There’s nothing on my schedule today and that is totally fine with me. It’s not just fine, it’s preferred.

I made some small (5"x7") prints in the darkroom this morning. I sometimes feel that the small prints aren’t “worth it”, but they’re cheap and easy to make, so I keep doing it. I guess at the exposure and only reprint if I’m way off. Otherwise, as my dad says, “Good enough for who it’s for”. And I’m always happy I have them later.

I like the way prints look with a small black border around the image, like this:

I know some people file their negative holders but that means no cropping and there’s no way I’m precise enough with framing to not crop about 90% of my images at least a little.

What I did instead is cut a piece of poster board ever so slightly smaller than my usual print size. I place this over the image after making the initial exposure and do one more quick 5-second exposure for the border.

I hate making fiber-based silver gelatin prints in the darkroom. But I love having them to hold and to hang.

Fiber-based papers have this deep, magical sheen, and the surface is smooth yet has a distinct, subtle texture that is missing from resin-coated (RC) papers.

Compared to RC papers, fiber-based paper takes twice as long to process. It requires additional washing and optional toning steps. It eats up fixer and takes more trays than I have comfortable room for. It must be washed for up to an hour. And then there’s the curling, so I have to press the prints under heavy books for a few days before I can do anything with them

When I moved into my new house, I originally planned to turn an extra room in the basement into a shiny new darkroom. That didn’t happen, so I’ve been using the bathroom instead. It works fine.

Here’s my fancy darkroom.