I recently went on my first adventure in the new mobile darkroom, a small Winnebago Hike 100 1316 travel trailer.
This little camper is rugged and made for adventures. It has everything I need to develop my large format film remotely, stay comfortable, and get a good meal, shower, and a good night’s rest.
If you’d like to understand the context behind the lessons I learned, you can watch the video from my maiden voyage on my YouTube channel.
I am working remotely to support my Pictorial Whispers memorial project, photographing Missouri’s wild horses and their environment to make handmade platinum and palladium prints.
Explore how you can support my Pictorial Whispers Project and become part of a community dedicated to celebrating art and healing. By joining as a member, you will gain exclusive access to several unique benefits, including behind-the-scenes updates, early access to view new works, exclusive access to me, and much more. Your support helps sustain this deeply personal project, allowing me to continue creating meaningful art that resonates with memory, loss, and renewal themes. Join me today and become a part of the journey.
Lessons Learned
I decided to develop my 4×5 Ilford FP4 film in the Stearman Press 645 daylight hand development tank because I can develop 6 sheets of film at a time. This perfectly matches the number of sheets of film in my Grafmatic 4×5 holders for my Graflex Series D 4×5 SLR camera that I use.
It takes exactly 1 gallon of distilled water to fully develop, fix, and wash the six sheets of film per development. I just bring as many 1-gallon jugs of water for the trip as I think I will need.
Run the air conditioner for at least one hour with the chemistry and water inside the camper before starting the development process. This helps ensure the water and chemistry are about 20C.
Everything takes longer when developing in the field. I learned that I need to budget about 90 minutes per development cycle from start to finish. I can’t imagine I would want to develop more than two batches of film daily.
Washing the film with running water in the sink works perfectly with the SP-645 development tank.
For obvious reasons, I decided to use plastic graduate beakers instead of glass as I do in the full darkroom. I found some 600ml plastic beakers, which match the exact volume of developer and fixer that I need for the SP-645 development tank.
I had set up my side table for development before I used the Harrison film-changing tent to unload the Grafmatic holders into the development tank. I must ensure I do that first because space is very limited with this current configuration.
I am considering a new interior design plan that should work out very well. I am considering putting the bed along the back wall of the camper. It would be elevated to allow access to the water heater in the back right corner. This would give me considerable storage space under the bed for at least four totes, possibly even more. I would custom build a pocket desk that would slide out from under the bed to place my film-changing tent on without needing to use my desk/work surface area. I envision the desk/work surface area to be the same width as the closet next to the shower. This work surface would be the same height as the bed frame, allowing a second mattress to be installed temporarily if I have a second person on a trip. More on this idea will be discussed in a future video.
If you enjoy slowing down with film, darkroom printing, and meaningful photography, consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel. I share new videos each week focused on simple tools, timeless techniques, and the quiet joy of analog.
Explore how you can support my Pictorial Whispers Project and become part of a community dedicated to celebrating art and healing. By joining as a member, you will gain exclusive access to several unique benefits, including behind-the-scenes updates, early access to view new works, exclusive access to me, and much more. Your support helps sustain this deeply personal project, allowing me to continue creating meaningful art that resonates with memory, loss, and renewal themes. Join me today and become a part of the journey.