Where do you have access to a dark room?

Columbia U. for now, but I was thinking of maybe having one built in the BDL? maybe. We'll see.

Well don't spend too much time in it and never touch the chemicals. I used to do a lot of dark room photography (and still would if photoshop didn't do the exact same thing). The photography chemicals, even when you don't touch them but are around them a lot (like having them in your apartment), are known carcinogens and photographers who are now only like, in their 60s are all getting cancer and dying from having been around them for all those years. Just a warning... dark rooms are definitely fun though.

Well if the booze and cigarettes don't kill me first....aha aha ha ah ahaha

Depends on how into the artistic process I get. For me it is therapeutic and if I get hooked, well then maybe I will end up with a dark room in my loft!

I love bw pics. I have some old polariod cameras that are also fun to use. They also give the 60's feel.

Lauren-
You don't have to worry, the chemicals they are using nowadays are totally safe (provided you don't drink them- Joce). It's true that the stuff they used a while back was really bad for you. I think even the stuff my mother used in college was dangerous.

Joce-
You do know that all the ones on this blog were taken with a Minolta XD-7, another well-loved classic camera. It came out in 1977 and was known as the XD-11 in North America. It's a 35mm as opposed to the medium format Yashica. I won't go into the pros and cons here, but I will say that the 35mm is much easier at parties at bars because you can shoot 36 frames/roll instead of 12 and focusing the Yashica in the dark is a nightmare. I'm going to send you some links to a couple of articles that explain it better than I do.
Cheers!

Public Warning for David B. Fruit, Esq (formerly known as Really Gay Dave):

It appears that Jocelyn is attempting to steal your boyfriend. She did successfully turn this hasbian on the "straight and narrow path" so beware. She has wicked ways.

I'm glad they don't use the dangerous chemicals anymore. They did in my high school's darkroom and I remember one day our teacher being like "Don't touch them too much or you'll die when you're 60." Oh well. I use an old Minolta camera for B&W pics sometimes too and it's definitely a lot of fun!

PS--

Jocelyn, I think you mentioned once that you have Photoshop and you can take those B&W photos and up the contrast a little really easily and they'll still have that cool old look but they'll have a little more depth to them.

Lauren. I do have Photoshop. I have no idea how it works. I know I am so lame.

That's true, if we could figure out photoshop. The problem with these is that they're digital pictures of the actual prints. If we could scan the negatives directly, photoshop would work a lot better. I have friends that do that with their negatives and have worked wonders with really bad negatives (which these are- it was really dark in that bar).

I'm going to steal the pictures off of Flickr if you don't mind and see if I can do anything with them on Photoshop and let you know. If they come out well, I'll try to teach you how to do it the next time I see you.

Oooo Cool. Thanks Lauren. It would be nice to know how to use it. After all it is a $1,200 program! (don't worry I got it for free!)