripods
1 - New cable release
2 - Leather carry bags

For once, I didn't even hesitate, as I paid in cash, full asking price. Not to mention he was a nice guy that "just wanted a good home" for the equipment. He found a good home!

- John -
ThePhotoHound

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Is Darkroom Photography Dead?

Not until recently have I realized that there are a lot fewer B&W darkroom photographers out there than I thought. I mean, I knew I've been out of the game for a few years, but what happened?! I had this dicussion with an old friend the other day. It looks like B&W darkroom photography has become an art. What I mean is, it's always been an art, but when it was first introduced, it was the only way. Then in the 60's and 70's, it became fashionable to develop your own stuff. In the 80's and 90's, it was considered a bit Retro, but it was still mildly popular. Now, you're a dinosaur if you haven't gone digital.

Then I saw a glimmer of hope: if there are artists still putting brush to canvas, and one could argue that painting has been around since the dawn of time on cave walls, then B&W darkroom photography (i.e. REAL photography) will never go away. That's encouraging to a guy like me who believes that unless you're elbow deep in fixer, then you're not truly connected to the art.

- John -
ThePhotoHound

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Going Retro

I recently blew the dust off of the old Ricoh KR-5 Super and my Tamron 80-200mm F/2.8 Telephoto lens... I have to be honest, it felt good to get that old manual camera back in my hands again. It felt so good, in fact, that I bought a pristine Pentax K1000 off eBay for $30. I bought the Pentax 50mm F/2 lens (also great shape) months earlier in a package which included multiple 48-60mm filters.

I can't wait to pop in a roll of Ilford HP5+ 35mm 400 ISO film and start shooting again. It's been a while! I've been shooting quite a bit with my Canon Rebel XS (stock 35-80mm AF lens), and it's great to be automatic, but there's nothing like the weight and feel of a classic manual SLR... Is everyone pickin' up what I'm puttin down?

- John -
ThePhotoHound

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Flying With Film...

I've gotten many e-mails regarding traveling with film... is it safe? Will you damage the film by allowing it to go through an x-ray machine? The simple answer is MAYBE. Although studies show that a fog can form on unexposed films with silver halide crystals (and most film nowadays is made this way) if they travel through a high powered x-ray machine. The most high powered x-rays are those scanning the luggage that travels in the belly of the plane (i.e. everything but carry-on). Therefore, I highly recommend carrying all film as carry-on, get it hand-checked, and explain to security what it is. Studies have shown little or no effects from hand-checking.

- John -
ThePhotoHound

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I'm Getting Excited

As reported in a recent post, the walls of the soon-to-be darkroom were getting a makeover. The walls are done, as well as the trim (my wife is an angel... I didn't pick up a single brush!) Next, we'll (and be "we'll", I mean "I'll") be scraping the existing carpet glue from the concrete floor to get ready for the enamel paint. Ya, we decided to paint the floor, and give it that real industrial darkroom feel. This weekend, I'll be a plumber, as I run hot, cold, and waste pipes to where the sink is going to be. Not too big of a deal, as the bathroom is on the other side of the wall! I'm getting excited because this means we're just a month or so away from finishing it off!

- John -
ThePhotoHound

Technorati-Ready!

We're now part of the Technorati Network!

Great Home Darkroom Book

As I began this crusade to build my home darkroom, a search began as well; to find the best home darkroom book out there. I believe I have. It is "The New Darkroom Handbook" by Joe DeMaio, Roberta Worth, and Dennis Curtin. Trust me, there are a lot of books out there, and 90% of them were written in the 70's and never updated. Although the first edition also had an early publishing date, it was completely updated in 1998. It is well written, and has everything from layout and design to tips and techniques for developing and enlarging. You can get it brandy-new on Amazon for $27.69, or slightly used (this is what I did) for around $15. Check it out!

The Renovation Begins

Here we go! We've officially started the big renovation. I intend on documenting everything as we go from old bedroom to fully functional home darkroom. Let's start from the beginning...

Step 1: We cleaned every surface thoroughly. The goal here was to remove any existing dust, dirst, grease, or any other build-up so that the spackle and eventually new primer and paint will adhere.

Step 2: Patched all exiting holes, cracks, or imperfections in the walls. In our case, there were many holes that needed help. We used a 4" putty knife ($6) and DAP Drydex Time Indicating Spackle. What's beautiful about this stuff is it goes on pink and dries white. The color indicator tells you when it's time to sand. I think it takes all the fun out of it, but my wife loves it.

Step 3: We sanded the walls. I used 150 grit sandpaper and a 6" Random Orbital Sander ($40, already had one) connected to a shop vac. I love these things. They work very well, as long as you keep fresh sanding discs on them. They buffed the walls beautifully, and took away 90% of the imperfections.

Step 4: We sanded the woodwork. For this particular room, we've decided to forgo the dark 70's stain on the woodwork and paint it all white. As you can see in the photo, we have trim as well as a built-in shelf. What's not picured is a built-in set of drawers as well (upcoming photos). The white will go a long way in updating the look.

Step 5: We primed everything. We're using Kilz 2 latex primer ($17/gal) because it locks out moisture and adheres extremely well.

Step 6: Painted the walls. We're using a deep reddish tint in Behr Eggshell that we found in the "Oops!" section of Home Depot. Normally $22 paint, paid $5. The red will be great with displaying photos once complete. As much as this is going to be a darkroom, it's also going to be a gallery.

Step 7: Taped around trim. We used 2" removable blue painter's tape ($10 for a 60 yd roll, which will do a few rooms). The stuff stays on fairly well, but the key is it won't peel off existing paint like some masking tapes will.

Step 8: Painted the trim. This is quite a pain. Even with the primer, it took 3 coats, and still remained a little streaky. In hindsight, we probably should have taken more time to sand. We're using Behr Swiss Coffee (almost white) Semi-Gloss ($23/gal) I know a lot of people tell you just to sand just enough to take the gloss off, but if we had to do it all over again, we would have sanded more. Especially with a darker stain. Better adhesion and less bleeding.Next time I update, we should be reporting some flooring details. We're planning on keeping the concrete and painting it with a gray enamel. Should be fun. I will also show you the "after" photos of the walls and trim. So until next time!

So What is a PhotoHound??

A PhotoHound is a ShutterBug. There you go.

Truth is, I love black and white photography. I am a photography enthusiast, I guess you would say. I got hooked in high school. I was looking for a "filler" class that I didn't have to work too hard in. There was enough History, Math, and English. I wanted a brainless 45 minutes to take a break. I got just the opposite. Those 45 minutes turned out to be the most challenging of each day. I was using the right side of my brain (or is it the left?) like never before. Not until Junior year did I realize I was artistic! I got all kinds of awards (some regional, some national) for my work, but to me it was just fun. It always has been.

So here I find myself... 27 years old, just bought a new (new to us) house with plenty of space. Guess what I'm putting in... that's right... a darkroom. I actually have a whole room I can use for creating... for rediscovering one of my true loves.

This blog is dedicated to that rediscovery. I plan on documenting (from day one) the transformation of this old bedroom into a fully functional black and white darkroom. I will provide before and after photos, as the project progresses. I also plan on keeping the blog going, right into taking photos, developing, enlarging, and so on. I'm sure as I progress in "re-learning" this art, I'll remember all of the old tips and tricks I learned. Hopefully, together, we can help each other out and learn together.

Thanks for checking us out, and stay tuned... it's going to get exciting!!