Darkroom Hire

[AlmightyWa]

Does anyone know how I can find out about hiring a darkroom (on an ad hoc kind of basis?) in the UK (East Mids.). I'd quite like to carry on printing after my college course finishes but as my flat was built with a shoebox bathroom and because I am poor I won't be able to 'build my own'.

In my head I have a dream of a large darkroom with about twenty enlargers where you can go and pay to use it (per hour?). Is this unreasonable?

 

[oriecat]

Not unreasonable at all. We have a couple here and I remember searching once for them in England, for a friend, and I saw a couple listed. Of course I have no idea about their location...

I found these ones http://www.darkroomsource.net/rentals.shtml#UK
If you try searching, or maybe even calling around to local photo places, you might find more. Or maybe even ask your college if they will allow you to keep using their facilities for a fee or something.

 

[Christie Photo]

I really don't know, but I'll make a suggestion.

A friend of mine once worked free as an assistant at a local community college in the darkroom. He help folks with the basics and had full use of the facility.

Good luck!

-Pete Christie

 

[AlmightyWa]

Thanks people - colleges etc. is the way to go I think, I'll have to look into it some more. Do you all have your own darkrooms then?

 

[terri]

Thanks people - colleges etc. is the way to go I think, I'll have to look into it some more. Do you all have your own darkrooms then?

A lot of us do, yes. If you have even a little space, and take your time looking around for deals on eBay and places like that, it's not too expensive to put one in. I have an upstairs bedroom I converted, but I have to carry water from the hallway bathroom! And my print washer fits great over the kitchen sink.

Before that, I used a rental facility. It was a really nice setup with good quality stuff, but it was a community darkroom, and I really hated sharing the Gralab. :mrgreen: