Stupido

[iDude]

Okay, what's the most stupid thing you ever did in the darkroom?
I just did something pretty stupid. While developing four rolls of Tri-X in Diafine, the second one turned out real weird. The film was all brown and stuff after coming out of the tank and didn't look like Tri-X at all. Small wonder, since it was a colour film (Kodak VR, the cheap kind you get over here at your local "Aldi"). :bang:
The amazing thing is that there actually is something on the negs. They're currently hanging to dry, will see what comes out of it,

 

[Andy K]

I was in my kitchen darkroom. While making an enlargment which required a long exposure of around 50 seconds I got a beer out of the fridge.

 

[Bryan Lee]

I was in my kitchen darkroom. While making an enlargment which required a long exposure of around 50 seconds I got a beer out of the fridge.

Thats one of my favorite stories and a good reason to take the light bulb out, I doubt if our wives/husbands would go for the mag light hanging off the doorhandle on a new refrigirator though.

 

[iDude]

Andy's will be hard to beat.

 

[bmattock]

I did mine two weeks ago. Came back from a model shoot with four rolls of Tri-X in the bag. Proceeded to load up the first two and dev them. Ah. First roll, apparently I shot with Kodachrome 64 (but exposed at EI 400, because I thought it was my Tri-X). As you said, turned the developer all funky. There were some kind of shadows on the film, but it stunk (I mean it smelled bad and was sticky, so I threw the mess away). Second roll - blank. Turned out I had rewound my rolls with the 'tail out' to make loading onto reels easier and thought this was the roll - it wasn't.

Moral - when doing a night shoot, only put in your bag what you might shoot - nothing else. Second, don't leave 'tail out' on the film when you rewind. Third, read the film cannister before loading it onto the reel. Fourth - I really need bifocals, I can't really read the cannisters anymore.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Solinar]

I believe that a 7 watt safety light in the fridge could be a real conversation starter.

I've been known on more than one occasion to turn on the enlarger to make a print with out any paper loaded in the easel. This comes from keeping an eye on developing a previously exposed print and printing a second copy similtaneously.

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

I was once showing a 19 year old girl how to develop B&W and while I was talking with her I poured the fixer into the tank first instead of the developer. Fortunately the roll was only of an engagement couple's portrait session and we were able to re-shoot it a couple of days later. I developed that new roll by myself.

Wayne

 

[tetrisattack]

I was a couple gin-and-tonics into a late-night bathroom printing session, 11x14 paper on the easel, just about to make an exposure, when I decided that it would be a good idea to refresh my drink before starting the next print. I got up, opened the door, left the bathroom...

...and when I returned I just threw that piece of paper straight into the fixer and felt like a criminal. 11x14 isn't terribly cheap. 🙁

 

[bmattock]

Captain Slack just left my house a while ago. When he arrived, I was just pulling my latest rolls of B&W out of the fixer and starting the rinse. When I hung them up to dry, I noted that my Ilford Delta 400 pro had a strange gray base color - should be clear, shouldn't it?

Helps if the fixer you pour in is actually fixer and not just plain water.

Fortunately, was able to refix.

Grumble. We were just TALKING about darkroom foulups!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[iDude]

Thanks for your stories, folks. They make me feel better 😉
Anyway, here's the result of my foulup.