New darkroom

Well there are 2 words I thought I’d never write.
My new darkroom is finally finished, and like all darkrooms it’s already well used, and smells of fixer.
You may ask why, after all, 99% of my commercial work is shot digitally, processed and delivered, usually same day.

I was scanning my black and white negatives, using an Epson V700 scanner, which produces brilliant on screen results, but I was finding the whole process a bit, clinical.
I spent a great deal of my early career in the darkroom and was missing the emotional process of printing my own work, up to exhibition standard, there are processes using film and darkroom which digital just cannot replicate.
I’ll be shooting a new series of Birmingham images over the next year, which will be available from my shop as original prints.

For the technically interested here is how I’m doing it.
Black and White images are shot on Ilford FP4+ or Kodak Tri-X and developed in XTOL 1+1 using a Jobo CPP and expert drum.
The negatives are then contact printed. After deciding which negative to print, I use an ex British Aerospace De Vere 507 bench enlarger with Ilford 500 multigrade head, which is very well used, but will last forever. Lenses are either Nikon, Rodenstock or Schneider.
Exposure is determined using a RH designs analyser pro. I’ve only been using it a few weeks and already those epic printing sessions trying to get the print right have gone, the meter works really well, giving me a near perfect starting point.
Dodging and burning is also a lot quicker and easier.
I’m printing on Adox MCC fibre based paper (as good as the old Agfa multi contrast classic) using Ethol LPD, a wonderful print developer which is kinder to the environment and you can alter the print tone by dilution.
Final step is usually a 2 minute selenium tone, depending on the tone I want.

I’m also developing my own colour negatives using the digibase C-41 kit, really easy, once you get the hang of it.