Dear sir, I have a 14 year old son who wants to get into Black and White Photography. I did this in college and have a lot of old darkroom equipment. Yesterday we bought some paper and chemicals and hope to get started soon. Do we need a print dryer. I once had one but it has disappeared. I see ads for print drying screens and wonder what they look like. Where is the best mail order source for film, paper, and other equipment? Also, do you know where we might obtain a good beginner's book on black and white picture taking and photo processing? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Alan Morrow Bethany@loclnet.com

-- Alan Morrow (Bethany@loclnet.com), February 17, 1998

Answers

you do not need a conventional print dryer if you bought rc-paper (resin coated); indeed, as a beginner, you should not use a conventional dryer for these papers as they get too hot for the plastic coating. just put the papers on an old newspaper to dry, squeeze off excess water with a sponge or a rubber blade - and additionally use a hair-dryer at the lowest setting for some seconds at a distance of 30 cm = 12 inches if you are in a hurry. time needed without hair dryer is less than half an hour. alternatively you can hang the pictures on a laundry line, but the clips may leave marks. good luck, lots of success

-- chris almqvist (chris@propellerheads.org), February 18, 1998.

I'll second the preceding comment - skip print dryers and use RC paper until you identify a pressing need to use fiber base paper with its attendant drying complexities. I keep an ordinary bath towel (folded about in fourths) next to the sink where I give prints their final water wash. I keep a paper towel on top of the bath towel (just to minimize any lint pickup from the cotton), lay the wet print on top of the paper towel and wipe off both sides of the print with another paper towel. This removes most of the water from the print, which I then hang on a line in the darkroom using the plastic clothes pins that have a coat hangar-shaped hook on them. They do mark the print, but the mark is small and is only visible if you hold the print at an acute angle to the light and I put the clothes pin in the print margin where the mark doesn't make any difference anyway.

As far as mail order sources go, check out the Neighbor to Neighbor section of photo.net for specific comments on a host of mail order vendors.

Kodak used to have an extensive library of publications on most things photographic, from the most basic to the most esoteric. The last index I saw had literally hundreds of titles. You might check out the Kodak web site (www.kodak.com) and see if they don't offer something that will get you started. Some of the Kodak instructions for chemicals are available on line (I know the Xtol film developer pamphlet is available in full) and I believe Ilford and Agfa also have detailed information on line for their black and white materials and chemistry. These alone might be enough for your darkroom work, at least at the beginning.

Welcome back to the darkroom. It's a great hobby to share with your teen age son.

-- Kip Babington (cbabing3@swbell.net), February 18, 1998.

Old bread racks are wonderful for drying prints. You could also rig a small wooden frame and stretch window screen across for a drying surface for prints.

There are many photo supply places on the web that offer very good prices. I'm not sure if I should mention names of an particular ones on here. One of two are mentioned in earlier comments. Some even offer free shipping.

Work with your teen and this will be a life long special experience for both of you. The darkroom gave my son and me a new and special time.

-- Felecia Garvin (fggarv@texoma.net), July 30, 1999.