I was helping out our local library.
We were having a book sale and our only librarian had to—
put out boxes and boxes of “weeded” or donated books
keep the library functioning
de-list (un-list?) four piles of weeded books
When I got there all but two of the tables had ben erected in the sale room. Most of the books that would fit on edge on the tables were standing. I was assigned to putting out all the DVD’s. When I finished that I was reassigned to scanning the de-listed books and carrying them from the check-out desk to the sale room. Meanwhile the librarian was trying to help a man on the computers print many pages. Of course there were people trying to check out books. Then I was sent to help carry another two tables from the far end of the building. Once they were erected we had enough room to move all the books still in cartons up to table level.
Why is any of this interesting to you, you ask?
Because all this fun led to me going home with two photography books. One—The Kodak Workshop Series / Building a Home Darkroom—I was pretty sure I had written about back when we were on Facebook (May 29/2016). The other book will be covered when I finish reading it.
Our Library had acquired the book on building a home darkroom in February of 2008. It was issued in 1981 as Kodak Publication No. KW–14 (CAT 143-9991).
I really enjoyed rereading the book because of its rather loose style. You start gently with considerations brought to you that range from sourcing water and electricity, dealing with authorities, aspects of workflow both wet and dry, ventilation, woodworking (you are going to build a light-tight paper drawer from scratch)… The illustrations vary all over the map, from drawings to flash-on-camera grab shots. One moment you are seeing a full page of water flowing down a drain and the next moment you are facing a pipe wrench so detailed it could fit seamlessly into a RIGID Tool Company Annual Report.
You are soon led through building a darkroom in the corner of a basement. Cleverly they don’t build the forth wall until they have taken their shots.
Then you hit the real fun as they show you the darkrooms others have built. One in an alcove of a rec room was particularly memorable because the open side had a ping pong table across it. While you gain from a ventilation aspect, what happens if that wide open space behind you suddenly makes you think someone is watching from the dark?
Just saying.
The last darkroom is the authors. His restraint in covering everything but his personal darkroom first is admirable to say the least.
On a personal level I have had used (and in most of the early cases brought into being) darkrooms in a laundry space in the basement, in the family’s only bathroom, in the kitchen, under stairs, had a darkroom built for me in a stranger’s home, used a stranger’s darkroom, in a television studio, at college, in several newspapers, in a Professional Photographer’s Studio and rented space in a colour darkroom. I can testify this magazine format book is a treasure I am glad to have as a reminder of my life wandering through dark spaces.
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