Firming Up Plans for the Darkroom

Colin came by this afternoon after lunch with Ellen at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. We discussed the details of the photographic darkroom Colin is going to build in the "shed" at the back of the garden at my house. We are going to limit the dark part of the space to the current 5 foot by 6 foot closet space already framed out. We will put in insulation and sheetrock in this space, as well as a rooftop ventilator fan. We will add counters on three of the walls of the dark room which will hold an enlarger and five 8 inch by 11 inch aluminum trays to hold chemical solutions. We will also put in a wet sink in the lighted are with windows immediately outside the dark room. Colin will build a drying rack in the area as well.

We will also insulate and add sheetrock to the walls in the rest of the shed.

Unfortunately, for the time being, we will have to store many things in the "free" area of the shed, so the photographic part will be just about half the shed rather than the whole shed. Eventually we will be able to have an area for portrait shooting which can alternatively serve as a guest space.

We will also have to put on a new roof covering this summer as leaks are appearing around the skylight in the 10 year old roll roofing.

We made up a list of items which will have to be procured. The watch word is low cost with high functionality.

Colin is very serious about this project, and I am excited about learning how to develop film. It was fun to be planning the project. There is a lot of work involved in this.

I have to go to Paddy Mountain next weekend to meet with a company which is assessing the fair market value of property in Union County. They valued my property at 43,000, and I think they are over-estimating. The lower the Fair Market Price the lower the taxes due. I will take as must stuff as possible to Paddy Mountain from the shed.

I worked in the shed moving things and performing throwout/save triage. I am exhausted. And I have papers to grade. We watched the Spider Man movie tonight. Tomorrow is Chelsea's big day at the Beltane celebration.