Darkroom Classes

[lance_frost]

<p>I am new to home processing and was thinking about taking a class for darkroom work. Does anyone have a recommendation for darkroom classes in the Philadelphia Area?</p>

[martin_dake]

<p>Try project basho....<br>

<a href="http://www.projectbasho.org/index2.html">http://www.projectbasho.org/index2.html</a></p>

<p>or YoDarkroom<br>

<a href="http://yodarkroom.com">http://yodarkroom.com</a></p>

<p>and maybe some of the local community colleges offer classes</p>

 

[lance_frost]

<p>Martin, thanks for the recommendation. I found those organizations online prior to my post, but I didn't know if anyone would vouch for them. Thanks for the help.</p>

[SCL]

<p>Lance - if you're merely looking for film development instruction rather than having full access to a full darkroom, you might try a local camera club, I'm sure there are a lot of local enthusiasts who would be willing to work with you and share their insights for free.</p>

[penny_greenberg]

<p>I agree with the previous posters and you can also check out colleges and universities (there are so many in the Philly area!) and look into auditing a photo class.</p>

[lance_frost]

<p>The cost of auditing college classes is prohibitive. The reason that I'm trying to learn the art of the darkroom is to build my very own darkroom at home. I've been reading a lot about processing and printing on Photo.net, but I think I need to get my hands dirty (so to speak). I've gotten so much great advice on this forum. Thanks to all.</p>

[charlie_chan2]

<p>Lance,</p>

<p>The trickiest bit in darkroom work is loading the film onto the spiral. The rest is pretty straight forward - just like following a recipe book for cooking. I was completely self taught and learnt in my hospital room, when I was a surgical intern many, many years ago. My tips are as follows<br>

1. Practise loading an old film onto a spiral in daylight first.<br>

2. Stick with one set of chemistry (esp developers) for the first few months until you get the hang of it.<br>

3. Have a look at Ilford's site. It's really useful and simple<br>

<a href="http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=9">http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=9</a></p>

<p>Take the plunge. Like all things, the first time is the scariest. After that, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.</p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>Charlie Chan<br>

Cheltenham, UK</p>

[tomeka_manson]

<p>Hi, try the Fleisher Art Memorial at 719 Catherine street.<br>

I had a great experience here. The prices are great for a community art program. I took an advanced darkroom techniques course there about a year ago and I believe the price was about $200 for the class they provided all materials I just needed to bring negatives that I wanted to print. There are more basic photography classes also these are through a lottery process since they are soo popular and they are FREE. The teacher was great and my class was only about 12 people and I got in about 4 hours a week in the darkroom, learned about MF, toning, effects of different types of paper, and did 1-2 assignment type exercises to print and show at the midpoint and end of the 10 week class. Hope this helps.</p>