Stupid Darkroom Mistakes

I have done just about every stupid thing anyone else has done and more. One interesting thing I didn't do happened to me at one of the craft shops in Korea. I went in to develop some b/w film. I had been on the instructor there to get me some fixer, and kept pushing as I got closer to needing it. He seemed a little put out by it all but I figured he was just having a bad day and would get over it. He brought out the fixer and when I was ready, I poured it it. Some got on my hands and I immediately realized it was exhausted and not only that, had already been used as print fixer. Was I hot! He later admitted to a common acquaintance that he didn't know why he did that, as he knew better, but it had just been a bad day.
 
3js:

I have no idea how many times I've done this. I place an expendable sheet of 11X14 paper backside up on the easel and focus on that, then remove it and insert the sheet on which I'm going to make the image.

Then something distracts me and I dodge and burn the focusing sheet....

Ted
 
Once, about twenty-two years ago, after a long week in a large department stores' hot, humid basement, where I was assisting three photographers shooting multi-able sets and product, I picked-up two dozen or so 4x5 holders and walked them to the small room we were using for film loading, where I proceeded to unload, reload them with b&w film. About four sheets into unloading I noticed I needed new sneakers... then I noticed how bright a changing room can be when you don't turn off the lights!:bang:

Fortunately, the holders were all from the last set we had shot, which was still up, and the box I was unloading the film into was empty to start with.

From that day forward I was hyper-vigilant about film handling and darkroom work in general and its' saved my bacon more than once.😀

Eli
 
I recently attempted to get the film out of my M7 without winding it back first. I noticed pretty quickly so only the last frame or two were gone and the edge of the negatives got a bit exposed. But otherwise all OK.

Then the number of test shots of the lens cap seems to be increasing.

And finally, for a friend's wedding I decided to take ALL of my gear (I wasn't an official wedding photographer, thank God 🙂 ). After YEARS of carrying around a spare battery for the Contax 645... dead battery and no replacement. The 45 yr old Hasselblad was OK though 🙂


colin
 
I was covering the Pope on his fist trip to the US for my Newpaper. I photographed him in all the cities , Miami, New Orleans , Charleston, Phoenix (my City) LA , Montery and Detroit. I used the AP darkroom in most cities,but knew the photography teacher at a College in Montery and made arrangments to dev my B&W film at the school lab. Had to be in place at the Laguna Senca raceway at 3am to photofgraph the pope saying mass. THere were thousands of farm workers on the sides of the hills in the fog, with a 200 ft high cross on the hillside . A giant beam of light streamed around the cross from the sky as the pope came out to say mass. Anyway I shot 12 rolls of some of the best photos of the trip. I went to the lab, souped the film and it was blank. The lab tech had mixed some fixer in the developer (not enough that you could smell it) . It was a very very long day.
 
Well, the Pope wasn't involved but close to the same thing happened when I was teaching recently at a college. A usually silent student said, "I've developed four rolls now, and they all come out blank."

I suggested she show me her step-by-step process and she did. Then I asked her to sit down for a moment next to my desk, and I said, as gently as I could manage, "Sharon, you put in the fixer last, not first."

Ted
 
stopping down the enlarger really ruins tons of paper 🙂

but well the worst thing ever happend to me was to use fix - stop - developer... well I clearly should mark my bottles better, cause in the darkroom it's dark
 
I often forget to stop down the enlarger, that's my only problem. Oh, and sometimes I turn the light table on when the picture is still in the developer. I haven't had many problems with film-loading except my first medium format roll. 🙂
 
I haven't been in a "darkroom" since I was 8 years old. It's funny how we remember the little things. I'm 49 now. My dad bought me a "Johnny Woodchuck darkroom kit" for Christmas one year. I was shooting the highly regarded Brownie Hawkeye back in those days. B&W of course (real artists only shoot B&W. Especially when they are only 8 years old).

I digress.

I read the instructions (I've long since gotten out of that habit), took control of the only bathroom in the house, and set up my darkroom (moved my mom's makeup and everyones toothbrushes to a safe spot in the corner on the floor). Step one-ish. Turn off lights and load film into developing cannister doodad. "Man... it's dark in here. I can't see anything. How the heck am I supposed to get the film wound around the spool thingy if I can't see? Wait! What was that? Ah... a little stray light coming in from an unsealed crack. If I hold everything right I can ever so slightly see the film." 😱 The text in quotes is a close approximation of the thought process that I had. I distinctly remember being very happy to have been able to see to load the film into the cannister. Not until my negs were out and hanging on the makeshift clothesline to dry did I notice the streaks in the negs. At first I wondered what could be wrong with the camera. Then... the little lightbulb came on 😀:bang:
 
Doing three minutes of burning on a print from a very dense negative, followed by pulling it from the developer and realizing that I forgot to lay down the base exposure. Gah.

I once spilled a good amount of fixer on a towel, and then managed to throw that towel in with my whites next time I did laundry. I smelled like darkroom everyday for about six months.
 
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