I no longer have a darkroom and I don't want to build one at Victor Harbour. I can't stand the chemicals,  they play havoc with my skin, and I'm happy with digital files rather than  the fine print made in the darkroom.  I'm not a good printer. 

That creates a problem with my 8x10 black and white  photography. How do I develop the negatives? Up to now I have sent the 8x10 negatives to a pro-lab inSydney--Blanco Negro--- to be  developed. It proved  expensive to develop  24 negatives--- I only have 12 double film holders.  

I've always thought it  would be  much more convenient to develop the 8x10 negatives in Adelaide at a community darkroom, even if that does mean  DIY.  Thankfully,  one now exists--- The Analogue Laboratory,  which is now situated at The Mill in Adelaide's CBD. What a great initiative!  

 It is  much cheaper if I do it myself and  Ii represents a return to the craft skills of photography that I was trained in. I used to tray develop sheet film in the Bowden studio,  but it appears that DIY at the Analogue Lab involves  sheet film  clasped in hangers that are then gently dipped  up and down in  a tank. 

You can develop more film  in one go, so it is more efficient than the  tray development that I used to do.   I guess the next step is using a Jobo   3000 series Expert Drum  at home. Jobo, however, went  insolvent in 2010.  

I'm looking forward to my first darkroom session this Sunday.