I have been thinking a lot more about approaching a full analog workflow in my truck during long trips. When I say long trips, I am talking about weeks at a time on the road.
At an absolute minimum, I want to develop whatever negatives I decided to standardize on because I learned the hard way not to leave an area before confirming my negatives are what I expected.
If I wanted to go down a color path, I could simply shoot slide film and bring my small Jobo processor with me, and develop six sheets of film at a time in the smaller development tank.
Read the entire article, and if you have some ideas to share, please leave your comments at the bottom.
I am not sure I want to commit to a color workflow, but it is an option that I will continue to think about before making a final decision.
I am more inclined to pursue a 19th-century workflow like using paper negatives (calotypes) or even modern silver gelatin darkroom paper like Ilford Warmtone, which I have used quite frequently as negatives. I could even prepare several collodion dry plate negatives or I could take the easy route and use modern sheet film.
Then, I would just need to decide on the type of contact prints I wanted to make. Then, it is a matter of figuring out the workflows.
My thoughtful narratives and the tools, methods, and workflows that support them drive my projects. If I had to make a decision today, I would pursue my Pictorial Whispers memorial project to pursue as my mobile project. I have not made any decisions yet, and I will continue to be open-minded and think about things before making any final decisions.
Historically, I had Sprinter vans for my long road trips, and it was pretty easy to convert them to temporary mobile darkrooms for development and printing. The vans were also my hotel room too. But finding a path in a truck is a little bit more of a challenge.
I use my mobile darkroom box in the photo below to make 5×7 and whole plate size collodion tintypes. This is also an option if I want to use the collodion workflow, but maintaining the chemistry on the road for long periods would be challenging.
I built this mobile dark box about 15 years ago and used it inside my Sprinter vans. It is a collapsible design, and it takes up less space when taken apart. Maybe I could use this for my mobile darkroom AND my contact printing box for two purposes. This line of thinking might be useful if I was pursuing a silver gelatin contact printing workflow. Controlling light during exposure, development and through the fixing stage is the challenging part in this type of workflow while on the road.
I am inclined to think about a platinum/palladium or Kallitype workflow because I am very partial to these prints. The aesthetic aligns with most of my project narratives, and the workflow is pretty simple on the road. It would not be too difficult to build a small 8×10 LED exposure box and then develop and clear the prints. The demands of controlling the light is a lot easier with this workflow too. If I went down this path, I would either use collodion dry plates that I prepare ahead of time or just use modern sheet film because paper negatives require too long of exposure times to make that feasible on the road.
A 10 or 12-foot enclosed cargo trailer would make an ideal mobile darkroom, and it would be easy to tow with my truck. There are no downsides to the enclosed cargo trailer path except for the part of towing it on the road. It limits your ability to go to certain places, and parking and camping are more difficult.
The enclosed trailer is a no-brainer in terms of making the mobile darkroom work, but it comes at the expense of towing something behind you and limiting my parking and stealth camping opportunities. Depending on the locations I plan to visit, towing a trailer may not be feasible.
The long and short of it is that there are no perfect solutions. I just need to thoughtfully consider the best path and workflow I think I want to pursue, make it happen, and do the work to see how I can improve it over time.
I will follow up as I have made a few more decisions and begin preparing to hit the road.