Tokyo Darkroom Style 7
Photographer: II57mm / instagram
This darkroom belongs to an American friend of mine who lives in Yamagata- not exactly a suburb of Tokyo but nonetheless well worth sharing here. One goal of this Tokyo Darkroom Style feature on TCS is to prove that darkrooming is not as difficult or space-consuming as many people might think. This entry in particular proves how well one can do with limited space.
He writes:
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Setting up and printing in a darkroom is absolutely necessary if you’re shooting film. Carrying a camera with you everywhere is important, and of course everyone should be self developing their own film, (b&w) but there can be no truer appreciation of film photography than what you do in the darkroom.
Contact sheets are wonderful. Laying out what you’ve printed, then combing through your sheets- absorbing the knowledge of what you’ve shot not only affects your picture-taking, but actual printing as well. Printing itself is like witnessing a small miracle. The test strips piling up, moving the easel around, thinking about how you want to express the shot…being in the darkroom is almost as much fun as shooting. Almost.
My darkroom is comprised of various gear bought online from yahoo auctions- Nothing too special but it’s all practical. During a darkroom session I’ve always got music playing- and while getting the family out of the apartment for the day requires some money for their lunch out, it is all worth it in the end.
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Previously:
More darkrooms online:
- Large Format Photography Australia: Show us your darkroomseries
- Pippo, a rental darkroom in Tokyo
- Amateur’s Labo, a rental darkroom in Tokyo
- Worldwide Local Darkroom locator powered by Harman