JamesD
Between darkrooms
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Messages
- 1,055
- Reaction score
- 47
- Location
- Living in Snapshot reality.
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Hello. I used to be pretty active here years ago, before life got all up in the way. I was pretty active in the film photography section, especially in the darkroom and alternative techniques forums. Some who've been around forever and a day might remember my penchant for pinholes and paper negatives.
Around 2006-2007, near the end of my time in the Army, I had a darkroom in my 3x5 foot barracks room closet, which was kind of an experience unto itself, especially considering the fairly enormous Omega enlarger (but 135-only) I had been given as a gift by a local photo lab owner who was winding down the shop as the digital boom was taking off. When my Army time was up and I got on back home, my darkroom kit went to a local who was interested in getting started in processing his own film; I figured I'd get the 4x5 enlarger I had been longing for after I snagged a 4x5 view camera for very very cheap on eBay.
But, as I mentioned, life got all up in the way, and I moved back to Alaska, and despite a few false starts, I just never got back into it.
But I did get that 4x5 enlarger I'd been wanting.
It's been sitting in one garage, shed, or store room or another since 2018 when I bought it, also on eBay. At first, the seller said he could ship it to Alaska, but changed his mind when he looked at the shipping rates. So I had him send it to my mom's house, and then when I moved back to the lower 48, I eventually picked it up and brought it home, still in that beat up box. Today, I pulled out the box, opened it for the first time, and vacuumed out all the packing peanuts with the shop vac, and set about inspecting and assembling it.
It's a challenge when you don't know exactly how it all goes together and the parts are a little beat up and out of alignment, and you have no instructions, just some low-resolution pictures on the Internet and a few pages of partial manuals... But with only a few extra parts left over (there's always extra screws, you know?) it's now all put together--or almost, I still have to figure out the bellows, because there wasn't quite enough there to assemble them in.
So, I figured I'd hop on here and write a quick post reintroducing myself, catching up on the last sixteen years or so, and, of course, drop a quick snapshot of the evening's work.
I'll catch y'all soon. I've got photochemistry and film coming, and it's long past time.
Automega D3 autofocus enlarger, condenser head, with some accessories and the bellows but yet attached.
Around 2006-2007, near the end of my time in the Army, I had a darkroom in my 3x5 foot barracks room closet, which was kind of an experience unto itself, especially considering the fairly enormous Omega enlarger (but 135-only) I had been given as a gift by a local photo lab owner who was winding down the shop as the digital boom was taking off. When my Army time was up and I got on back home, my darkroom kit went to a local who was interested in getting started in processing his own film; I figured I'd get the 4x5 enlarger I had been longing for after I snagged a 4x5 view camera for very very cheap on eBay.
But, as I mentioned, life got all up in the way, and I moved back to Alaska, and despite a few false starts, I just never got back into it.
But I did get that 4x5 enlarger I'd been wanting.
It's been sitting in one garage, shed, or store room or another since 2018 when I bought it, also on eBay. At first, the seller said he could ship it to Alaska, but changed his mind when he looked at the shipping rates. So I had him send it to my mom's house, and then when I moved back to the lower 48, I eventually picked it up and brought it home, still in that beat up box. Today, I pulled out the box, opened it for the first time, and vacuumed out all the packing peanuts with the shop vac, and set about inspecting and assembling it.
It's a challenge when you don't know exactly how it all goes together and the parts are a little beat up and out of alignment, and you have no instructions, just some low-resolution pictures on the Internet and a few pages of partial manuals... But with only a few extra parts left over (there's always extra screws, you know?) it's now all put together--or almost, I still have to figure out the bellows, because there wasn't quite enough there to assemble them in.
So, I figured I'd hop on here and write a quick post reintroducing myself, catching up on the last sixteen years or so, and, of course, drop a quick snapshot of the evening's work.
I'll catch y'all soon. I've got photochemistry and film coming, and it's long past time.
Automega D3 autofocus enlarger, condenser head, with some accessories and the bellows but yet attached.