Book: Build Your Own Home Darkroom

I'm looking forward to a house move next year and part of my planning is to have a dedicated darkroom so it was with some interest that I came across a recommendation for this book, Build Your Own Home Darkroom, by Lista Duren and Billy McDonald, published by Curtin & London, 1982.

Build Your Own Home Darkroom - front cover

Build Your Own Home Darkroom - back cover

Although an old book it seems there's plenty of second hand copies to be found, I picked up mine via Abe Books and paid just £2.49 including postage, so good value for money.

Improvised darkroom


My current setup is to use our utility room, this gives a little bit of work space and has a sink. However it means I have to tidy up and make space before I can start. It's far from light tight, not so critical for UV based processes but I still need to block up the window if I want consistent UV exposures. Once I've done my printing I then have to pack everything away again and return the room to normal. This makes doing prints a more cumbersome process and so something I do less often than I would like.

Build Your Own Home Darkroom is full of practical suggestions and construction projects which range from the simple to the more involved. As a darkroom novice I found it all quite interesting and picked up a number of tips and ideas as I browsed through it.

Sample page - what to build


I was mostly interested in some of the fundamentals of room setup such as options for light tight ventilation and found the simple diagrams helpful.

Sample page - ventilation



I need to rig up something for print drying, this could involve suspending them or could be in the form of a drying rack. I'm also thinking about trying to convert an old flat bed scanner into a light box, projects for another day.

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