Hi, i'm 20 years old and i've been out of high school for almost two years. while i was in high school i fell in love with photography. I haven't been in a darkroom since but i've been on the hunt with no sucess. I was wondering if you could help me find a darkroom to work in, in the Toronto area and surrounding areas around Woodbridge. I'm just looking for something to print 35mm black and white. Thanks

-- Christine Antonucci (Spacygirl30199@aol.com), December 31, 2000

Answers

I live in Philadelphia, PA. Around here, the cheapest option is to join a camera club for $30.00 US/year. They have darkroom rentals for $5.00 US/day. They supply chemistry. You supply paper. 2 1/4 sq max.

Basic photography classes at the local community college are aroung $200.00 US/3 credit class. This gives you access to decent darkrooms. Again, chemistry is free but paper is supplied by student.

You can rent darkroom space from some studios for about $10.00 US/hr. They will handle large format (4X5 enlargers).

Last but not least, is convert part of your living space (bathroom usually) into a makeshift darkroom. You don't have to travel and there are no gatekeepers or Cider House Rules. B&W industrial grade equipment is cheap now (Beseler 45, Omega D2) because of digital. I went the home darkroom route. I like my independence. Hope this helps.

-- Joseph Wasko (jwasko@erols.com), January 03, 2001.

i live in ohio and just purchased a basic darkroom kit from Metzers, it only cost $350.00+tax. i've been out of school for quite awhile and wanted to get back into photography as well. so check with your local photo suppliers for basic kits.

-- vickie (vhamm@neo.rr.com), January 10, 2001.

Christine,

I don't know of any darkroom rentals in the Woodbridge area, but here are two in the downtown Toronto area: 1) Toronto Image Works 416-703-1999 80 Spadina Ave 2) West Camera 416-504-9432 514 Queen Street West

They are around $10-12/hour to rent. The print processor takes 60 seconds to output a dry print on RC only paper.

Although, if you plan on doing a lot, then building one at home would be a better option. I am leaning towards doing this sometime before summer.

Take care Roger

-- Roger Bird (rpbird@home.com), January 10, 2001.