I have been offered a very nice Kenro vertical camera, and have been given a pretty nice photo enlarger. I’ve also been offered a full size darkroom sink. Is there still any interest in photography among our members? We discussed it a few years ago, but with the move and the pandemic, it kind of went to the back burner. If I want any of these, I’d need to pick them up in the next day or two. Any interest? Here’s what the Kenro looks like:
It would be useful for making very nice negatives (or film positives) for screen printing or for flexo plates on the letterpress, but I obviously don’t have room for it in the letterpress area.
Photography was my primary interest in the '90s and I had a darkroom with a nice enlarger. I sold it all on ebay when digital SLRs came out. With the capabilities of Photoshop I really don’t see a reason to deal with the chemicals needed for enlarging from film.
If members want the capability of making prints from film I would suggest we look at hardware to scan negatives. You can do so much more with the photo in Ps once you have it digitized.
Certainly digital is quicker and easier, but some folks are looking to retain a skill set that may someday be lost to time. They are looking for the craft as well as the end product. Depends on the goal, I guess. Either way, I’ve got a couple of 35mm SLR film cameras I will donate to the cause. At least they don’t take up any space to speak of.
I’d be interested in being on this committee. But, each committee I’ve been on lately has scheduled meetings at a time and on days that I have prior commitments. (Tuesdays from 7-8, for example)
Nothing is quite like watching the magic of an image appear in the developer. Sure digital editing is easier, but doing everything by hand has always put me more in touch with the photos. Id love a space like a darkroom setup sometime. I havent had access to one since i was at WSU
I didn’t get the darkroom sink, simply because I don’t have a place to store it, and we as a group don’t have a plan for a darkroom (yet, if ever). But I did get the Kenro process camera. Before we can do anything, we’ll need at least 5 people interested to form a committee. At that point, we can elect a person to recommend to the board to be chair and request resources. I’m happy to join that group, but I have several plates spinning at once already, so someone else will need to be the organizer/torch-bearer.
I still have a never used Kreonite darkroom sink. The distinctive green fiberglass ones. It would be a bit of a project to build a frame for it and plumb it.
