The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1897-01-01
IN THE DARKROOM

IN THE DARKROOM
when you go into your darkroom to
develop plates, always lock the door be
hind you to avoid Interruptions" So
saith the learned writer Of 'Instruc.
tions to Amateur Photographers" and
1t Is rule that has saved many mega.
tives
OF course 1t never occurred to the in
gtructor of amateurs to add: ""And. al
ways take good look about you before
shutting the door and sitting down in
front Of your ruby light" That ad-
monition would be looked upon as out
side the book, and no amateur would
see In 1t sense or relevancy. Yet /
never go into my darkroom now with
out letting in a flood of light that
searches out every corner.
When bought my camera and began
to turn out foggy negatives, from which
sickly, spectral prints came off, had
no decentIy appointed darkroom, using
small closet in my house for the pur-
pose. Now, not being socialist or a
shoemaker, like good air, and to sit in
that stud. y nelg In the wall for the bet
ter part Of an hour at time had the
result otNeating up some Of my enthu-
eiasm for dabbling in solutions Of eiko-
nogen, carboQate Of soda and sinking
ether. My illsElelling lamp seemed to
exhaust as much oxygen as my good
pair Of lungs, and sometimes bore my
negative out of the closet with such
pale face that, in spite of my triumph
ant air in exhibiting 1t to my wife, she
declared l was surely i'll and that she
had always heard that photographers
were short-lived. She did not like the
smell Of my chemicals, either, and de-
clared they were a nuisance Of the first
order.
That was why 1 had my new and
carefully ventilated darkroom built for
me. 1t was house all by itself and
stood down in a little hollow, a good
stones throw from our dwelling. We
were living in the country then, in
very pretty bit of woodland that had a
wilderness Of brown plain all about it.
My new darkroom was quite a spa
cious affair, and 1 gloried in it's COM
pleteness of detail and hardness of the
appointments. l used to spend a good
deal Of time in there, and, as 1 learned
how much bromide to use and to hit up
on the happy moment of taking a plate
out Of the developing bath, my progress
was swift and sweet.
It so happened in the autumn that we
went to the city for month to live.
leaving our country place shut up. 1
took my camera to town and exposed
dozen or SO dry plates on lot of mar
BILE statuary. Whenever, at odd times.
thought of these, 1 became feverish
to know whether Ariadne had ever
overturned or whether Venus had been
Nght-struck.
My wife smiled when told her in
tended to run down to "the ranch to
look after things bit.
1. was too diaphanous When she
saw me packing my plates she laughed.
But she was indulgent and said good
by with her own little pleasantly about
my not being so very deep after all.
Walking up to the house from the sta
ton | saw that the autumn winds had
been making very free with the trees
while we had been away, and the brown
leaves strewed the gravel walk and
were scurrying along on their thin
edges like little hoops driven by chill
dren. A smoky haze lay over the wood
and along the plain, and the hills be-
yond were deep In it. The low-lying
sun was blood-red, and sent a sickly
yellow glow over the place. Driving
rather keenly, the wind set me a-shiv-
ering. had never known "the ranch"
when 1t showed so bleak and forbidding
q face. Not caring to enter the vacant
house, | strode quickly down the path
into the hollow which lay darkly in the
shadow, and, hurrying on to my little
studio. pulled out my keys before the
door. Not finding the right key, it came
to me of a sudden that had left it N
the lock inside on going to town, and
turning the handle Of the door saw it
had not been locked at all. This was
really of little consequence, as ''the
ranch" was not near the road, and had
often boasted that lock meant nothing
there anyway, though in the darkroom
1t had probably saved negative or two
on occasion.
| went In and from pure force of habit |
turned the key, leaving it in the lock. |
Then l struck a match, found my lamp, |
lighted 1t and poured my chemicals out |
into my graduate and tray. Then, with
the lamp covered and only the thin |
stream of red light coming duly forth, |
ODeued a doubla-hack and nIJl1ed ont
1 plate. It was "Ariadne and the PAM
ther," for which hoped great things.
As put the plate into the developing
tray and picked up my graduate to
pour forth the developer was startled
oy rustling that seemed to come from