Darkroom rental on SF peninsula?

Hi folks,

It's been 5+ years since I've worked in a darkroom (used to have my
own, and worked semi-professionally). Since then, I've moved into
an apartment where setting up a darkroom simply isn't going to be
an option. I've been away too long, and it's killing me. Like
others here have mentioned, I work in front of a computer all day
long writing software, and digital photography (while certainly quite
facinating in its own right) just doesn't provide me with that
escape from computers that I need. Plus, I pretty much do B+W
exclusively, and I've been thinking about investing in medium
format sometime this year. This all just screams for a darkroom.

Anyone know of a "rental darkroom" or any other means I could use
to get back in the saddle? I live in the San Francisco bay area
in Mountain View. I've looked into taking photo classes at local
community colleges, but that would end after the sememster, and it
seems that most of their darkrooms are open 9am-7pm M-F...which is
pretty worthless to anyone with a job. There seem to be quite a
few places in San Francisco that rent out darkroom space, but that's
going to be pretty inconvenient for me.

Anyone have any idea? Any other locals know of anything that would
fill my needs? Thanks!

--
Steve Gilbert
gilbert at cs dot utk dot edu

On 2/25/2004 5:07 PM Steve Gilbert spake thus:

Anyone know of a "rental darkroom" or any other means I could use
to get back in the saddle? I live in the San Francisco bay area
in Mountain View. I've looked into taking photo classes at local
community colleges, but that would end after the sememster, and it
seems that most of their darkrooms are open 9am-7pm M-F...which is
pretty worthless to anyone with a job. There seem to be quite a
few places in San Francisco that rent out darkroom space, but that's
going to be pretty inconvenient for me.

Anyone have any idea? Any other locals know of anything that would
fill my needs? Thanks!

Sorry, the only one I know of is in Berkeley (Looking Glass Photo), but I'm
sure there must be at least one other somewhere between the City and San Jose.


--
It's fun to demonize the neo-cons and rejoice in their discomfiture, but
don't make the mistake of thinking US foreign policy was set by Norman
Podhoretz or William Kristol. They're the clowns capering about in front of
the donkey and the elephant. The donkey says the UN should clean up after
them, and the elephant now says the donkey may have a point. Somebody has
come out with a dustpan and broom.

- Alexander Cockburn, _CounterPunch_
(http://www.counterpunch.org), 9/17/03

In article ,
Steve Gilbert wrote:

Hi folks,

It's been 5+ years since I've worked in a darkroom (used to have my
own, and worked semi-professionally). Since then, I've moved into
an apartment where setting up a darkroom simply isn't going to be
an option. I've been away too long, and it's killing me. Like
others here have mentioned, I work in front of a computer all day
long writing software, and digital photography (while certainly quite
facinating in its own right) just doesn't provide me with that
escape from computers that I need. Plus, I pretty much do B+W
exclusively, and I've been thinking about investing in medium
format sometime this year. This all just screams for a darkroom.

Anyone know of a "rental darkroom" or any other means I could use
to get back in the saddle? I live in the San Francisco bay area
in Mountain View. I've looked into taking photo classes at local
community colleges, but that would end after the sememster, and it
seems that most of their darkrooms are open 9am-7pm M-F...which is
pretty worthless to anyone with a job. There seem to be quite a
few places in San Francisco that rent out darkroom space, but that's
going to be pretty inconvenient for me.

Anyone have any idea? Any other locals know of anything that would
fill my needs? Thanks!

There is not much over there. I've heard rumors of a rental darkroom in
Mountain View, but I've not been able to track it down. The Santa Clara
Parks Dept used to have one - I'm not sure if it's still open. Your best
bet is to hike over to Hayward where there are three darkrooms:
PhotoCentral http://www.photocentral.org
Faultline http://www.faultlinephotographics.com
Negative Space (no web page)

As David pointed out there is also Looking Glass in Berkeley, but that's
even farther from you than Hayward.

--

-tony

http://www.shapesandshadows.com