11.4.06
the demise of the darkroom
Today was depressing. I learned that the art of real, non-digital photography, the kind with chemicals and enlargers and filters, is disappearing. I went to the professional place I was using a couple of years ago. After walking into the space, I immediately noticed that the area where people used to dry their prints was a constuction zone. The guy working confirmed my fear: the space has been rented out to another tenant.He recommended another darkroom rental place a couple of blocks over. I went up there and was dismayed to find out that they have indefinitely cancelled their group developing sessions. The only option that remained was paying a whole lot of money for a private room. This is what I needed, and I was ready to pay the sum, when the woman informed me that I didn't have enough time. They were closing in 45 minutes. Their hours are sucky and exclude those of us who have day jobs.
I was going to hit up the old standard, a community darkroom in the Lower East Side, but I remembered how frustrated I had been last time I was there. The chemicals weren't fresh and the enlargers were falling apart. That's why I opted to pay twice as much for a professional darkroom.
To make the matters worse, Passover is approaching, and a lot of the photo places in town are run by religious Jews. Yeah. They're all closed for two weeks. I guess my photo stuff will have to wait until after the holiday. I'm seriously considering getting my negatives scanned in, and cleaning up the print in photoshop. What has the world come to? I am so sad.
posted by a girl @ 19:55
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