groping in the dark

Setting Up a Darkroom: Dry vs. Wet

So my supplies came in over the past weekend and I spent a good chunk of Monday afternoon mixing chemistry, cleaning my new supplies and otherwise setting things up.

This can't be emphasized enough: keep the dry side of the darkroom separate from the wet side. The dry side contains the enlarger, unexposed paper and anything else that might possibly come into contact with your paper or film before it is processed. The wet side is where the processing takes place.

Now I have proper dry and wet sides to my darkroom. I've set the enlarger up on a table that isn't too far away from the wet side, but it is separate enough to avoid contamination. The table has some handy drawers for dry side supplies such as photo paper, scissors, dodging and burning tools etc.

So now it's time to start developing! I really wanted some film developed already, but w the holiday rush, that didn't happen yet. I'll post another update this weekend on my first in-house developing experience. But for now I'll be busy opening presents and eating Christmas Dinner.

Happy Holidays!