In 2026, I turned my studio office into a darkroom!

In “About Me…” I mentioned starting photography classes in Jr. High School. I wanted to process my own film and make prints. After college, I used rental darkrooms and worked for a few B&W photo labs where I could do my own work after hours. If I didn’t have darkroom access, I could still process film at home using a changing bag to load film onto reels and put it in tanks. When I had the commercial photo studio in downtown San Diego, I put in a darkroom too. When I moved to Fort Worth, TX, I had a darkroom in the guest house of our home. I also worked for a B&W photo lab there (Camp Bowie Photo) before going to work at Harcout Brace as an Art Editor. After moving to Page, AZ. I managed to have a few darkrooms in odd locations: an empty storage room in a mostly unused building downtown, and the building in my back yard that also served as a laundry room until I opened a commercial photo lab, The Photo Lab. [I need to call it something…] When I started The Photo Lab, I processed and printed both color and black & white films, and processed E-6 (slide & transparency film).

I did Black & White photography for years until I moved to Enumclaw, WA, from Page, AZ. That was the last time I used the darkroom equipment up until this year. [2026]. I saved most all of the equipment: a Zone VI 5X7 enlarger with a VC cold light head, tanks, trays, reels (35mm, 127, 120, 220), and 4X5 film hangers and tanks.

I had learned to process and print color when I had a photography job for a TV evangelist. [I needed a job, what an experience] When I interviewed, I was asked if I could process color slide film. I replied, “Yes!” I knew my darkroom skills were good enough that I was capable of doing it. I further honed those skills working for The Village Studio in La Mesa, CA (a small city just East of San Diego), at Cubic Corp & San Diego Gas & Electric.