I started my darkroom life at different photoclubs. But I soon wanted a darkroom of my own. So, like so many before me, our bathroom regularly transformed into a temporary darkroom. In the beginning it was fun. Later, setting up and breaking down the darkroom became a big PITA. The six darkrooms that followed were established in empty bedrooms, low ceiling moist caves, or suffocating attics. Often heavy curtains functioned as a light trap. Or towels prevented the dark from leaking out under the door. There was rarely any ventilation at all, and running water was a big bucket.
My third darkroom was in the French town of Calais. I rented a room while I worked at the Chunnel construction site. With 10 to 12 hour working days I reduced my nights to six hours of sleep (I was still young) so I could do printing at night. My bedroom transformed into a darkoom with an opemus enlarger on the table. Developer trays on a cupboard. And a small sink as a print washer. I ate and slept in the same room. Once I used ammonia to eliminate fixer from prints. That night the ammonia bottle started leaking while I slept. I almost died from pneumonia. My voice didn't return until weeks later. If it hadn't been for my poor condition, my landlord would have evicted me.
In those days I worked standing up. While living in a Paris suburb (Ivry sur Seine) I started selling prints of weddings and priest ordinations. Printing often took several days, and I had to practice yoga to return the blood flow in my legs. Since then I have taken to printing seated.
Back in Holland I studied to be a professional photographer. In those days every photographer had to know analogue darkroom techniques. I quickly noticed that I could have taught my teachers and then some.
For the next twelve years I worked in several state penitentiaries (not as a photographer). The last seven years in a maximum security prison. Large format photography and the darkroom helped me to switch off from my passionate but not so easy work environment. So, I constructed a darkroom in our attic. After presenting my darkroom on the internet it has become the longest active thread on APUG ("argentic" that's me).
In 2006 we moved back to France, where we bought a bicentennial farmhouse in the Livradois-Forez national parc. There was no electricity, heating, water or sewage. So, I did a lot of construction work just to move in. In the meantime I started Phot-O-Vergne teaching photography courses. And with some friends I started a public darkroom at the university campus of Clermont-Ferrand which attracts a lot of students every year.
In 2009, after three years of virtual darkroom deprevation I started building a topnotch darkroom in one of our granit walled barns. In this blog you can follow its construction. I now own a photography store in Ambert which takes up most of my time. So the darkroom construction has slowed down. But bit by bit I will get there. Hope you enjoy this blog.
Don't hesitate to comment. I'm always open for suggestions and tips.
Wilbert
